MASS Seminar - Benjamin Schenkel (SUNY Albany)
Date Time Location
November 25th, 2013 12:00pm-1:00pm 54-915
Title: Refining the climate role of tropical cyclones: Key constituents of the summer Hadley cell?

Abstract: An important focus of ongoing research in tropical meteorology is why there are, on average, 60 tropical cyclones (TCs) in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) per year and how this number may vary in response to climate change. Greater understanding of current and future trends in TC activity may be achieved by determining whether TCs have a substantial impact upon the climate. While the precise atmospheric role of TCs in climate remains uncertain, recent research has suggested that TCs may play a role in atmospheric meridional heat transports given the strong correlation between aggregate TC activity and meridional heat transports during the following winter. Building upon prior work, the present study seeks to advance our understanding of the potential climate role of TCs by quantifying whether TCs are responsible for transporting significant quantities of total energy (i.e., sum of kinetic energy, latent energy, potential energy, and sensible heat) from the NH tropics into the Southern Hemisphere (SH) tropics during the peak of TC season.

Speaker's website: http://www.atmos.albany.edu/facstaff/schenkel/