What is Climate Change?
- Earth System Modelling & Prediction
Research Programme
- Laura Revell
University of Canterbury - Olaf Morgenstern
NIWA - View the full team
Project Leaders
-
Budget
$160,000 -
Duration
July 2019 - June 2022 -
Phase 2
Research Project
Simulating clouds and aerosols in the NZESM
Present-day models, including the NZESM, don’t represent clouds and aerosols over the Southern Ocean very well.
Aerosols (tiny airborne particles) and clouds have a significant effect on the climate system, yet are notoriously difficult to simulate in earth system models.

Cloud and aerosol biases cascade to biases in radiation, sea surface temperature and storm tracks in the Southern Hemisphere – and ultimately to simulated in rainfall and extreme weather events in New Zealand.
To have confidence in climate change projections for New Zealand, we need to improve the simulation of Southern Ocean clouds and aerosols in the NZESM. This project builds on research carried out by the cloud and aerosol modellers in Phase 1.
-
Laura Revell
University of Canterbury -
Olaf Morgenstern
NIWA -
Vidya Varma
NIWA -
Jane Mulcahy
Met Office -
Paul Field
MetOffice -
Matthew Woodhouse
Centre for Marine and Atmospheric Research