Photo Courtesy of A.M.W. Yau
S.B., University of Chicago, 2005; M.S., Caltech, 2007
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MC 150-21 1200 E. California Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91125 (626) 395-6447 heavens at gps dot caltech dot edu |
I like to spend my life understanding how the atmospheres and oceans of the planets came to be and what they will do in the relatively near future. You could say that I have the right brain of an academic historian, the left brain of an academic meteorologist, and the heart of an operational forecaster. Despite my interests in paleoenvironmental reconstruction, I usually spend most of my time doing aktualistic investigations in the atmospheric and ocean sciences. The information below is a general outline of my work. Please see my CV for further details, since I generally try to keep that document current.
My current work is focused on two topics: (1) Martian coniometeorology and (2) greater than decadal-scale variability in the physical, chemical, and biological conditions of the Earth's oceans.
Martian Coniometeorology Just as the hydrometeors of rain, snow, sleet, hail, and graupel enliven the weather of the Earth, Mars' weather takes much of its character from the small particles of an uncertain mixture of nanophase iron oxides and silicates so prosaically called "dust" or (as I prefer) "coniometeor." The latter word, derived from the Greek for "falling dust" may not be part of the conventional scientific parlance (yet), but it reminds me of the considerable impact this aerosol has on the atmospheric dynamics of Mars on many scales of space and time. From the background dust haze that sets the intensity of the meridional circulation to the convective cells and vortices ("dust devils") that contribute to it to the katabatic and frontal local dust storm activity that occasionally expands into the massive planetary-scale dust events that can obscure the entire visible disk of Mars, dust is a radiatively active player in the surprisingly dramatic stirrings of Mars' thin atmosphere. At the same time, it long has been thought that the collisions between dust grains and larger non-suspended sand grains may create a variably electrically active and harsh environment for organic and other chemicals, connecting the meteorology of Martian dust to the question of the past and present existence of life on Mars.
I work at the intersection between general circulation models (GCMs) of Mars' atmosphere and a growing observational record trying to fill in the details of a picture often no less hazy than the planet. So far I have considered the construction of aerodynamic roughness maps (a key element in any simulation of dust lifting) and their impact on vertical heat transport in a general circulation model. I also have considered what quantitative insight visual observations of dust devils provide as to their meteorology. At present, I mainly am focused on reproducing the observed temperature structure of Mars' atmosphere as revealed by recent spacecraft observations in a GCM, but I do find the time to consider operationally useful theories of global dust storm genesis and evolution and new techniques for observing dust activity. While detailed quantitative theory is important to all of this work, it will be important for future forecasting for me to develop and communicate intuition in the midst of the math.
Long-Term Ocean Variability The Earth's oceans are the critical source of thermal inertia for the atmosphere and are storing some of the "excess heat" originally introduced into the atmosphere by the forcings and feedbacks due to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases. However, the heat the ocean stores easily can be released to the atmosphere depending on the exact characteristics of the ocean circulation. Over the last century, oscillations such as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) have been discovered in the ocean circulation that produce a sort of "climate noise" on the present generally upward trend in global temperatures. I presently am considering whether one of these oscillations: the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) changes its characteristics during different global climate regimes.
I work with Mark Richardson's Planetary Atmospheres Group on Martian atmospheric and surface processes with the help of the Planetary Weather Research and Forecasting Model (planetWRF).
I work with Yuk Yung's polymathic research group on long-term ocean variability and its effect on the fisheries and global climate.
While in college at the University of Chicago, I worked with Gidon Eshel on the contribution of diurnal mesoscale processes to the energy budget of the Red Sea boundary layer.
While an intern at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, I worked with Laurel Kirkland on improving measurement protocols and evaluating uncertainties in infrared spectroscopic observations of geologic materials on planetary surfaces using measurements of terrestrial analogs to Martian environments.