Overview
I am interested in the role that clouds play in the climate system. Clouds embody complicated, delicate interactions of atmospheric dynamics and thermodynamics, which come together to substantially alter the state of the atmosphere. Because so many scales are involved, from sub-millimeter (e.g. nucleation) to thousands of kilometers (e.g. planetary-scale waves), from seconds to years, the representation of clouds in climate models is challenging, and has remained a source of uncertainty in projections of future climate. My work uses these models to try to (1) better understand how clouds interact with the climate system and (2) to improve the representation of clouds in climate models.
Some of general interests that are related include: moist convection in various regimes (e.g., stratocumulus, shallow convection, and deep, precipitating convection), surface-atmosphere interaction, boundary layer processes, the hydrologic cycle, climate feedbacks (& climate sensitivity/stability), and climate modeling.
Projects
What controls the mean depth of the planetary boundary layer? -- a study using the UCLA atmospheric GCM, with emphasis on processes controlling PBL depth, including seasonal and daily variations. This work was published in the Journal of Climate in 2005 [LINK].
Aquaplanets, climate sensitivity, and low clouds. -- Can a simulation without Earth-like geography (i.e., continents, sea-ice, seasons) capture the same climate sensitivity as a more realistic GCM? What might this tell us about cloud effects in climate models? [LINK].
Related pages include our contributions to the Climate Process Team on Low Latitude Clouds (cpT (my unofficial logo)). [LINK]
Ongoing work is in support of the Center for Multiscale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes (CMMAP).
