General Circulation Studies

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The PI is a retired university professor who will be working pro bono on the project. This award allows an undergraduate assistant to work with the PI on assembling and preparing graphical and animation illustrations for a graduate level textbook and a historical monograph on atmospheric circulation patterns. The textbook is based on his course notes that have been developed over a period of 30 years. The award also supports the publications of a series of journal articles documenting (i) trends tropical rain rate over the past 50 years, (ii) relationships between rain rate frequency and the frequency of lightning, (ii) the signature of atmospheric tides, including the possibility of a 2 weekly lunar synodic cycle in daily rainfall, and (iii) patterns of variability of tropical Pacific sea surface temperature on time scales ranging from seasons to decades. The books are intended to support the teaching of atmospheric dynamics in graduate and advanced undergraduate courses taken by students preparing for careers in atmospheric research and weather forecasting. The PI is already the author of a widely used textbook: Atmospheric Science: An Introductory Survey. The research focuses on the climatology of rain rate, a variable that has important implications for agriculture and flood control. It utilizes newly available data from satellite sensors and a worldwide, ground based lightning network. The projects provide training and mentoring for PhD scientists who are still at an early stage of their research careers.