Skip to content

Tropical Climate Dynamics Lab

About the Lab

Welcome to the tropical climate dynamics research group at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)! We are interested in atmospheric and oceanic processes in the tropics and their interactions with higher latitudes. We study a variety of topics, including the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), marine atmospheric boundary layer clouds, the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), the Hadley circulation, equatorial waves, tropical cyclones, El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and tropical-extratropical interactions.  One of our primary goals is to improve understanding of observations of these complex phenomena using a hierarchy of models and observations. With this improved understanding, weather and climate prediction can be guided in the right direction.

We are also involved in science education and outreach, particularly at WHOI and in the local Cape Cod community. From bringing hands-on rotating tank climate science experiments to K–12 and college classrooms to mentoring middle- and high-school students and teachers on research projects, we strive to motivate a generation of future scientists.

NOAA GOES-17 imagery showing a double ITCZ, one ITCZ in each hemisphere, spanning the Pacific Ocean on 10 March 2018. Courtesy of NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) Team.

Recent News

Alex invited speaker at the University at Albany seminar series

By Alex Gonzalez | April 12, 2023

On April 10, Alex Gonzalez traveled to Albany, NY to present a talk entitled, “Dynamical importance of the trade wind inversion in suppressing the southeast Pacific ITCZ” at the Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences/Atmospheric Sciences Research Center Joint Colloquium.

Fouzia successfully passes Ph.D. preliminary exam

By Alex Gonzalez | March 31, 2023

On March 29, Fouzia Fahrin successfully passed her Ph.D. preliminary examination as a part of Iowa State University’s requirements to become a Ph.D. candidate. Congrats, Fouzia!

Alex, Indrani, and Fouzia present at 2022 AGU Meeting

By Alex Gonzalez | December 17, 2022

From December 12–16, Alex Gonzalez, Indrani Ganguly, and Fouzia Fahrin traveled to the 2022 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Meeting in Chicago, IL to present about their research and teaching/outreach activities. Alex had a poster presentation entitled, “Case studies of double and northern hemisphere east Pacific ITCZs: Impacts of boundary layer depth and free troposphere momentum…

Load More