Daniel Rosenfeld (academic)

Daniel Rosenfeld
דניאל רוזנפלד
Born (1952-06-21) June 21, 1952
Kfar Saba, Israel
OccupationsAtmospheric scientist and academic
Known forAerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions; aerosol convective invigoration; aerosol effects on lightning and tropical cyclones; weather modification; cloud-mediated aerosol forcing
AwardsEMET Prize;Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher
Academic background
EducationThe Hebrew University
B.Sc., Geology
M.Sc., Atmospheric Sciences
Ph.D., Atmospheric Sciences
Academic work
InstitutionsThe Hebrew University

Daniel Rosenfeld (born June 21, 1952) (Hebrew: דניאל רוזנפלד) is an Israeli atmospheric scientist and academic. He is a Professor Emeritus at The Hebrew University as well as an Adjunct Professor at Texas A&M University, Nanjing University, and Wuhan University.[1]

Rosenfeld's research has explored how aerosols influence cloud processes and precipitation, demonstrating that while particulate air pollution suppresses rainfall from shallow clouds, it intensifies deep convection, increasing lightning, hail, tornado severity, and hurricane expansion and weakening, whereas large sea salt aerosols mitigate these effects. His scholarly contributions include more than 300 publications in journals including Science, Nature, PNAS, Earth-Science Reviews, and Geophysical Research Letters.[2]

Rosenfeld served as a Lead Author of the chapter 'Water Cycle Changes' in the 6th IPCC Assessment Report[3][1] and co-chaired the Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation Climate (ACPC) international initiative.[4] He has received the Friendship Award, E.M.T Award, Kaufman Award,[5] and Verner Suomi Medal.[6]

Early life and Education

Rosenfeld completed his academic training at The Hebrew University, earning a B.Sc. in Geology in 1977, followed by an M.Sc. in 1980 and a Ph.D. in 1986 in Atmospheric Sciences,[7]all from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with graduate work in cloud microphysics and radar meteorology that later underpinned his research on aerosol cloud precipitation interactions.[1]

Career

Rosenfeld began his career as a teaching assistant at the Hebrew University between 1977 and 1986 and subsequently assumed the position of Postdoctoral Research Fellow at NASA/GSFC, a role he retained until 1988. At The Hebrew University, Rosenfeld held multiple appointments, including as a Lecturer from 1988 to 1991, a Senior Lecturer from 1991 to 1998, an Associate Professor from 1998 to 2001, and a Professor from 2001 to 2020. He has served as an Adjunct Professor at Texas A&M University since 2014, at Nanjing University since 2018,[8] and at Wuhan University since 2020. He has been a Professor Emeritus at The Hebrew University since 2020.[1]

Research

Much of Rosenfeld’s work in this area was carried out through his research group and international collaborations in aerosol cloud precipitation research.

Aerosols and precipitation

Rosenfeld’s research examines how aerosols affect cloud droplet formation, precipitation efficiency, and climate. His 2000 paper in Science argued that urban and industrial aerosols suppress rain and snow by increasing droplet number and reducing droplet size, delaying precipitation.[9] Later work with V. Ramanathan, Paul Crutzen, Jeffrey Kiehl, and others examined links between aerosols, radiation, and the hydrological cycle, including smoke cloud interactions in the Amazon and reviews of how aerosols can suppress or enhance precipitation depending on conditions.[10][11]

Aerosol convective invigoration and lightning

Rosenfeld and his research group formulated and advanced the hypothesis that high concentrations of small aerosol particles can suppress warm rain, retain cloud water aloft, and strengthen some deep convective clouds under suitable conditions.[12] Work from Rosenfeld’s group used aerosol cloud microphysics to explain why lightning is far more common over land than over oceans: continental aerosols delay warm rain and promote electrification, while large sea salt particles over oceans accelerate rain and suppress electrification. A 2022 Nature Communications study found fine aerosols substantially increase lightning density, while coarse sea spray can reduce it by up to about 90 percent.[13]

Deep convection and tropical cyclones

A 2018 Science paper by Fan, Rosenfeld, and co authors reported that ultrafine aerosols can enhance deep convective clouds and precipitation under some conditions.[14]In tropical cyclones, Rosenfeld’s group argued that aerosols can modify cloud microphysics in ways that suppress hurricane intensity while altering storm size and precipitation distribution.[15]

Marine low clouds and cloud-mediated aerosol forcing

In satellite based research led by Rosenfeld, aerosol driven droplet concentrations were linked to cloud cover and liquid water in oceanic low level clouds; Rosenfeld’s group has also contributed reviews on the challenges of quantifying cloud-mediated aerosol forcing from space.[16][17]

Weather modification

Weather modification and cloud seeding have been recurring themes in Rosenfeld’s research, beginning with his graduate work on Israeli cloud seeding experiments and later field studies of convective cloud seeding elsewhere.[18]His publications address how cloud microstructure affects both the potential magnitude and the detectability of seeding effects. He has also served, since 2024, as principal investigator on a project under the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science.[19]

International scientific roles

Rosenfeld served as a Lead Author of the Water Cycle Changes chapter in the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report,[20] and co chaired the Aerosol Cloud Precipitation Climate initiative, which brought together observational, modelling, and remote sensing research on aerosol cloud precipitation interactions.[21]

