Thompson, Seth

Research Interests

Before coming to Texas A&M, I worked to quantify the hygroscopicity of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in California’s Central Valley in an attempt to better understand aerosol-cloud interactions.

Then, I shifted away from liquid droplets and to the formation of ice crystals by ice nucleating particles (INPs). The project I worked on for my Master’s thesis analyzed the ability of soot, produced by high explosive detonations, to act as INP. This special type of soot is expected in a hypothetical nuclear exchange, and this research improves our knowledge of the indirect impacts from an event.

Now, I am working on a field campaign, TRACER, that intends to investigate the impact of aerosol on deep convective systems in and around Houston. During this project, we will “chase” deep convective systems across Houston to measure storm and aerosol characteristics, including CCN and INP analysis, at the inflow and outflow of the systems.