Dr Marc Mallet

Dr Marc Mallet AIPS TAS 2024 Young Tall Poppy

Seasalt and biological sources of aerosol emitted from phytoplankton are the dominant source of aerosol particles in the Southern Ocean that are essential for cloud formation. Understanding the complex interactions involving phytoplankton biology, atmospheric chemistry, and cloud physics is challenging due to insufficient data. Dr Mallet collaborates with a large network of Australian and international researchers to collect and analyse new data from the Southern Ocean, aiming to bridge this significant knowledge gap.
 
His work involves collecting valuable ship-based observations in the Southern Ocean of phytoplankton abundance and the concentrations of gases they emit, as well as the properties of aerosols and clouds within the atmosphere. To better understand the properties of clouds more broadly, he uses a range of satellite products to determine whether clouds are liquid or ice, and how the concentration of cloud droplets is influenced by aerosols. He works closely with climate modellers to assess their ability to predict cloud properties over the Southern Ocean, and to use new knowledge from the observations to improve simulations.
2024
Physics, Atmospheric Science, Cloud Formation Physics, Filling Knowledge Gaps, Climate Models