Modeling Large-scale Dynamical Effects on Climate

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The project will investigate a number of fundamental processes governing the past, present, and future climates of the Earth. The major themes are intermediate complexity climate models applied to climate change and paleoclimate problems, observational and theoretical work relating to water vapor feedback, and statistical theories of scalar tracers and mixing with applications in both the troposphere and stratosphere. A notable feature of this effort is its emphasis on theoretical understanding. The project's focus is to improve understanding of the coupling between tropical and extratropical regions. The linkage between tropical moisture sources and moisture distribution in the extratropics (where water vapor can significantly impact the radiative cooling to space) motivates project activities in statistical mechanics of the mixing of atmospheric constituents, and Hadley cell dynamics and transports. Dr. Pierrehumbert will investigate the role of these processes in climate variability and global change by conducting experiments with climate models that are simpler and faster than general circulation models but which retain sufficient dynamics and resolution to represent realistically heat transport, water vapor feedback, and other physical processes. The project will advance theoretical understanding and modeling of dynamical, thermodynamical, and chemical interactions between the tropics and extratropics, in context of climate variability and global change.