Department of Meteorology faculty members maintain active research programs and are enthusiastic graduate student mentors. Annual funding to the department averages $2.3 million and $250,000 per academic faculty member. Major funding sources include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service (NWS), Department of Energy (DOE), and Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The department’s graduate student-faculty ratio is 3 to 1, ensuring substantial contact between students and their advisors. Major areas of research and graduate study include clouds, aerosols, and climate; numerical weather prediction; mountain weather and climate; tropical convection and storms; and climate variability and change.

Doppler on Wheels and special balloon launch to probe the secrets of Intermountain winter storms.

Clouds, Aerosols, and Climate
Limited knowledge of the composition and radiative effects of clouds and aerosols is a major contributor to climate prediction uncertainty. Research conducted by Profesors Jay Mace, Tim Garrett, and Kevin Perry aims to advance our understanding of cloud and aerosol physics, and improve the parameterization of cloud and aerosol radiative effects in weather and climate models. Professor Mace is a principal investigator for the Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program and uses state-of-the art remote sensing instruments, such as millimeter cloud radars, to probe clouds in diverse locations ranging from the north slope of Alaska to the tropical western Pacific. He also uses airborne and space-based remote sensing facilities and was the lead scientist for the Middle Latitude Cirrus Experiment (Mid-CiX), which utilized the NASA WB57F high-altitude research aircraft to examine the properties of cirrus clouds and their effect on solar radiation.

Professor Garrett’s research involves the use of airborne observations to better understand how the interactions between the dynamical, microphysical, and radiative properties of clouds are important for climate. His recent field program work has examined cirrus anvils over Florida, Atlantic hurricanes, mid-latitude cirrus, Saharan dust, and polluted clouds over the east coast of the United States.

Professor Kevin Perry concentrates on identifying the sources, sinks, transport, optical effects, and climate effects of aerosols in the atmosphere. His work has a strong interdisciplinary component, spans many scales, and involves scientists at several institutions. For example, on the global scale, he has shed new light on the intercontinental transport of Asian dust, while at the local scale, he identified the composition of aerosols from the World Trade Center collapse site following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Pileus formation taken by Brian Barnett aboard the NASA WB-57F. UU research shows that pileus spread over tropical cirrus anvils to form cold clouds that can contribute to the greenhouse effect (photo: Brian Barnett, NASA).

Numerical Weather Prediction
Department scientists develop and utilize numerical weather and climate predication models from cloud-resolving to global scales. Professor Steve Krueger uses his Utah Cloud Resolving Model (UU CRM) to study tropical cloud systems, convective plumes produced by arctic leads, stratus clouds, and trade cumulus. He uses the UU CRM for cloud process studies and to improve the representation of cloud-radiative properties in coarser resolution models, such as those used for medium-range weather prediction and climate modeling. Steve is also an avid observationalist and spends considerable time in the field collecting data with which to verify and improve the UU CRM. He also collaborates with Dr. Mary Ann Jenkins of York University and Dr. Ruddy Mel of the National Institute for Standards to develop a coupled atmosphere-wildfire modeling system.

An expert in data assimilation, Professor Zhaoxia Pu uses observations collected by satellites, radars, surface stations, weather balloons, and aircraft to improve forecasts produced by numerical weather prediction models. She works with many of the worlds leading modeling systems, including the National Centers for Environmental Prediction Global Forecast System and North American Mesoscale Model. Her recent efforts have concentrated on improving the initialization of tropical storms, such as hurricanes and typhoons, using remotely sensed data from the NASA TRMM satellite. Data assimilation research is also conducted by Prof. John Horel, who concentrates on the use of surface observations in complex terrain.

Professor Jan Paegle is an Emeritus Professor with more than 30 years of experience developing numerical weather prediction models. He continues to research atmospheric predictability using his global and limited area models known as the Global Utah Model and Utah Limited Area Model, respectively.

Fire simulation by Mary Ann Jenkins.

Mountain Weather and Climate
Research in Mountain Weather and Climate is led by Professors John Horel, Jim Steenburgh, and Dave Whiteman. Their efforts aim to improve the understanding, analysis, and prediction of atmospheric phenomena over complex terrain, with an emphasis on the western United States. A centerpiece for mountain weather and climate research and instruction is the MesoWest cooperative networks, which integrates observations collected by more than 150 networks and 3000 surface stations in the western United States. Developed by Professor Horel, MesoWest has revolutionized the analysis of Intermountain weather for atmospheric research and operational forecasting. Professor Horel uses MesoWest data for his research in atmospheric data assimilation and forecast verification over complex terrain, as well as his many phenomenological studies of mountain weather including investigations of circulations induced by the Great Salt Lake and surrounding topography and cold pools in mountain weather. He also serves as Director of the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Regional Prediction, which conducts a broad program of research related to weather and climate processes over the western United States.

