Presidential Young Investigator Award

这是一个总统青年研究员奖给华盛顿大学的Christopher Bretherton教授。布雷瑟顿教授的主要研究兴趣是应用于对流的流体动力学不稳定性理论，以及理解复杂和混乱的地球物理流体系统的技术，特别是那些色散波起重要作用的系统。他对大气中的积云进行了研究，使用线性模型，其中云被简单地当作热源，以及非线性摄动理论，以显示内部重力波如何帮助组织云场，并确定对流层的水平平均特性如何被其中的云所改变。在未来几年中，布雷瑟顿教授将继续研究大气对流中的几个重要课题。一个主题是云顶夹带不稳定性在海洋层积云的维持和破裂中的作用；这一点很重要，因为海洋层积云覆盖了世界海洋的很大一部分（近25%）。第二个主题是研究深积云场的水平平均性质及其对对流强迫变化的响应；这可以解决大气化学中的基本问题，例如边界层的化学成分在对流层中均匀化并进入平流层的速度有多快。布雷瑟顿教授还将研究重力波和对流之间的相互作用。

This is a Presidential Young Investigator Award to Professor Christopher Bretherton of the University of Washington. Professor Bretherton's primary research interest is in hydrodynamic instability theory as applied to convection and in techniques for understanding complex and chaotic geophysical fluid systems, particularly those in which dispersive waves play an important role. He has conducted research on cumulus clouds in the atmosphere using linear models in which clouds are simply treated as sources of heat as well as nonlinear perturbation theory to show how internal gravity waves help organize a field of clouds and to determine how the horizontal mean properties of the convecting layer are modified by the clouds in it. In the coming years Professor Bretherton will continue his research on several important topics in atmospheric convection. One topic is the role of cloud-top entrainment instability in the maintenance and breakup of marine stratocumulus clouds; this is important since marine stratocumulus covers a significant portion (nearly 25%) of the world's oceans. A second topic is to investigate the horizontally averaged properties of fields of deep cumulus clouds and their response to changes in convective forcing; this can address basic issues in atmospheric chemistry, such as how fast chemical constituents from the boundary layer become homogenized throughout the troposphere and get into the stratosphere. Professor Bretherton will also examine the interplay between gravity waves and convection.