Recent studies like the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5, or CMIP5, have sought to quantify how atmospheric variables will change due to climate change. Even from decades of rigorous study, it is still uncertain how cloud feedbacks will respond to a warming climate. However, it is possible to try and minimize this uncertainty in part by examining deep convection, and specifically anvil clouds, in the Tropical Pacific. Anvil clouds are not simulated well by the current generation of climate models, but by studying both large scale motions and small scale, local cloud structural evolution, Professor Hartmann and I seek in this study to determine the underlying mechanisms of the differences in vertical cloud structure in the Eastern and Western Pacific. I use the ERA-Interim, CloudSat, Calipso, and CMIP5 datasets in addition to climate model output from the Community Earth System Model (CESM) to analyze differences in cloud structure and model output. This is important work, because reducing uncertainty in an era of global warming can mean better advanced warning systems and more informed, ethical policy decisions moving forward.

Climate change is misunderstood and largely ignored because people imagine its impacts as far away and they lack education on how to effectively combat it long term. We built this mobile game to shatter various misconceptions by educating users in a fun and engaging way. We allow players to explore environmental concepts by incorporating story, science and community into a single experience that blends real world images taken from the user's mobile device with 3D graphics. This is done by including various mechanics such as collecting, combat, puzzles and exploration in a way that is easily accessible to everyone. With this game we hope to inspire users to not only be more environmentally conscious but also become more financially supportive of sustainable businesses. We built this application from scratch using the power of Unity3D game engine, augmented reality technology and mobile GPS location. With this technology we can immerse users by placing a fantastical world into the real one and incorporating environmental narratives.

From November 2015 through March 2016, the Olympic Mountains Experiment (OLYMPEX) was conducted on the Olympic Peninsula to study the evolution of wintertime clouds and precipitation in frontal systems passing over this coastal mountain range and to validate satellite-derived precipitation measurements from the U.S.-Japan Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. While most OLYMPEX research has focused on precipitation processes on the windward (usually southwest) side of the Olympic Mountains, this study uniquely examines the leeward (usually northeast) side of the mountains where there is climatological rain shadow (i.e. a minimum in precipitation relative to the windward side). The vertical structure of the frontal systems over the northern Olympic Mountains is examined using data from a radar managed by Environment and Climate Change Canada on Vancouver Island (EC-XBAND), including intensity inferred from radar reflectivity. Using environmental data from North American Regional Reanalysis on the windward side of the mountains, this study classifies the leeside radar data based on upstream large-scale conditions. The cloud and precipitation structure on the leeward and windward sides of the mountains are compared utilizing the Doppler on Wheels (DOW) radar in the Quinault River Valley, and the EC-XBAND radar. Cloud and precipitation particles measured by in situ aircraft over the windward and high terrain illuminate situations when particles are lofted over the mountains to the leeward side, reducing the rain shadow. These findings will inform local studies of snowpack and water supply in the Olympic Peninsula as many reservoirs there depend on precipitation that occurs on the leeward side. Outside of the Pacific Northwest, these findings can be applied to other midlatitude coastal mountain ranges on the west side of continents around the world.

This project aims to better understand the effects of removing global topography on atmospheric and oceanic circulation in numerical climate model simulations. The Community Earth System Model (CESM) was run for a hundred years under three different scenarios: the removal of all mountain ranges, the removal of the Rockies, and the removal of the Tibetan and Mongolian Plateaus. When mountains are removed it results in changes to ocean and atmospheric circulation. This begins with warmer surface temperatures where the mountains were removed (without the elevation-induced cooling) and changes in both vertical and horizontal air motion in the vicinity of the mountains (as the topographic-induced circulations are disrupted). Consequently, rainfall is altered due to changes in temperature and air motion. Our research aims to better understand how mountain ranges affect rainfall, particularly in the tropics. and how this in turn affects local climatology in tropical regions.