Professor Steenburgh’s research interests lie primarily in the area of the weather and climate of the Intermountain West and adjoining regions. He served as co-lead scientist for the Intermountain Precipitation Experiment (IPEX), a field and research program examining orographic precipitation processes over the Wasatch Mountains, and led a local effort to better understand lake-effect snowstorms produced by the Great Salt Lake. More recently, he his group has examined how the topography and unique boundary layer processes of the Great Basin modify the evolution of cyclones, fronts, and precipitation systems over the Intermountain West. He also participates in interdisciplinary programs including a campus-community partnership sponsored by the National Science Foundation to study biocomplexity in the urban Salt Lake Valley airshed.

Professor Whiteman joined our faculty in December 2004 after more than 20 years at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Dr. Whiteman is an international leader in the study of thermally driven flows, boundary layer processes, and cold pools, and is author of “Mountain Meteorology”, one of the few textbooks concentrating on atmospheric processes over complex terrain. Dr. Whiteman’s reputation is famous for his ability to design and conduct field research that tests scientific hypotheses and provides new insights into the underlying processes governing boundary layer processes over complex terrain. Examples include the Peter Sinks Experiment, which examined the development and decay of cold pools in a high-elevation mountain basin, the VTMX field program, which investigated nocturnal cold-air buildup in the Salt Lake Valley, and VINEX 2001, which illustrated how temperature and wind patterns evolve over the rolling terrain of a vineyard in central Washington. He is a passionate teacher and has served as a graduate advisor to students in the United States and Europe.

Fire burning in Utah's Wasatch Mountains (photo: Dave Myrick).

Atmospheric Dynamics and Climate Variability
Professor Thomas Reichler combines analytical and numerical approaches with the analysis of observational data to understand large-scale dynamical aspects of global weather and climate. In his work, he uses a hierarchy of numerical models extending from relatively simple primitive equations models to comprehensive general circulation models, including the GFDL climate model. His research investigates the dynamical coupling between the stratosphere and the troposphere, work which is motivated by increasing observational evidence that stratospheric processes can influence the troposphere across a wide range of timescales. This research may help to improve the predictability of weather on weekly to monthly time scales, and to better understand the effects of stratospheric changes (e.g., ozone depletion) on tropospheric climate. Thomas has also worked to determine how tropical SST anomalies and the Madden-Julian Oscillation, a well known mode of tropical cloud and precipitation variability at time scales of 30-60 days, affects long-range atmospheric predictability.

Climatological mean (1983-1998) tropopause pressure during Northern Hemisphere winter (DJF) calculated from daily temperature fields from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis.

Tropical Convection
Despite living in the midlatitudes and far from the ocean, Professor Ed Zipser continues his pioneering research on tropical convection, storms, and hurricanes. Using new remote sensing capabilities provided by the NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, which includes the first space-born precipitation radar, Prof. Zipser has illustrated the regional and global distribution of convective storms in the tropics and seeks to understand why heavy rainfall and storms are rare over the oceans compared to over the tropics. An active field researcher, Ed has helped manage field programs across the globe and is known for his ability to guide research aircraft such as the NOAA Hurricane Hunter to critical data collection locations.

South American Weather and Climate
The Department of Meteorology has a long history of research on southern hemisphere meteorology and climate that has involved many fruitful collaborations with our colleages in South America. Professors Julia Nogues-Paegle and Jan Paegle have spearheaded this efforts with contributions from many former and present faculty members. Julia and Jan have individually or as a team pioneered understanding of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone, South American Low Level Jet, and many other phenomena that are critical to South American weather and climate. Although “retired”, Julia and Jan remain active Emeritus Professors, both within the department and in the international science community.

Characteristics of the South American Low Level Jet: Mean 200hPa streamlines (left) and 925hPa vector wind (right) from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis archive and merged with satellite estimates and station observations of precipitation (mm, shading) for December - February. From CLIVAR http://www.clivar.org/.