Idealized Modelling of Stratospheric Impacts on Weather and Climate

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

The stratosphere is increasingly recognized as an important component of the climate system. Observational and modeling studies show that stratospheric conditions may be able to influence both weather and climate. Under previous National Science Foundation support, the researcher has worked on several fronts to elucidate the influences of the stratosphere on the tropospheric circulation. In this project, the research will further investigate the stratospheric impacts on weather and climate by focusing on idealized modeling studies. These studies are intended to complement work done with state-of-the art climate models. Idealized climate models differ from comprehensive climate models in that the physical parameterizations have been highly simplified; this permits explorations of parameter space sensitivities and establishes the numerical robustness of the computed results. These idealized models will be used to study the impact of stratospheric ozone and greenhouse gases on the circulation of the coupled stratosphere-troposphere system, including their effects on the Brewer-Dobson circulation, and to investigate the dynamics and predictability of stratospheric sudden warmings and their impacts on the tropospheric circulation and weather forecasts. The broader impacts of this project include contributions to the important task of attributing climate change, specifically, the stratospheric role, the possible improvement of extended-range weather forecasts from using knowledge of stratospheric conditions, contributions to the development and improvement of comprehensive climate models, links to international research efforts, and the training of postdoctoral scientists and graduate and undergraduate students.