Dr. Kerry H. Cook

Biosketch

Kerry Cook came to The University of Texas at Austin in August, 2008. She began her career at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab at Princeton University, followed by 18 years as a professor at Cornell University where she taught courses in Climate Dynamics, Atmospheric Dynamics, and Atmospheric Physics and was a founder of the Science of Earth Systems major.

Dr. Cook is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, and was awarded the inaugural Joann Simpson Tropical Meteorology Research Award from the AMS. She has served on the Board of Trustees of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and as an editor of the Journal of Climate. She is currently the Chair of the American Meteorological Society's Board of Climate Variability and Change and serves on the NSF GEO Advisory Council.

Dr. Cook's research centers on predicting and understanding climate change and climate variability around the world, including Africa, South America, the central U.S., and home in Austin, TX. She and her group use numerical models of the climate system, including atmosphere, ocean, and vegetation components, along with observational analysis to improve our understanding about how features and processes at the earth's surface interact with atmospheric circulation and precipitation fields.

Dr. Cook has published a text on Climate Dynamics (2013, Princeton University Press); a second edition is expected in 2022. Supplemental resources for Climate Dynamics are available at: http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/climate-dynamics-book/

Education

Ph.D 1984, Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC.

M.S. research, 1975-1977, Space Physics, Rice University, Houston TX.

B.S. 1975, Astronomy, Physics minor. Villanova University, Villanova PA.

Employment History

8/08-present: Professor, Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin

8/91-8/08: Assistant, Associate, Full Professor of Atmospheric Science, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

2006 – 2008: Director of Graduate Studies for Atmospheric Science, Cornell

1999-2004: Director of Undergraduate Studies, Science of Earth Systems, Cornell

11/85-7/91: Research Scientist, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), Princeton University/NOAA, Princeton NJ.

9/84 - 9/85: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge TN

5/81 - 8/84: Global Change Research Fellow, Institute for Energy Analysis, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Oak Ridge TN.

Some Current Professional Activities

Chair, Climate Variations and Change Committee, American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, September 2018 – present. Member since 2014.

Chair, Manabe Climate Award selection committee for AMS, 2020-2021

Advisory Committee for NSF Directorate for Geosciences, 2020-2023

Advisory Committee for NSF Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (2020- 2023)

Search Committee for Executive Director of the American Meteorological Society (2020-2021)

Faculty Advisor, University of Texas Climate and Meteorology Society (2018 – present)

Selected Research Contributions

State-of-the-art observations, projections, and impacts analysis of climate change for Africa:

Cook, K.H., Fitzpatrick, R.G.J., Liu, W., Vizy, E.K., 2020. Seasonal asymmetry of equatorial East African rainfall projections: Understanding differences between the response of the long rains and the short rains to increased greenhouse gases. Climate Dynamics https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-020- 05350-y

Fitzpatrick, R.G.J, D.J. Parker; J.H. Marsham; D.P. Rowell; F.M. Guichard; C.M. Taylor; K.H. Cook; E.K. Vizy; L.S. Jackson; D.L. Finney; J.A. Crook; R. Stratton; S. Tucker, 2020: What drives the intensification of mesoscale convective systems over the West African Sahel under Climate Change? J. Climate, DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0380.1

Cook, K.H., Y. Liu, and E.K. Vizy, 2020: Congo Basin drying associated with poleward shifts of African thermal lows. Climate Dynamics, 54, 863-883. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-019-05033-3

Cook, K. H., and E. K. Vizy, 2019: Contemporary climate change of the African monsoon systems. Current Climate Change Reports, 5, 145-159.

Han, F., K.H. Cook, and E.K. Vizy, 2019: Changes in intense rainfall events and drought across Africa in the 21st century. Clim. Dyn., 53, 2757-2777 DOI: 10.1007/s00382-019-04653-z

Vizy, E.K., K.H. Cook, James Chimphamba, and B. McCusker, 2015: Projected changes in Malawi's growing season. Climate Dynamics, http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00382-014-2424-x

Cook, K. H., and E. K. Vizy, 2015: Detection and analysis of an amplified warming of the Sahara Desert. J. Climate, 28, 6560-6580.

Busby, J.W., K.H. Cook, E.K. Vizy, T.G.Smith, and M. Bekalo, 2014: Identifying hot spots of security vulnerability associated with climate change in Africa. Climatic Change, 124, 717-731.

Vizy, E. K., K. H. Cook, J. Crétat, and N. Neupane, 2013: Projections of a wetter Sahel in the 21^st century from global and regional models. J. Climate, 26, 4664-4687.

Cook, K. H., and E. K. Vizy, 2013: Projected changes in East African rainy seasons. J. Climate, 26, 5931-5948.

