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Up in the Air

January 2, 2016

Chien Wang is a senior research scientist in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT associated with MIT’s Center for Global Change Science and the Joint Program in the Science and Policy of Global Change. Wang and his group develop and use complex computer models housed at the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center to explore how atmospheric aerosols impact climate.
Video by Helen Hill for MGHPCC

Watch this video on youtube
The Earth’s climate, currently the subject of so much debate, results from a highly complex balance of physical and chemical processes. While the role of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in global warming is, by now, widely appreciated, the role of atmospheric aerosols and the clouds that form on them remains an area of active research.
Atmospheric aerosols - tiny, airborne solid and liquid particles - are present throughout the atmosphere. Besides being responsible for haziness, and reduced visibility they also provide the centers around which clouds form.
About 90% by mass* come from natural sources: Salt lifted from the ocean, dust from deserts and other arid regions, smoke from forest fires, and ash from erupting volcanoes, all contribute to a rich mix of chemicals in the sky.
The remaining 10%, considered to be the result of human activity, include combustion products from e.g. automobile exhaust, incineration, smelting, and power generation based on burning fossil fuels.
About Chien Wang

Chien Wang, MIT

Chien Wang, MIT


Chien Wang is a Senior Research Scientist in the Center for Global Change Science and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interests include atmospheric aerosols and clouds, tropospheric chemistry, and the roles of aerosol-cloud interaction in atmospheric chemistry, precipitation, and climate dynamics. He is also interested in examining the climate impacts of anthropogenic activities that alter atmospheric compositions or change the Earth’s surface properties or energy budget.
* http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Aerosols/
Related Links
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT
Center for Global Change Science, MIT
Joint Program for the Science and Policy of Global Change, MIT
 
Story image: Biomass burning aerosol transport and tropical convective clouds over Southeast Asia - from a 3D simulation by Wang Group atmospheric chemistry modeler Hsiang-He Lee.
 

Research projects

A Future of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Yale Budget Lab
Volcanic Eruptions Impact on Stratospheric Chemistry & Ozone
The Rhode Island Coastal Hazards Analysis, Modeling, and Prediction System
Towards a Whole Brain Cellular Atlas
Tornado Path Detection
The Kempner Institute - Unlocking Intelligence
The Institute for Experiential AI
Taming the Energy Appetite of AI Models
Surface Behavior
Studying Highly Efficient Biological Solar Energy Systems
Software for Unreliable Quantum Computers
Simulating Large Biomolecular Assemblies
SEQer - Sequence Evaluation in Realtime
Revolutionizing Materials Design with Computational Modeling
Remote Sensing of Earth Systems
QuEra at the MGHPCC
Quantum Computing in Renewable Energy Development
Pulling Back the Quantum Curtain on ‘Weyl Fermions’
New Insights on Binary Black Holes
NeuraChip
Network Attached FPGAs in the OCT
Monte Carlo eXtreme (MCX) - a Physically-Accurate Photon Simulator
Modeling Hydrogels and Elastomers
Modeling Breast Cancer Spread
Measuring Neutrino Mass
Investigating Mantle Flow Through Analyses of Earthquake Wave Propagation
Impact of Marine Heatwaves on Coral Diversity
IceCube: Hunting Neutrinos
Genome Forecasting
Global Consequences of Warming-Induced Arctic River Changes
Fuzzing the Linux Kernel
Exact Gravitational Lensing by Rotating Black Holes
Evolution of Viral Infectious Disease
Evaluating Health Benefits of Stricter US Air Quality Standards
Ephemeral Stream Water Contributions to US Drainage Networks
Energy Transport and Ultrafast Spectroscopy Lab
Electron Heating in Kinetic-Alfvén-Wave Turbulence
Discovering Evolution’s Master Switches
Dexterous Robotic Hands
Developing Advanced Materials for a Sustainable Energy Future
Detecting Protein Concentrations in Assays
Denser Environments Cultivate Larger Galaxies
Deciphering Alzheimer's Disease
Dancing Frog Genomes
Cyber-Physical Communication Network Security
Avoiding Smash Hits
Analyzing the Gut Microbiome
Adaptive Deep Learning Systems Towards Edge Intelligence
Accelerating Rendering Power
ACAS X: A Family of Next-Generation Collision Avoidance Systems
Neurocognition at the Wu Tsai Institute, Yale
Computational Modeling of Biological Systems
Computational Molecular Ecology
Social Capital and Economic Mobility
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Outreach & Education Projects

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