[Eoas-seminar] MET Seminar (Feb 10, 3 PM): Dr. Melody Lu (UCLA)

[eoas-seminar at lists.fsu.edu]

Dear all,

Please join us for a MET seminar, which will be at 3:00PM on Feb. 10 (Tuesday) in EOAS 1044, given by Dr. Melody Lu from University of California at Los Angeles. Her seminar is entitled “Large-Scale Atmospheric Circulation Across the Earth System: From Global Patterns to Regional Extremes” (abstract below)

DATE: Tuesday, February 10
TIME: 3-4 PM
LOCATION: EOA 1044
SPEAKER: Dr. Melody Lu
TITLE: Large-Scale Atmospheric Circulation Across the Earth System: From Global Patterns to Regional Extremes

https://fsu.zoom.us/j/92601800719<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffsu.zoom.us%2Fj%2F92601800719&data=05%7C02%7Ceoas-seminar%40lists.fsu.edu%7Cd961395c1ea04801fb2b08de632c7fde%7Ca36450ebdb0642a78d1b026719f701e3%7C0%7C0%7C639057239928335115%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Wn7jB7rKyRxa9zii1flucve8zvkVsGLin0Q0cQ5vOA8%3D&reserved=0>

Meeting ID: 926 0180 0719

Abstract:

The large-scale atmospheric circulation, from synoptic eddies (~1000 km) to planetary-scale waves, serves as the atmosphere’s expressway system, shuttling heat between the equator and poles and routing moisture across oceans and continents. Its variability governs where temperature and moisture anomalies persist, thereby influencing day-to-day weather patterns and the likelihood of regional extremes. While dry, adiabatic dynamics provide a clean baseline for many circulation features, a complete picture remains hindered by the complexity of diabatic processes (e.g., precipitation and radiation) when considering how circulation couples with hydrological cycle, land surface, and ocean. As a result, small differences in local processes (e.g., tropical convection) can project onto remote large-scale circulation (e.g. subtropical highs), contributing to substantial uncertainty in regional climate projections.
My research agenda seeks a mechanistic understanding of how large-scale atmospheric circulation interacts with other Earth-system components to shape regional climate variability and extremes. I focus on two main questions: (1) how precipitation and sea surface temperature (SST) couple to planetary-scale circulation, and (2) how synoptic circulation and land processes jointly shape the statistics of temperature extremes. I address these problems using climate-model hierarchies, statistical tools, and physically grounded theory. In this talk, I present two specific investigations. First, focusing on circulation-hydrological coupling, I show that low confidence in projected summer North Pacific Subtropical High arises primarily from the uncertainty in tropical precipitation changes. Second, focusing on circulation-land coupling, I derive a moist static energy-based scaling for near-surface land temperature variance that separates contributions from synoptic advection and land-atmosphere feedbacks. Together, these studies bridge idealized theory and comprehensive Earth-system modeling to advance mechanistic understanding of large-scale circulation dynamics, thereby improving projections of regional climate variability and extremes.

Ming Cai
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