Crossroads of Tropical Meteorology and Atmospheric Composition in the Maritime Continent: Recent Field Results from the 7SEAS Program

Since 2009, seasonal field campaigns have been conducted by the 7 Southeast Asian Studies (7SEAS) project throughout the Maritime Continent to study the lifecycle and meteorological impacts of aerosol particles. However given the complex interactions between air, land and sea in the region, aerosol impact studies are significantly confounded by a host of meteorological phenomena. At the same time, aerosol and other compositional studies add a new perspective on atmospheric processes. In this presentation we briefly outline aerosol lifecycle connections to the phases of ENSO, IOD, and the MJO as observed in measurements made through networks and intensive operations periods. However, our focus is on the ramification of these observations on aerosol-cloud relationships at more regional and local levels. Connections between the MJO and tropical cyclone formation as well as the advection of lower free tropospheric dry layers frame aerosol-convection relationships. The frequent formation of trans-MC squall lines and their associated cold pools significantly modifies common conceptual models of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interaction. We close with a list of suggested tropical meteorology research topics and questions which we believe are most relevant to understanding atmospheric composition in this region.