Andrea Jenney, with her mentor Professor Dave Randall, compared observational
data and CMIP5 models this summer. Andrea is in her senior year at the
University of Miami studying meteorology and mathematics.
Andrea writes, "Clouds play a complex role in the climate system, and remain one
of the more difficult aspects of the future climate to predict. In the tropical
oceans over the West Pacific, high convective anvil tops emit radiation back to
space at particularly low temperatures". It is postulated that in the presence
of warming surface temperatures, these cloud tops will remain at a fixed
temperature, called the Fixed Anvil Temperature, or FAT hypothesis. Andrea notes
that such a hypothesis has significant implications for cloud feedbacks and
climate modeling. Andrea sought to find observational evidence for the FAT
hypothesis in high clouds, and looked at model variable predictability
and cloud-climate feedback predictability in low clouds.
The Highs and Lows of Cloud Radiative Feedback - Comparing Observational Data and CMIP5 Models is the research poster she presented at the end of her internship. Andrea enjoys yoga, music festivals & concerts, hiking and spending time in the outdoors, and anything that involves the beach and ocean. She is from Boca Raton, Florida. |