Ho-Hsuan Wei
Ho-Hsuan Wei will work with Kris Karnauskas and others at CIRES to better understand the dynamics of variability within the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). In particular, Ho-Hsuan will focus on the annual cycle of the ITCZ and its relation to the ocean energy transport.
The ITCZ is a zonally-elongated band of deep convective clouds in the tropics, which migrates seasonally with a more northward (southward) position in boreal (austral) summer. Understanding these tropical rainbands, which deliver water to regions strongly dependent on agriculture, is a major challenge for the climate sciences. While recent theoretical advances based on energetic constraints have provide important insight on understanding the response of the ITCZ position, it is shown that the relation between the ITCZ position and energetic quantities is more complicated under subseasonal timescales due to the changes in the Hadley circulation vertical structure. Also, the partition between the ocean and atmospheric energy transports can lead to different responses of the ITCZ position under energetic framework. By prescribing both fixed and seasonally varying ocean energy transport data and analyzing with a coupled atmosphere-ocean model, Ho-Hsuan aims to extend understanding of the annual cycle of the Hadley cells and the ITCZ.
View Publications
- Wei H-H; Subramanian AC; Karnauskas KB; DeMott CA; Mazloff MR; Balmaseda MA. (Jun 2021). Tropical Pacific Air-Sea Interaction Processes and Biases in CESM2 and Their Relation to El Nino Development. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. 10.1029/2020jc016967
- Wei, HH; Bordoni, S. (Aug 2020). Energetic Constraints on the Intertropical Convergence Zone Position in the Observed Seasonal Cycle From Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2). GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS , 47(16). 10.1029/2020GL088506
- Wei H-H; Bordoni S. (Jul 2018). Energetic Constraints on the ITCZ Position in Idealized Simulations With a Seasonal Cycle. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems , 10(7), 1708-1725. 10.1029/2018MS001313