Tropical Convection and the General Circulation

9508085 Evans博士将研究热带对流与大尺度环流之间的关系。长期以来，人们一直假设，由热带对流完成的热量、水分和动量从热带向温带的输送维持了大气环流。埃文斯博士进一步指出，对流的组织程度是由维持大气环流所需的因素决定的，高度组织的系统在维持地球能量平衡方面发挥着巨大而必要的作用。利用卫星观测，Evans博士将对各种类型的热带对流系统进行分类，从短暂的无组织对流到高度组织的热带气旋和中尺度对流复合体，然后通过分析动量和能量通量来评估它们对大气环流的影响。这些分析将采用欧洲中期预报中心最近在热带太平洋进行的一项实地试验所产生的网格场。埃文斯博士的教育项目将主要通过她与宾夕法尼亚州立大学女性科学与工程研究所的合作，专注于在研究生和本科阶段招聘和留住有才华的女性。她还将开设一门关于气候建模的新课程，该课程将特别强调与气候系统研究和建模相关的当前有争议的话题。＊＊＊

9508085 Evans Under this CAREER award, Dr. Evans will examine the relationship between tropical convection and the large-scale circulation. It has long been hypothesized that the transports of heat, moisture and momentum from the tropics to the extratropics, accomplished by tropical convection, maintain the general circulation. Dr. Evans further suggests that the degree to which the convection is organized is determined by what is required to maintain the general circulation, with highly organized systems playing a large, and necessary, role in maintaining the Earth's energy balance. Using satellite-based observations, Dr. Evans will classify various types of tropical convective systems ranging from short-lived, disorganized convection to highly organized tropical cyclones and mesoscale convective complexes, and then assess their impact on the general circulation by analyzing the momentum and energy fluxes. The analyses will employ the gridded fields produced by the European Centre for Medium Range Forecasting for a recent field experiment in the tropical Pacific. Dr. Evans' educational program will focus on the recruitment and retention of talented women at the graduate and undergraduate level, primarily through her work with the Women in Science and Engineering Institute at Penn State. She also will develop a new course on climate modeling which will include special emphasis on current controversial topics related to climate systems study and modeling. ***