Selected awards and honors

Selected articles

  • Rosenfeld, D. (2000). Suppression of rain and snow by urban and industriaal air pollution. science, 287(5459), 1793-1796.
  • Ramanathan, V. C. P. J., Crutzen, P. J., Kiehl, J. T., & Rosenfeld, D. (2001). Aerosols, climate, and the hydrological cycle. science, 294(5549), 2119-2124.
  • Andreae, M. O., Rosenfeld, D., Artaxo, P., Costa, A. A., Frank, G. P., Longo, K. M., & Silva-Dias, M. A. F. D. (2004). Smoking rain clouds over the Amazon. science, 303(5662), 1337-1342.
  • Rosenfeld, D., Lohmann, U., Raga, G. B., O'Dowd, C. D., Kulmala, M., Fuzzi, S., ... & Andreae, M. O. (2008). Flood or drought: how do aerosols affect precipitation?. science, 321(5894), 1309-1313.
  • Andreae, M. O., & Rosenfeld, D. J. E. S. R. (2008). Aerosol–cloud–precipitation interactions. Part 1. The nature and sources of cloud-active aerosols. Earth-Science Reviews, 89(1-2), 13-41.
  • Fan, J., Rosenfeld, D., Zhang, Y., Giangrande, S. E., Li, Z., Machado, L. A., ... & de Souza, R. A. (2018). Substantial convection and precipitation enhancements by ultrafine aerosol particles. Science, 359(6374), 411-418.
  • Rosenfeld, D., Zhu, Y., Wang, M., Zheng, Y., Goren, T., & Yu, S. (2019). Aerosol-driven droplet concentrations dominate coverage and water of oceanic low-level clouds. Science, 363(6427), eaav0566.
  • Liu, F., Mao, F., Rosenfeld, D., Pan, Z., Zang, L., Zhu, Y., ... & Gong, W. (2022). Opposing comparable large effects of fine aerosols and coarse sea spray on marine warm clouds. Communications Earth & Environment, 3(1), 232.
  • Pan, Z., Mao, F., Rosenfeld, D., Zhu, Y., Zang, L., Lu, X., ... & Gong, W. (2022). Coarse sea spray inhibits lightning. Nature Communications, 13(1), 4289.
  • Rosenfeld, D., Kokhanovsky, A., Goren, T., Gryspeerdt, E., Hasekamp, O., Jia, H., ... & Sourdeval, O. (2023). Frontiers in satellite‐based estimates of cloud‐mediated aerosol forcing. Reviews of Geophysics, 61(4), e2022RG000799.
  • Yin, J., Pan, Z., Mao, F., Rosenfeld, D., Zang, L., Chen, J., & Gong, J. (2024). Large effects of fine and coarse aerosols on tropical deep convective systems throughout their lifecycle. npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, 7(1), 195.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Prof. Daniel Rosenfeld-UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science".
  2. ↑ "Daniel Rosenfeld–Google Scholar".
  3. ↑ "Annex IX: Contributors to the IPCC WGI Sixth Assessment Report" (PDF).
  4. ↑ "ACPC Science Objective".
  5. 1 2 "Yoram J. Kaufman Outstanding and Unselfish Cooperation in Research Award".
  6. 1 2 "Past Award & Honors Recipients".
  7. ↑ "Danny Rosenfeld–Advancing Earth and space science".
  8. ↑ "Adjunct Professor of SAS-NJU".
  9. ↑ "Suppression of Rain and Snow by Urban and Industrial Air Pollution". science org.
  10. ↑ "Smoking Rain Clouds over the Amazon". science org.
  11. ↑ "Flood or Drought: How Do Aerosols Affect Precipitation?". science org.
  12. ↑ "Flood or Drought: How Do Aerosols Affect Precipitation?". science org.
  13. ↑ "Coarse sea spray inhibits lightning". nature.
  14. ↑ "Substantial convection and precipitation enhancements by ultrafine aerosol particles". Science org.
  15. ↑ "Aerosol Effects on Microstructure and Intensity of Tropical Cyclones". journals ametsoc org.
  16. ↑ "Aerosol-driven droplet concentrations dominate coverage and water of oceanic low-level clouds". Science org.
  17. ↑ "Frontiers in Satellite-Based Estimates of Cloud-Mediated Aerosol Forcing". agupubs online library wiley.
  18. ↑ "Daniel Rosenfeld". ae info.
  19. ↑ "Prof. Daniel Rosenfeld". uae rep.
  20. ↑ "Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis". ipcc ch.
  21. ↑ "Global observations of aerosol-cloud-precipitation-climate interactions". agupubs online library wiley.
  22. ↑ "List of Fellows–American Meteorological Society".
  23. ↑ "Member–The European Academy of Sciences and Arts".
  24. ↑ "2015 Class of AGU Fellows Announced". 28 July 2015.
  25. ↑ "Daniel Rosenfeld - Academia Europea".
  26. ↑ "Of the world's population of scientists and social scientists, Highly Cited Researchers are 1 in 1,000". clarivate.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.