Nishida Prize

Kentaroh Suzuki

Commendation

Study on Climate Effect of Cloud with a Combined Use of Numerical Modeling and Satellite Observation

A list of five major papers

  • Suzuki, K., G. L. Stephens, A. Bodas-Salcedo, M. Wang, J.-C. Golaz, T. Yokohata, and T. Koshiro, 2015: Evaluation of the warm rain formation process in global models with satellite observations. J. Atmos. Sci., 72, 3996-4014, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-14-0265.1.
  • Suzuki, K., J.-C. Golaz, and G. L. Stephens, 2013: Evaluating cloud tuning in a climate model with satellite observations. Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 4464-4468, doi:10.1002/grl.50874.
  • Suzuki, K., T. Y. Nakajima, and G. L. Stephens, 2010: Particle growth and drop collection efficiency of warm clouds as inferred from joint CloudSat and MODIS observations. J. Atmos. Sci., 67, 3019-3032.
  • Suzuki, K., T. Nakajima, T. Y. Nakajima and A. P. Khain, 2010: A study of microphysical mechanisms for correlation pattern between droplet radius and optical thickness of warm clouds with a spectral bin microphysics cloud model. J. Atmos. Sci., 67, 1126-1141.
  • Suzuki, K., T. Nakajima, M. Satoh, H. Tomita, T. Takemura, T. Y. Nakajima, and G. L. Stephens, 2008: Global cloud-system-resolving simulation of aerosol effect on warm clouds. Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L19817, doi:10.1029/2008GL035449.”

Major achievements

“Kentaroh Suzuki developed a novel research method that combines numerical modeling and satellite observation for better understanding the physical properties of clouds, which are a key component of Earth’s climate and major uncertainty in future climate projections. A suite of numerical models, ranging from global to regional models, were used along with his newly developed scheme for explicitly representing cloud particle size distribution to quantify aerosol effects on cloud particle size distribution, cloud water content, cloud lifetime, and precipitation.
The modeling approaches were also combined with satellite observation analysis for diagnostics of cloud microphysical processes to identify condensation and coalescence growth processes. These achievements were highly appreciated and awarded the Japan Meteorological Society Award in 2014. He has also been actively contributing to the international community, serving as a member of the Science Steering Committee of the ACPC initiative established in IGAC, and a member of the Joint Mission Advisory Group of the EarthCARE earth observation satellite jointly prepared for launch by Japan and Europe, and his achievements are highly appreciated internationally.
IGAC: International Global Atmospheric Chemistry
ACPC: Aerosol-Clouds-Precipitation-Climate

Nominator

Teruyuki Nakajima