Research Areas Overview

Precipitation processes and changes under global warming

• Precipitation Clusters
  • Changes in probability of large clusters under global warming
  • Explaining precipitation cluster size distributions with intermediate complexity models
• Precipitation probability distributions
  • Explaining precipitation probability distributions
• Precipitation buoyancy relationships
• Understanding deep convection to improve climate models
  • Example: Explaining deep inflow— what it is, why it matters



Hierarchical modeling

Creation of process models and intermediate complexity models that yield understanding of climate system processes

• Intermediate complexity models for convective aggregation
• QTCMs (Quasi-equilibrium Tropical Circulation Models): Intermediate complexity Earth system models that use the properties of moist convection to simplify atmospheric equations

Ocean-Atmosphere Interaction



Tropical atmospheric dynamics for tropical climate problems



Process-oriented diagnostics

Process-oriented diagnostics aim to identify… Neelin Chairs the NOAA Model Diagnostics Task Force (MDTF) in a collaborative effort with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Colorado State University, UC Davis, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and other institutions.  The MDTF coordinates diagnostics inputs from many contributing institutions into a software framework used by climate and weather model developers to test and improve the next generation of models.



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