CAREER: Understanding How Moist Processes Shape Tropical Motions in Observations and General Circulation Models

在过去的十年里，我们对热带天气系统的了解取得了迅速的进展。然而，还有很多东西需要学习，许多气候模型仍然难以模拟热带天气系统。该项目的目标是利用最近发展的理论来制定一系列标准，旨在确定控制热带系统的关键物理过程。这些标准将用于评估气候模式中马登-朱利安振荡和热带低气压样扰动的代表性。这项研究的结果将阐明水汽-云相互作用在热带天气系统中的重要性，目前在气候模型中没有很好地捕捉到这种相互作用，并将确定改善我们目前对热带天气系统的理论思考的机会。沿着培训学生和博士后，这项工作还将为讲西班牙语的人创造高质量的教育资源，其形式是一个名为“Tiempo，Clima y Tierra”的外行友好播客和面向本科生的教育在线研讨会。 对流层自由水汽对热带对流的发生和组织起着重要的作用。这一认识使我们对热带天气系统的理解取得了许多进展。其中一个进步是认识到可能存在“湿气模式”，这是一种热带系统，其中水汽在其演变中起着核心作用。此外，有证据表明，水平湿静力能量平流可以发挥重要作用的发展和增长的热带低气压样系统，导致“湿涡不稳定性”。该提案将利用我们对热带天气系统的理论理解的这些最新进展，制定一系列标准，旨在确定观测中的水分模式和水分涡旋不稳定性。预算方程的系统被确定为水分模式或增长的水分涡旋不稳定性将与线性理论。分析结果将用于评估各种模式模拟中的马登-朱利安振荡和热带低气压样波的代表性。该提案还将为讲西班牙语的人提供高质量的教育资源，形式是对外行友好的播客和针对本科生的教育在线研讨会。尽管西班牙语是世界上使用最广泛的语言之一，也是美国发展最快的语言之一，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Expeditious advances in our understanding of tropical weather systems have been made during the last decade. However, there is still much to be learned, and many climate models still struggle to simulate the tropical weather systems. The goal of this project is to leverage recently developed theories to develop a series of criteria aimed at identifying the key physical processes that govern the tropical systems. These criteria will be used to evaluate the representation of the Madden-Julian Oscillation and tropical depression-like disturbances in climate models. The outcome of this study will elucidate the importance of water vapor-cloud interactions in the tropical weather systems, interactions that are currently not well-captured in climate models, and will identify opportunities to improve our current theoretical thinking of tropical weather systems. Along with training students and a postdoc, the work will also create high-quality educational resources for Spanish speakers in the form of a layperson-friendly podcast titled “Tiempo, Clima y Tierra” and educational online workshops for undergraduate students. Free-tropospheric water vapor plays an important role in the occurrence and organization of tropical convection. This realization has led to numerous advances in our understanding of tropical weather systems. One such advancement is the recognition that “moisture modes” may exist, a type of tropical system in which water vapor plays a central role in its evolution. Furthermore, there is evidence that horizontal moist static energy advection can play an important role in the development and growth of tropical depression-like systems, leading to “moisture-vortex instability.” This proposal will leverage these recent advancements in our theoretical understanding of tropical weather systems to develop a series of criteria aimed at identifying moisture modes and moisture-vortex instability in observations. Budget equations for the systems that are identified as moisture modes or growing from moisture-vortex instability will be compared with those from linear theory. The results of this analysis will be used to evaluate the representation of the Madden-Julian Oscillation and tropical depression-like waves in the various model simulations. The proposal will also produce high-quality educational resources for Spanish speakers in the form of a layperson-friendly podcasts and educational online workshops for undergraduate students. Even though Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and one of the fastest-growing spoken languages in the US., there is a lack of high-quality educational resources that cover different topics of the geosciences in Spanish.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.