Dr. Knut von Salzen

Current research and/or projects
Development and application of climate models with focus on clouds, aerosols, and radiation in the global atmosphere
- Development and evaluation of the Canadian atmospheric global climate model
- Feebacks between clouds and climate
- Climate forcing from interactions between aerosols, clouds, and radiation
- Aerosol dynamical and chemical processes
- Mixing and microphysical processes in convective and layer clouds
- Studying the changing Arctic
Professional activities / interests
Member of the Expert Group on Short-Lived Climate Forcers, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), Arctic Council.
Supervise graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at the University of Victoria and The University of British Columbia.
Education and awards
Diploma (Physics), University of Hamburg, Germany, 1994
Ph.D. (Atmospheric Sciences), University of Hamburg, Germany, 1997
Key publications
2013
- Fyfe, J. C., K. von Salzen, J. N. S. Cole, N. P. Gillett, J.-P. Vernier, 2013, Surface response to stratospheric aerosol changes in a coupled atmosphere-ocean model, Geophys. Res. Lett., doi:10.1002/grl.50156.
- Fyfe, J. C., K. von Salzen, N. P. Gillett, V. K. Arora, G. M. Flato, J. R. McConnell, 2013, One hundred years of multidecadal variation in Arctic surface temperature due to anthropogenic influence, Nature Scientific Reports, 3, 2645, doi:10.1038/srep02645.
- Gillett, N. P., K. von Salzen, 2013, The role of reduced aerosol precursor emissions in driving near-term warming, Environ. Res. Lett., 8, 034008, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034008.
- Li, L., K. von Salzen, Y. Peng, H. Zhang, X.-Z. Liang, 2013, Evaluation of black carbon semi-direct radiative effect in a climate model, J. Geophys. Res., doi:10.1002/jgrd.50327.
- Su, H., J. H. Jiang, C. Zhai, V. S. Perun, J. T. Shen, A. Del Genio, L. S. Nazarenko, L. J. Donner, L. Horowitz, C. Seman, C. Morcrette, J. Petch, M. Ringer, J. Cole, K. von Salzen, M. Mesquita, T. Iversen, J. E. Kristjansson, A. Gettelman, L. Rotstayn, S. Jeffrey, J. L. Dufresne, M. Watanabe, H. Kawai, T. Koshiro, T. Wu, E. M. Volodin, T. L'Ecuyer, J. Teixeira, G. L. Stephens, 2013, Diagnosis of regime-dependent cloud simulation errors in CMIP5 models using A-Train satellite observations, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 118, 2762-2780, doi:10.1029/2012JD018575.
- von Salzen, K., J. F. Scinocca, N. A. McFarlane, J. Li, J. N. S. Cole, D. Plummer, D. Verseghy, M. C. Reader, X. Ma, M. Lazare, L. Solheim, 2013, The Canadian Fourth Generation Atmospheric Global Climate Model (CanAM4). Part I: Representation of Physical Processes, Atmosphere-Ocean, 51, 104-125, doi:10.1080/07055900.2012.755610.
2012
- Fyfe, J. C., W. J. Merryfield, V. Kharin, G. J. Boer, W.-S. Lee, K. von Salzen, 2012, Skillful predictions of decadal trends in global mean surface temperatures, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, doi:10.1029/2011GL049508.
- Gillett, N. P., V. K. Arora, G. M. Flato, J. F. Scinocca, K. von Salzen, 2012, Improved constraints on 21st-century warming derived using 160 years of temperature observations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, doi:10.1029/2011GL050226.
2011
- Cole, J, H. W. Barker, N. G. Loeb, K. von Salzen, 2011, Assessing simulated clouds and radiative fluxes using properties of clouds whose tops are exposed to space, J. Climate, 24, 2715-2727.
- Isotta, F. A., P. Spichtinger, U. Lohmann, K. von Salzen, 2011, Improvement and implementation of a parameterization for shallow cumulus in the global climate model ECHAM5-HAM, J. Atmos. Sci., 68, 515-532.
- Monahan, A. H., B. Khouider, N. McFarlane, J. Scinocca, K. von Salzen, 2011, Stochastic and probablistic methods for ocean, atmosphere, and climate dynamics, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 92, 211-213.
2010
- Ma, X., K. von Salzen, J. Cole, 2010, Constraints on interactions between aerosols and clouds on a global scale from a combination of MODIS-CERES satellite data and climate simulations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 9851-9861.
- Mitovski,T., I. Folkins, K. von Salzen, M. Sigmond, 2010, Temperature, relative humidity, and divergence response to high rainfall events in the tropics: Observations and models, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 90, 379-383.
2009
- Khouider, B., A. H. Monahan, N. McFarlane, J. Scinocca, K. von Salzen, 2009, Tropical multiscale convective systems: Theory, modeling, and observations, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 90, 379-383.
