Climate Dynamics

Understanding the mechanisms responsible for climate variability and change is a major research theme in CCR. Our center has been at the forefront of unraveling the causes of past, present, and future variations in climate, using an array of modeling and statistical tools. Researching regional climate change across the world, CCR scientists are currently studying the drivers and predictability of monsoon circulations, El Niño-Southern Oscillation, African vegetation dynamics, Middle Eastern dust storms, Great Lakes warming trends, and Arctic climate change.

Principal Investigators

John Kutzbach, Zhengyu Liu, Feng He, Tristan L'Ecuyer, David Lorenz, Michael Notaro, Steve Vavrus, Dan Vimont.

Affiliates

Larissa Back, Paul Block, Mark Chandler, Robert Jacob, Jim Kossin, Jon Martin

Curent and Recent Projects

Season-ahead Drought Prediction in Southern Peru to Support Water Resources Management

Michael Notaro, CCR Associate Director, Senior Scientist
Steve Vavrus, Senior Scientist

The Predictability Of Extreme Arctic Sea Ice Variations In A Rapidly Changing Climate

Steve Vavrus, Senior Scientist

Simulation of Extreme Arctic Cyclones in IPCC AR5 Experiments

Steve Vavrus, Senior Scientist

Role of Low-Level Clouds in the Accelerated Warming of the Great Lakes - A Dual Observational and Regional Modeling Assessment

Michael Notaro, CCR Associate Director, Senior Scientist
Steve Vavrus, Senior Scientist

The Role of Arctic Amplification in Modifying Mid-latitude Atmospheric Circulation and Promoting Extreme Weather Events

Steve Vavrus, Senior Scientist

Change in the Extratropical Circulation in Response to Global Warming

David Lorenz, Associate Scientist

A Pilot Study of Simultaneous Parameter and State Estimation in Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere General Circulation Models using the Ensemble Kalman Filter

Zhengyu Liu, Professor

Seasonal and Interannual Prediction of Saudi Arabian Dust Storms

Zhengyu Liu, Professor
Michael Notaro, CCR Associate Director, Senior Scientist

Dynamics and Predictability of East and Central Pacific ENSO Events

Dan Vimont, Professor

Understanding ENSO Biases and Their Relation to Mean State Biases

Dan Vimont, Professor

Evaluation of the Large-Scale and Regional Climatic Response Across North Africa to Natural Variability in Oceanic Modes and Terrestrial Vegetation Among the CMIP5 Models

Michael Notaro, CCR Associate Director, Senior Scientist