Current  Topics  (Funded via NSF CAREER, and NOAA MAPP)

Earth’s climate is changing on a global scale, but we live and work and play here, or somewhere else. Even as global citizens, we live day-to-day in particular places.  And these places matter to us.

So, we want to understand how will the changing climate affect “my place”? As it turns out this is a cutting edge problem in climate science.  Although we have a pretty good handle on the global scale changes to expect (given assumptions about the future radiative forcing),  as we narrow the focus from global to local there are many more details that come into play, and the problem becomes more complex.   And the climate models we use must capture these interactions – its a tough problem.

Our research focuses on regions, and we work with latest available climate models, with a purpose to gain a credible understanding of regional climate change that will both build our knowledge and inform decisions.

 

Understanding Northeast Climate Change

• Recent observed climate: seasonal cycle, variations from year-to-year, trends, extremes
• Climate model simulations of recent climate
• Climate model projections of future climate, given scenarios of human forcing

 

How can we establish the credibility of climate models?  

In a given region, what are the critical climatic processes required for successful model simulation?

Is expert judgement required to evaluate such processes? Or is it possible to derive sophisticated diagnostics to evaluate such processes? Does selection of “better”  models lead to “more credible” regional projections?

 

 

How do monsoons change in a warmer world?

Did you know there are seven monsoon regions on Earth?  In these regions the annual warm season rains provide critical water resource, to than half of the world’s people.

We are working to understand how a warming climate  might change the timing and intensity of the monsoons.

 

Previous Studies

Evaluating Climate Change in the Altiplano,  with University of Missouri (funded by USAID)

Working with a multidisciplinary team, which includes Agricultural Economists, Social Scientists and National Meteorological and Hydrological researchers, we have examined the changing nature of precipitation variability and extremes of temperature and rainfall in the South American Altiplano regions of Bolivia and Peru. Outcomes from this research can be found in our Publications.