Low clouds over Fox Glacier,
Westland National Park, New Zealand |
Group Members
| John Cassano |
 Meteorology and climate of polar regions using regional climate models and numerical weather prediction models, in-situ and remotely sensed observations, and various data analysis techniques |
Post docs |
| Mark Seefeldt (seefeldm@cires.colorado.edu) |
 Mark's research involves developing a greater understanding of the near-surface wind field across the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Past research has indicated a dominant northerly transport of mass from the Antarctic continent towards the middle-latitudes through the Ross Ice Shelf corridor. This transport has been termed the Ross Ice Shelf air stream (RAS). The surface wind field across the Ross Ice Shelf is composed of katabatic winds through the glacier valleys in the Transantarctic Mountains and along the Siple Coast, barrier winds along the Transantarctic Mountains, and in relation to the passage of cyclones and mesocylones over or near the Ross Ice Shelf. Through the use of automatic weather station observations a pattern has been realized where the strong northerly surface wind is composed of a series of katabatic an barrier wind events in combination with the passage of a cyclone or mesocylone. This series is referred to as a RAS event. The goal of the research is to gain a more complete understanding of the characteristics and composition of the frequent RAS events. |
Associate Scientists |
| Elizabeth Cassano |
 Liz's main focus of research over the past few years has been studying
cyclones which affect the North Slope of Alaska, if and how they are changing and formation mechanisms of these cyclones. Liz's current work is data analysis in support of the FWI and SNACS projects. Future work
will be to expand to sea ice studies (i.e. what are the mechanisms resonsible for a sea ice parcel melting or surviving the summer
melt season?) and extend the cyclone work to determine a cyclone climatology of formation mechanisms for cyclones in the North Slope
area. |
Associate Scientists/Graduate Students |
| Matt Higgins |
|
 Matt's research interests include understanding how our changing climate is affecting local weather systems in the Alaskan North Slope area. For example, as sea ice
retreats with rising temperatures, this leads to changes in the surface sensible and latent heat fluxes. Will this mean more intense weather
patterns for the area? Mean state variables such as average temperatures do not adequately capture this variability. With that in
mind, what are the best ways to measure these changes?
Matt is working under the SNACS - Study of Northern Alaskan Coastal System Project, and his current focus is producing a high resolution data set for the North Slope of Alaska region using the Polar MM5 model and comparing observed and modeled turbulent surface fluxes in the model domain.
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| Shelley Knuth (shelley.knuth@colorado.edu) |
|
 Shelley's research is focused on atmospheric changes in the system state in
and around the Terra Nova Bay region as examined through the use of in-situ
observations (both ground based and aloft), polar and geostationary
satellite data, and model analyses. Specifically, Shelley is interested in
changes in katabatic wind flow, synoptic and mesoscale cyclones,
precipitation, temperature fluctuations, and other variabilities in the
local weather of this region. A field campaign during September 2009 in
which an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) will be flown over Terra Nova Bay
will provide the first ever measurements of these events and provide a
better understanding of their forcing on the large-scale system, the effects
on the local polynya, and influences on the local weather.
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Graduate Students |
| Dave Porter (PorterDF@Colorado.EDU) |
|
 Dave is interested in the energy budget of the Arctic polar cap and
how it is affected by climate indices and changes in storm tracks, sea-
ice extent, and cloud cover. The storage of moist-static energy over
the polar cap, which is defined after Mark Serreze as the region north
of the 70 deg N latitude circle, is the summation of three terms.
These are the radiation budget at the top of the atmosphere, the
surface heat flux, and the convergence of energy through atmospheric
motions.
He is currently comparing the energy budget of the Arctic as
represented in the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis, the ECMWF's ERA-40
reanalysis, and the new Japan Meteorological Agency's JRA-25
reanalysis. These reanalyses are particularly useful tools for
scientists interested in the polar regions. The hindcasting nature of
the reanalysis presents an opportunity for better quality control and
the inclusion of many data assimilation products that are not
available in real-time. One important area of his work is to
determine how well the reanalyses capture the variability of the
surface heat flux over the Arctic cap, a source error in previous
energy budget work.
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| Melissa Richards (Melissa.Richards@Colorado.EDU) |
|
 Melissa's research project involves analyzing observed changes in the Antarctic atmospheric state including near surface temperature, winds, cloud cover, radiative fluxes and cyclones. The data will be analyzed for seasonal variations, cyclic patterns and overall trends. The project has a specific focus on the Terra Nova Bay region and the effect these changes have on atmosphere-ocean interactions in this region. The hypothesis is that if the atmospheric state has varied over time, then it will impact oceanic processes in Terra Nova Bay and may alter production of Antarctic bottom water, leading to global changes in the climate system.
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Past group members |
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