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Workshop on Advances in Tropical Dynamics
Eric Maloney
January 14-16, 2014
University of Hawaii
Fundamental theoretical and modeling breakthroughs over the last decade and a
half have engendered profound advances in our understanding of tropical
dynamics. Weak temperature and pressure gradient theory has matured, enabling
novel modeling and diagnostic approaches for understanding interactions between
tropical convection and the large-scale circulation. Such theory has also
clarified the fundamental role of moisture to the dynamics of the Madden-Julian
oscillation (MJO), and has catalyzed new research on how cumulus
parameterizations might be modified to produce more realistic sensitivity to
free tropospheric humidity. Exciting MJO theories have also developed that
invoke multiscale interactions as critical to the destabilization and
propagation of the MJO. Global cloud system resolving models and related novel
modeling approaches (e.g. superparameterization) have freed us from the need to
parameterize certain processes, resulting in fundamentally improved simulations
of the tropical atmosphere in key respects that can be used to guide development
of conventional models. At the same time that fundamental modeling and
theoretical advances have been made, the tropical dynamics and wider climate
communities have coalesced around new organizational and conceptual frameworks
that have the potential to accelerate understanding of the Tropics. The NSF
Science and Technology Center CMMAP has fostered collaborations across the
university and national laboratory modeling communities that have engendered a
quantum leap forward in global model capability. Recent theoretical advances
have provided impetus for development of process-oriented diagnostics of the
tropical atmosphere that verify theory, provide basic understanding, and can be
used to improve global models. Inspired by related efforts under the GEWEX
Global Atmospheric System Studies (GASS) panel, the WGNE MJO Task Force has been
developing process-oriented model diagnostics that provide insight into why some
climate models produce good simulations of the MJO and why some do not. The
convergence of new modeling approaches and theoretical thinking, coupled with a
rich new observational dataset, has the potential to accelerate our fundamental
advances of the tropical atmosphere, including interactions with the ocean.
A workshop was convened on January 14-16, 2014 at the East-West Center on the
University of Hawaii campus to bring together experts in the field of tropical
meteorology and their graduate students and postdocs across multiple U.S. and
international national laboratories and universities to present recent insights
and future directions on tropical dynamics, including theoretical, modeling,
observational, and diagnostic approaches.
The specific objectives of the workshop were to:
- Discuss and synthesize recent theoretical, modeling, and diagnostic breakthroughs related to tropical dynamics
- To survey remaining challenges and roadblocks to improving our understanding of tropical dynamics
- To discuss the optimal paths forward for the community to address such challenges.
Funding to support travel for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers was
provided. Interactions between these young researchers and leaders of the
tropical meteorology field formed a core dynamic of the workshop.
The workshop was extremely successful at crystalizing the major theoretical and
modeling breakthroughs in the last decade in tropical meteorology. A workshop
website containing a list of presentations and key research results from the
workshop can be
found here.
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