The Arctic is one of the cloudiest regions on the Earth. White carpet of clouds typically covers the Arctic during three quarters of year. In summertime, clouds reflect sunlight helping to keep the Arctic cool. In winter time, they capture and backscatter heat making the Arctic warmer than it could be under a clear sky. [img_assist|nid=93550|title=|desc=Figure 1. Historical variations since 1930 of the observed convective cloud fraction at the Wrangel Island station (redrawn from Chernokulsky and Esau, 2019).

Professor Fuqing Zhang: (Penn State)We seek to develop and apply a generalized data assimilation framework using Ensemble-based Simultaneous State and Parameter Estimation (ESSPE) that will facilitate data-model integration and uncertainty quantification for the broad weather, climate and earth science communities.