Faculty Spotlight: Michael Diamond

Michael Diamond is an assistant professor in Florida State University’s Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, part of the College of Arts and Sciences. Diamond studies how cloud interactions with pollution particles known as aerosols affect the Earth’s climate, resulting in weather outcomes including cooling from cloud brightening. Diamond earned his bachelor’s in earth and environmental sciences in 2015 from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and his master’s in 2018 and his doctorate in 2020 in atmospheric sciences from the University of Washington in Seattle.

Tell us a little about your background, where you’re from and what brought you to FSU.

I grew up just outside New York City but have lived all over the country. After completing my doctorate, I was working as a postdoctoral visiting fellow in 2021 for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Chemical Science Laboratory and the University of Colorado Boulder when I saw an open FSU faculty position in cloud microphysics, the study of how cloud drops form and turn into rain and snow. The position was a perfect fit for my interests and studies, and my wife and I also wanted to come back to the southeast to be closer to family — the stars aligned.

What inspired you to choose your field of study?

When I started my undergraduate career, I thought I wanted to go into climate and energy policy, but I fell in love with the science instead and wanted to try and tackle the big questions. Many of those questions I now focus on revolve around how aerosol particles affect clouds, which is the largest source of scientific uncertainty in quantifying current climate change. This also has a domino effect making it harder to predict future climate. How clouds will change in a warming world is also a big unknown.

Can you break down your areas of research for us?

All liquid cloud drops and ice in Earth’s atmosphere develop from water vapor condensing onto an aerosol, which are microscopic particles floating in the atmosphere like dust and smoke. Understanding how many aerosol particles are in the atmosphere and whether those aerosols are better at creating liquid water droplets or solid ice crystals is critical for predicting cloud formation and precipitation. The number of cloud droplets in a cloud also determines how bright it is — in general, clouds are much more effective at reflecting sunlight back to space, which cools the Earth, if they’re made of many small droplets instead of fewer, larger droplets.

What do you want the public to know about the importance of your research?

Approximately one-third of the warming we could’ve experienced due to rising greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere has been masked by the cooling effect of aerosols changing cloud properties through the creation of cloud droplets. If it weren’t for pollution making clouds brighter through aerosols, we would already be well past the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping global warming below 3 degrees Fahrenheit. As we reduce air pollution, which is important for public health, the cooling effect of this “aerosol parasol” will go away. We need to reduce carbon dioxide and methane pollution while also reducing particle pollution if we don’t want to see a spike in temperatures.

What makes you passionate about your topics of research?

I’m a big physics nerd, so clouds are a great challenge — the scales used in cloud physics range from nanometers and milliseconds for cloud drop formations to thousands of kilometers and years for climate impacts.

I’m motivated by the fact that better understanding clouds is relevant for society in terms of how we respond to changing climates — both through our ability to predict changes and, more speculatively, create new ideas such as using sea salt to brighten clouds to offset some of the effects of global warming. This idea of marine cloud brightening is based on our observations of ship tracks, or lines of brighter clouds following individual ship smokestacks, but would use natural sea-salt sprays instead of harmful sulfur pollution.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

I enjoy working with students; I’m currently conducting research with a doctoral student, master’s student, and a number of undergraduate students. It’s fun to see them start to generate their own results and learn to become scientists.

I also really like teaching, although it can be difficult, and the thrill of discovery. There’s nothing quite like learning something no one else has found before.

What is your best memory so far from working at FSU?

The successful master’s defenses of my two graduate students were both highlights!

Who are your role models? Are there certain people who have influenced you most in your life and career?

Associate professor of meteorology and environmental science Allison Wing has been a great mentor for me during my time at FSU; she’s had an amazing career that I’m lucky to learn from.

I’ve also been fortunate to have had great relationships with my doctorate and postdoctoral mentors and still reach out to them for advice.

Do you have any exciting upcoming projects or goals you’re working toward?

I’m currently working on a paper related to how changes in ship pollution affect clouds. I’m excited about finding a way to potentially estimate global changes based on results we observed in one region that has an unusually clear signal.

I’m also working on a big grant for early career scientists through the National Science Foundation where I’m planning to get involved in a new branch of cloud physics and use different types of computer models than I’ve used in the past, which is both exciting and a little scary.

If your students only learned one thing from you (of course, hopefully they learn much more than that), what would you hope it to be?

Critical thinking! Skepticism is the essence of science — not unthinking rejection but rather careful consideration of the strength of the evidence for any given claim.

Lillian Gonda also contributed to this story.