Kerry A. Emanuel

https://emanuel.mit.edu/

Ph.D., Meteorology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1978 , S. B., Earth and Planetary Sciences, MIT, 1976

Kerry Emanuel is a prominent meteorologist and climate scientist who specializes in moist convection in the atmosphere, and tropical cyclones. His research interests focus on tropical meteorology and climate, with a specialty in hurricane physics. His interests also include cumulus convection, the role of clouds, water vapor, and upper-ocean mixing in regulation of climate, and advanced methods of sampling the atmosphere in aid of numerical weather prediction. Emanuel received an S.B. degree in Earth and Planetary Sciences and a Ph.D. in Meteorology (1978) both from MIT. After completing his doctorate, he joined the faculty of the Atmospheric Sciences department of the University of California at Los Angeles where he remained for three years, with a brief hiatus filming tornadoes in Oklahoma and Texas. In 1981 he joined the faculty of the Department of Meteorology at MIT and was promoted to Full Professor in 1987 in what had since becomes the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS). In 1989 he assumed directorship of EAPS Center for Meteorology and Physical Oceanography, a post he held until 1997. Subsequently he chaired the EAPS Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate from 2009 to 2012. He is co-founder of the MIT Lorenz Center, a climate think tank which fosters creative approaches to learning how climate works. Professor Emanuel is the author or co-author of over 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and three books, including Divine Wind: The History and Science of Hurricanes, published by Oxford University Press, and What We Know about Climate Change, published by the MIT Press. Wikipedia

Emanuel, K. (2017), Assessing the present and future probability of Hurricane Harvey’s rainfall, PNAS, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1716222114



Emanuel, K. (2017), Will global warming make hurricane forecasting more difficult? Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 98, 495-501, doi: 10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0134.1



Zhang, L., Karnauskas, K. B., Donnelly, J. P., & Emanuel, K. (2016). Response of the North Pacific tropical cyclone climatology to global warming: application of dynamical downscaling to CMIP5 models. Journal of Climate, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0496.1



Romero, R., & Emanuel, K. (2017). Climate Change and Hurricane-Like Extratropical Cyclones: Projections for North Atlantic Polar Lows and Medicanes Based on CMIP5 Models. Journal of Climate, 30(1), 279-299, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0255.1



Korty, R. L., Emanuel, K. A., Huber, M., & Zamora, R. A. (2017). Tropical Cyclones Downscaled from Simulations with Very High Carbon Dioxide Levels. Journal of Climate, 30(2), 649-667, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0256.1



Kossin, J. P., Emanuel, K. A., & Vecchi, G. A. (2016). Comment on ‘Roles of interbasin frequency changes in the poleward shifts of the maximum intensity location of tropical cyclones’, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/6/068001



Emanuel, K., & Zhang, F. (2016). On the Predictability and Error Sources of Tropical Cyclone Intensity Forecasts. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 73(9), 3739-3747, doi: 10.1175/JAS-D-16-0100.1



Balaguru, K., Foltz, G. R., Leung, L. R., & Emanuel, K. A. (2016). Global warming-induced upper-ocean freshening and the intensification of super typhoons. Nature communications, 7, doi: 10.1038/ncomms13670



Kossin, J. P., Emanuel, K. A., & Camargo, S. J. (2016). Past and projected changes in western North Pacific tropical cyclone exposure. Journal of Climate, 29(16), 5725-5739, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0076.1



Zhang, F., & Emanuel, K. (2016). On the role of surface fluxes and WISHE in tropical cyclone intensification. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 73(5), 2011-2019, doi: 10.1175/JAS-D-16-0011.1



O’Neill, M. E., Emanuel, K. A., & Flierl, G. R. (2016). Weak Jets and Strong Cyclones: Shallow-Water Modeling of Giant Planet Polar Caps. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 73(4), 1841-1855, doi: 10.1175/JAS-D-15-0314.1



Reed, A. J., Mann, M. E., Emanuel, K. A., Lin, N., Horton, B. P., Kemp, A. C., & Donnelly, J. P. (2015). Increased threat of tropical cyclones and coastal flooding to New York City during the anthropogenic era. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(41), 12610-12615, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1513127112



Reed, A. J., Mann, M. E., Emanuel, K. A., & Titley, D. W. (2015). An analysis of long‐term relationships among count statistics and metrics of synthetic tropical cyclones downscaled from CMIP5 models. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 120(15), 7506-7519, doi: 10.1002/2015JD023357



Wing, A. A., Emanuel, K., & Solomon, S. (2015). On the factors affecting trends and variability in tropical cyclone potential intensity. Geophysical Research Letters, 42(20), 8669-8677, doi: 10.1002/2015GL066145



Walsh, K.J., Camargo, S.J., Vecchi, G.A., Daloz, A.S., Elsner, J., Emanuel, K., Horn, M., Lim, Y.K., Roberts, M., Patricola, C. and Scoccimarro, E. (2015). Hurricanes and climate: the US CLIVAR working group on hurricanes. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 96(6), 997-1017, doi: 10.1002/2015GL066145



Emanuel, K. (2015). Effect of upper-ocean evolution on projected trends in tropical cyclone activity. Journal of Climate, 28(20), 8165-8170, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0401.1

Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2017) | Heritage Award, Deerfield Academy (2012) | Honorary Doctorate, Augsburg College (2009) | Member, National Academy of Sciences (2007) | The David B. Stone Medal, New England Aquarium (2007) | Bernhard Haurwitz Memorial Lecturer, American Meteorological Society (2007) | Louis J. Battan Author’s Award, American Meteorological Society (2007) | The Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal, American Meteorological Society (2007) | Fellow, American Meteorological Society (1995) | The Banner I. Miller Award (with Richard Rotunno), American Meteorological Society (1992) | The Meisinger Award, American Meteorological Society (1986)