Expertise
My work began in atmospheric convection, in the larger context of tropical weather and climate. That larger picture requires understanding other processes like radiation and surface fluxes as well. Working with postdocs, students, and collaborators, I maintain a 3-pronged effort that builds from local scales (very definite and tangible, but always dependent on what lies beyond), via quantitative analysis and abstraction, up toward global scales (vast and pervasive yet evasive: everywhere and nowhere).
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We study convective clouds and storms and local atmospheric structure (especially in the vertical) , using observations (radars, aircraft, soundings, satellites) and cloud-resolving models.
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We study the large-scale net thermodynamic and dynamic effects of convection and related processes in the atmosphere, guided by observations; and then try to encapsulate the essence in simple models (the parameterization problem).
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We study several large-scale weather and climate phenomena using regional and global observations and models, to lend more context and meaning to the activities described above.