Defenses for Spring 2020
Projecting End-of-century Human Exposure to Eastern Colorado Tornadoes and Hailstorms: Meteorological and Societal Perspectives
June 12, 2020
Sam Childs
Also, you can download the videos at the original resolution. The Front Range and eastern Plains of Colorado is one of the most active tornado and hailstorm regions in the U.S., with an average of 39 tornado reports and 387 severe (1.0”+) hail reports each year. It is of interest to investigate how the frequency and severity of tornadoes and…
Response of Convective Cold Pools and Precipitation to Changes in Soil Moisture
March 06, 2020
Aryeh Drager
In Part 1 of this dissertation, we examine the role of soil moisture in modulating convective cold pool properties. This investigation is performed within an idealized modeling framework that featuring a cloud-resolving model coupled to an interactive land surface model. Five high-resolution simulations of tropical continental convection are conducted in which the initial soil moisture is…
ORIGINS AND IMPACTS OF TROPOPAUSE LAYER COOLING IN TROPICAL CYCLONES
February 14, 2020
Louis Rivoire
Remote sensing data from GPS radio occultation reveal temperatures lower than climatological average over a layer several kilometers deep near the tropopause above tropical cyclones (TCs). This signal, here referred to as tropopause layer cooling (TLC), occurs primarily during TC intensification and on spatial scales of the order of 1000 km. TLC has been hypothesized to be the result of: 1)…
OBSERVATIONS OF AEROSOL PARTICLES AND DEEP CONVECTIVE UPDRAFTS AND THE MODELING OF THEIR INTERACTIONS
February 04, 2020
Peter Marinescu
Within cloud updrafts, cloud droplets form on aerosol particles that serve as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Varying the concentrations of CCN alters the concentrations of cloud droplets, which in turn modifies subsequent microphysical processes within clouds. In this dissertation, both observational and modeling studies are presented that reduce the uncertainties associated with these…
Impacts of Arctic warming and sea ice loss on the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude large-scale circulation
January 28, 2020
Bryn Ronalds
The consequences of the rapid warming of the Arctic and associated sea ice loss on the Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation is still largely debated. The uncertainty in the circulation response stems from a poor understanding of the underlying physical mechanisms of the remote response, regional and seasonal differences, differences between models and experimental set-ups, the large…
Constraining Marine Ice Nucleating Particle Parameterizations in Atmospheric Models using Observations from the Southern Ocean
January 22, 2020
Kathryn Moore
The limited anthropogenic and terrestrial aerosol sources impacting the Southern Ocean (SO) make it a unique site to study the production of primary sea spray aerosols (SSA) and their role in modifying cloud properties. Previous observations of low ice nucleating particle (INP) concentrations and recent modeling work support the idea that the SO INP population is dominated by SSA. These marine…
On the Relation between Satellite Observed Liquid Water Path, Cloud Droplet Number Concentration and Cloud Base Rain Rate and Its Implication for the Auto-Conversion Rate in Stratocumulus Clouds
January 20, 2020
Yasutaka Murakami
Stratocumulus clouds are low-level convective clouds that developed within atmospheric boundary layer. Their persistence and broad coverage of the earth’s surface produces important impacts on the global radiation energy budget and hydrological cycle. Precipitation processes of these stratocumulus clouds play a large role in its longevity and spatial distribution through its interaction with…