Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Elizabeth Cassano

Senior Associate Scientist

Headshot of Elizabeth Cassano
Education
  • M.S., University of Wyoming, 1998
  • B.S., Purdue University, 1995
Phone
303-492-0281

Research Interests

Elizabeth Cassano is a Senior Associate Scientist affiliated with NSIDC, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and the Department of Atmospheric Science (ATOC) at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research is focused on Arctic synoptic climatology and putting individual weather and extreme events in climatological context. She also evaluates the climatology of Arctic cyclones and their impacts on the surface state.

Current Research

Understanding the Role of Arctic Cyclones - A System Approach: Cyclones (storms) in the Arctic play a critical role in the Arctic climate system. They transport heat and moisture from lower latitudes, impact cloud cover and precipitation, and alter sea ice and ocean state. This project creates a climatology of Arctic cyclones and assesses the impact that these cyclones have on the Arctic atmosphere, sea ice and ocean. Analysis of Arctic cyclones and sea ice from the past 40 years shows links between changes in sea ice cover and storm intensity. Ongoing work uses a fully coupled regional Arctic system model (RASM) to investigate the impact of cyclones on Arctic sea ice. Cassano is also analyzing projections of Arctic cyclones, from an ensemble of CMIP6 models, to determine how Arctic cyclones will change over the 21st century in response to global climate change. Source of support: NSF

Research Categories

Atmosphere, Climate and Weather, Cryosphere
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P.I.(s)

About CECA

CECA connects and creates a supportive environment for graduate students and postdocs who come from various academic units to do research in CIRES.