Cirrus Cloud Thinning Simulations Constrained by Satellite Observations - Preprint

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Oct 20, 2025, 5:49:04 AM (yesterday) Oct 20

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https://essopenarchive.org/doi/full/10.22541/essoar.176087399.94470289/v1

Authors: Ehsan Erfani

19 October 2025

Abstract

The formation of cirrus clouds involves complex microphysical processes that remain difficult to simulate in numerical models, leading to uncertainties in predicting their response to aerosols and the potential efficacy of cirrus cloud thinning (CCT) as a climate intervention. This talk will highlight recent work combining satellite retrievals with numerical models to quantify two distinct cirrus formation mechanisms. Results from radiative transfer modeling and global climate model experiments show that these mechanisms lead to different pathways and consequently different cloud radiative effect. This work provides both an evaluation of aerosol–cloud interactions and an assessment of CCT, offering new perspectives on the role of cirrus clouds in Earth’s radiation balance.