Research

My main research interests are aimed towards an improved understanding of dynamics and transport in the atmosphere. In particular, I am interested in stratosphere-troposphere dynamical and transport coupling and their influence on surface climate. I am also in charge of the development of the high-top version of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) general circulation model ModelE and its participation in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) Phase 6.

Some of my current projects on large-scale dynamics and transport are as follows:

1) Understanding the linearity of dynamical sensitivity in both high and low-top versions of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) ModelE. This is work is being done in collaboration with Ivan Mitevski, a first year doctoral student in the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics (APAM) at Columbia University, who I am co-advising with Professor Lorenzo M. Polvani (APAM).

2) Improving the representation of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation in general circulation models, specifically with respect to identifying constraints on the non-orographic component of stratospheric gravity wave drag. This work is being done with NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow Dr. Kevin DallaSanta and in collaboration with Dr. David Rind and Jeffrey Jonas (both at NASA GISS).

3) Developing novel observationally-based constraints of tropospheric transport timescales that will improve our understanding of the interhemispheric transport processes controlling ozone, ozone precursors and aerosols. This work is part of a NASA-funded Atmospheric Composition and Analysis proposal (18-ACMAP18-0024) on which I am PI that will combine recent developments in tracer inversion theory with new aircraft measurements from recent NASA Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom) to produce novel data-constrained estimates of the transport timescales between the North Hemisphere midlatitude surface and the Southern Hemisphere. This work is being done in collaboration with Professor Darryn Waugh (Johns Hopkins University) and Dr. Stephen A. Montzka (NOAA).

4) Identifying and understanding the role of the Asian monsoon in connecting boundary layer pollution to the lower stratosphere. This is part of an NSF-funded project on which I am collaborating with PI Dr. Yutian Wu at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University.