- Klein, S. A., R. B. McCoy, H. Morrison, A. S. Ackerman, A. Avramov, G. de Boer, M. Chen, J. N. S. Cole, A. D. del Genio, M. Falk, M. J. Foster, A. Fridlind, J.-C. Golaz, T. Hashino, J. Y. Harrington, C. Hoose, M. F. Khairoutdinov, V. E. Larson, X. Liu, Y. Luo, G. M. McFarquhar, S. Menon, R. A. J. Neggers, S. Park, M. R. Poellot, J. M. Schmidt, I. Sednev, B. J. Shipway, M. D. Shupe, D. A. Spangenberg, Y. C. Sud, D. D. Turner, D. E. Veron, K. von Salzen, G. K. Walker, Z. Wang, A. B. Wolf, S. Xie, K.-M. Xu, F. Yang, G. Zhang, 2009, Intercomparison of model simulations of mixed-phase clouds observed during the ARM Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment. Part I: Single layer cloud, Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 135, 979-1002.
- Morrison, H., R. B. McCoy, S. A. Klein, S. Xie, Y. Luo, A. Avramov, M. Chen, J. N. S. Cole, M. Falk, M. J. Foster, A. D. del Genio, J. Y. Harrington, C. Hoose, M. F. Khairoutdinov, V. E. Larson, X. Liu, G. M. McFarquhar, M. R. Poellot, K. von Salzen, B. J. Shipway, M. D Shupe, Y. C. Sud, D. D. Turner, D. E. Veron, G. K. Walker, Z. Wang, A. B. Wolf, K.-M. Xu, F. Yang, G. Zhang, 2009, Intercomparison of model simulations of mixed-phase clouds during the ARM Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment. Part II: Multilayer Cloud, Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 135, 1003-1019.
2008
- Barker, H. W., J. N. S. Cole, J.-J. Morcrette, R. Pincus, P. Raisanen, K. von Salzen, P. A. Vaillancourt, 2008, The Monte Carlo Independent Column Approximation: An assessment using several global atmospheric models, Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 134, 1463-1478.
- Li, J., X. Ma, K. von Salzen, S. Dobbie, 2008, Parameterization of sea-salt optical properties and physics of the associated radiative forcing, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 4787-4798.
- Ma, X., K. von Salzen, J. Li, 2008, Modelling sea salt aerosol and its direct and indirect effects on climate, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 1311-1327.
2006
- Li, J., J. Scinocca, M. Lazare, N. McFarlane, K. von Salzen, L. Solheim, 2006, Ocean surface albedo and its impact on radiation balance in climate models, J. Climate, 19, 6314-6333.
- Ma, X., K. von Salzen, 2006, Dynamics of the sulphate aerosol size distribution on a global scale, J. Geopys. Res., 111, D08206, 10.1029/2005JD006620.
- von Salzen, K., 2006, Piecewise log-normal approximation of size distributions for aerosol modelling, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 1351-1372.
2002 - 2005
- Croft, B., U. Lohmann, K. von Salzen, 2005, Black carbon ageing in the Canadian Centre for Climate modelling and analysis atmospheric general circulation model, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 1931-1949.
- von Salzen, K., N. A. McFarlane, M. Lazare, 2005, The role of shallow convection in the water and energy cycles of the atmosphere, Clim. Dyn., 25, 671-688, doi: 10.1007/s00382-005-0051-2.
- Gong, S. L., L.A. Barrie, J.-P. Blanchet, K. von Salzen, U. Lohmann, G. Lesins, L. Spacek, L.M. Zhang, E. Girard, H. Lin, R. Leaitch, H. Leighton, P. Chylek, P. Huang, 2003, Canadian Aerosol Module: A Size Segregated Simulation of Atmospheric Aerosol Processes for Climate and Air Quality Models: 1. Module Development, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4007, doi:10.1029/2001JD002002.
- von Salzen, K., N. A. McFarlane, 2002, Parameterization of the bulk effects of lateral and cloud-top entrainment in transient shallow cumulus clouds, J. Atmos. Sci., 59, 1405-1429.
- Xie, S., K.-M. Xu, R. T. Cederwall, P. Bechtold, A. D. Del Genio, S. A. Klein, D. G. Cripe, S. J. Ghan, D. Gregory, S. F. Iacobellis, S. K. Krueger, U. Lohmann, J. C. Pech, D. A. Randall, L. D. Rotstayn, R. C. J. Somerville, Y. C. Sud, K. von Salzen, G. K. Walker, A. Wolf, J. J. Yio, G. J. Zhang, M. Zhang, 2002, Intercomparison and evaluation of cumulus parametrizations under summertime midlatitude continental conditions, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 128, 1095-1136.
Contact
Research facility
Expertise
Affiliations
Adjunct Professor, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria
Adjunct Professor, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, The University of British Columbia
Member of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society