Atmospheric Remote Sensing 
Office: Burnside Hall 817
Tel.: (514) 398-1500
Fax.: (514) 398-6115
Website
E-mail
Research Interests
We use a combination of remote sensing observations and global climate models to better understand and predict how clouds change in response to global warming. Our research is motivated by the fact that clouds contribute the largest uncertainty to climate projections in climate models. Some questions we strive to answer are:
- How does cloud optical depth change in response to global warming? What are the dominant physical mechanisms responsible for these changes?
- How does the unique environment of the Arctic influence mixed-phase clouds? How do these clouds in turn impact Arctic climate?
- How can mixed-phase clouds be more realistically represented in large-scale climate models? Do more realistic representations of these clouds impact climate sensitivity?
Selected Publications
Tan, I., L. Oreopoulos, N. Cho. 2019. "The Role of Thermodynamic Phase Shifts in Cloud Optical Depth Variations With Temperature." Geophysical Research Letters, 46 (8): 4502-4511 [10.1029/2018gl081590]
Tan, I., and T. Storelvmo. 2019. "Evidence of Strong Contributions From Mixed‐Phase Clouds to Arctic Climate Change." Geophysical Research Letters, 46 (5): 2894-2902 [10.1029/2018gl081871]
McCoy, D. T., I. Tan, D. L. Hartmann, M. D. Zelinka, and T. Storelvmo. 2016. "On the relationships among cloud cover, mixed-phase partitioning, and planetary albedo in GCMs." Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 8 (2): 650-668 [10.1002/2015ms000589]
Tan, I., T. Storelvmo, and M. D. Zelinka. 2016. "Observational constraints on mixed-phase clouds imply higher climate sensitivity." Science, 352 (6282): 224-227 [10.1126/science.aad5300]
Tan, I., and T. Storelvmo. 2016. "Sensitivity Study on the Influence of Cloud Microphysical Parameters on Mixed-Phase Cloud Thermodynamic Phase Partitioning in CAM5." Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 73 (2): 709-728 [10.1175/jas-d-15-0152.1]
Tan, I., T. Storelvmo, and Y.-S. Choi. 2014. "Spaceborne lidar observations of the ice-nucleating potential of dust, polluted dust, and smoke aerosols in mixed-phase clouds." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 119 (11): 6653-6665 [10.1002/2013jd021333]