Research Areas - Aerosol-cloud Interaction,
Precipitation Development, Cloud Micro-physical Processes,
In-situ/Remote Sensing Comparison
Dr. David Delene is a Research
Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the
University of North Dakota (UND). Dr. Delene received a B.S.
in Applied Physics from Michigan Technological University in
May 1993. As a graduated student in Geophysics at Michigan
Technological University, Dr. Delene conducted research on
remote sensing of volcanic ash clouds. During Ph.D. research
at the University of Wyoming, Dr. Delene worked on
balloon-borne aerosol observations. Dr.
Delene spent two years as a Research Associate at the
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
in Boulder Colorado, working on evaluating uncertainties in
satellite retrievals of aerosol optical depth before coming to
the University of North Dakota (UND) in 2001. Since coming to
UND, Dr. Delene has focused on conducting airborne
measurements to understand aerosol-cloud interaction and
precipitation formation. Measurements from the UND's Citation
Research Aircraft, along with radar, surface and satellite
observations, provides new information for understanding cloud
and precipitation processes. Research
projects have taken Dr. Delene to such interesting places as
Alaska, Hawaii, New Zealand, India,
China, UAE, Saudi Arabia, West Africa,
Namibia, and Chile. Dr. Delene works on
innovations with people from around the world and in North
Dakota.
Dr. Delene
research interests include atmospheric aerosols, cloud physics, weather modification,
satellite remote sensing of aerosols and clouds, air pollution,
and climate change. Central to my
research interests are the suspended particles in the atmosphere
known as aerosols. Atmospheric aerosols are an important area of
research since they affect the earth's climate by scattering and
absorbing radiation and by influencing the characteristics of
clouds. Understanding the influence of aerosols on the earth's
climate is necessary for reliable predictions of
anthropogenic induced climate change. The direct effect of
aerosols to scatter and absorb radiation in the atmosphere
influences the amount of radiation reaching the earth's surface
and the amount radiated back to space. Absorption of radiation
by aerosols can heat the atmosphere sufficiently to
affect the formation of clouds, and the cloud droplet number
concentration is determined to a large extent by a subset of
atmospheric aerosols, called cloud condensation nuclei (CCN).
CCN influence the lifetime of clouds by reducing the number of
large cloud droplets and hence inhibit the precipitation
formation process. Satellite data extend in space and time
in-situ measurements to give a global prospective that is costly
to obtain with in-situ measurements. In-situ and satellite
measurements need to be synthesized and incorporated into
climate models so predictions can be made and tested about cloud
microphysics, radiation balance, and precipitation. Models that
fully incorporate aerosols may be used in examining how
aerosols, radiation balances and precipitation systems are
coupled and investigate possible feed backs. Collaboration among researchers is critical and Dr. Delene
collaborates with other researches to obtain and analyze
observations to understand the earth's atmosphere.
Articles Quoted (David Delene)
In
"Change
on the plains: Impacts of climate change being felt in
region" by
April Baumgarten, Grand
Forks Herald, December
16, 2018.
"UND
researcher working with Fargo and Kindred companies to
ease drought around the world" by Neil Carlson,
Valley News Live, November 23, 2016.
"UND
research aircraft returns after two-week mission"
by John Hageman, Grand Forks Herald, August 15, 2015.
Conference
Unique
Ice Crystal Observations from the ICE-Ball Field Campaign
Combined with Model Simulations Elucidate Cirrus Development
Morphology
of Midlatitude Cirrus Ice Crystals from Balloon-Borne
Measurements
Links
University
Surplus Property
University
of North Daktoa Research Channel
Very Hard to do High Quality Research at
Universities, see for example Katalin
Kariko and mRNA Story
David
Delene's Home Page