Neupane, N., and K.H. Cook, 2013: A nonlinear response of Sahel rainfall to Atlantic warming. J Climate, 26, 7080-7096.

Cook, K.H., G.A. Meehl, and J.M. Arblaster, 2012: Monsoon regimes and processes in CCSM4, Part 2: African and American monsoon systems. Journal of Climate, 25, 2609-2621.

Cook, K.H., and E.K. Vizy, 2012: Impact of climate change on mid-21^st century growing seasons in Africa. Climate Dynamics, 39, 2937-2955.

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Vizy, E.K. and K.H. Cook, 2012. Mid-21^st century changes in extreme events over Northern and Tropical Africa, J. Climate, 25, 5748-5767.

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Patricola, C. M., and K. H. Cook, 2011: Sub-Saharan Northern African climate at the end of the 21^st century: Forcing factors and climate change processes. Climate Dynamics, 37, 1165-1188.

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Patricola, C. M., and K. H. Cook, 2010: Northern African climate at the end of the 21^st century: Integrated application of regional and global climate models. Climate Dyn., 35, 193-212.

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Hagos, S. M., and K. H. Cook, 2008: Ocean warming and late 20^th century Sahel drought and recovery. J. Climate, 21, 3797-3814.

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Cook, K.H., and E. K. Vizy, 2006: Coupled model simulations of the West African monsoon system: 20^th century simulations and 21^st century predictions. Journal of Climate, 19, 3681-3703.

Fundamental advances in understanding the West African monsoon system

Liu, W., K.H. Cook, and E.K. Vizy, 2020: Influence of Indian Ocean SST regionality on the East African short rains. Climate Dynamics. DOI:10.1007/s00382-020-05265-8

Vizy, E.K., and K.H. Cook, 2020: Interannual variability of East African rainfall: Role of seasonal transitions of the low-level cross-equatorial flow. Clim. Dyn. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-020-05244-z

Liu, W., K.H. Cook, and E.K. Vizy, 2019: Role of the West African westerly jet in the seasonal and diurnal cycles of precipitation over West Africa. Climate Dynamics, 54, 843-861.

Vizy, E.K., and K.H. Cook, 2019: Observed relationship between the Turkana lowlevel jet and boreal summer convection. Clim. Dyn. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-019-04769- 2

Liu, W., K.H. Cook, and E.K. Vizy, 2019: The role of mesoscale convective systems in the diurnal cycle of rainfall and its seasonality over subSaharan Northern Africa. Clim. Dyn. 52, 729-745. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-018-4162-y

Vizy, E.K., and K.H. Cook, 2018: Mesoscale convective systems and nocturnal rainfall over the West African Sahel: Role of the Inter-tropical front. Clim. Dyn. 50, 587-614.

Zhang, G., K.H. Cook, and E.K. Vizy, 2016a: The diurnal cycle of warm season rainfall over West Africa. Part I: Observational analysis. J. Climate, 29, 8423-8437. https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/full/10.1175/JCLI-D-15- 0874.1.

Cook, K.H., 2014: Role of inertial instability in the West African Monsoon Jump. JGR - Atmospheres, 120, 3085-3102

Crétat, J., E. K. Vizy, and K. H. Cook, 2015: The relationship between African easterly waves and daily rainfall over West Africa: observations and regional climate simulations. Clim. Dyn. 44, 385-404.

Crétat, J., E. K. Vizy, and K. H. Cook, 2014: How well are daily intense rainfall events captured by current climate models over Africa? Clim. Dyn., 42, 2691-2711.

Zhang, G., and K.H. Cook, 2014: West African monsoon demise: Climatology, interannual variations, and relationship to seasonal rainfall. J. Geophys, Research – Atmospheres. 119, DOI: 10.1002/2014JD022043.

Vizy, E.K. and K.H. Cook, 2014. Impact of cold air surges on rainfall variability in the Sahel and wet African tropics: a multi-scale analysis. Clim. Dyn., 43, 1057-1081.

Pu, B., and K.H. Cook, 2012: Role of the West African westerly jet in Sahel rainfall variations. J. Climate, 25, 2880-2896.

Pu, B., and K.H. Cook, 2010: Dynamics of the West African westerly jet. J. Climate, 23, 6263-6276.

Vizy, E. K., and K. H. Cook, 2009: A mechanism for African monsoon breaks: Mediterranean cold air surges. J. Geophys. Res., 114, D01104, doi:10.1029/2008JD010654.

Cook, K. H., 2008: Mysteries of Sahel droughts. Nature Geoscience, 1, 647-648.

Hagos, S.M., and K.H. Cook, 2007: Dynamics of the West African monsoon jump. J. Climate, 20, 5264-5284.