Speaker: Prof. Rob Korty (Texas A&M)
Abstract: Analyses of simulations for the next century have revealed that large-scale changes to the environment that spawns tropical cyclones can have some intriguing effects on the characteristics of tropical cyclone frequency and intensity. Yet Earth has passed through far more extreme variations over the course of its long history--from periods with deep ice sheets covering middle and high latitudes to other times that were quite hot with weak meridional temperature gradients. And superimposed on these various backgrounds are other variations--for example irregular volcanic eruptions or more periodic features such as the perihelion progressing around the calendar. There are a wealth of paleoclimate simulations conducted for various past climates by modeling centers around the world, and our group has been working on understanding how these large-scale climate deviations affect the thermodynamic properties most crucial to tropical cyclone genesis and development. This talk will give a brief tour through some of the more interesting periods, focusing on results from the Last Glacial Maximum and Holocene epoch.

Speaker's website: http://atmo.tamu.edu/profile/RKorty