Christopher R. Terai

Graduate Research Assistant

University of Washington
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
713 ATG Building
Seattle, WA
terai at atmos.washington.edu




About myself

I am a fourth year graduate student in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the Unviersity of Washington. I work with Dr. Robert Wood to study the interactions between aerosol particles, clouds, and precipitation. More specifically, I have been analyzing aircraft data from the VOCALS Regional Experiment.



Research Interests
Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation Interactions

Much of my research has been motivated by the broader question, “How do aerosol particles in the atmosphere affect cloud properties?” The many feedbacks between the aerosol particles, cloud microphysics, and cloud dynamics make studying these interactions both difficult and interesting. To simplify things, I have concentrated on one of the many pathways in which aerosols can affect clouds and have been looking at how how aerosol particles affect drizzle properties and how drizzle can in turn affect marine stratocumulus clouds over the southeast Pacific.




Publications

Terai, C. R., R. Wood, D. C. Leon, and P. Zuidema, Does precipitation susceptibility vary with increasing cloud thickness in marine stratocumulus?, submitted to Atmos. Chem. Phys.




Miscellaneous

Video on pockets of open cells here.




Pictures from VOCALS
Stratocumulus cloud deck and sunrise as seen from the NSF/NCAR C-130. NSF/NCAR C-130

                                                                                      last update: 8th May 2011