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 air-sea interaction, the coupling between clouds and atmospheric circulations, extreme rainfall, and marine meteorology. Phenomena of interest include the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO), the Hadley circulation, equatorial waves, tropical cyclones, and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).
Our primary goal is to improve physical understanding of these complex phenomena using a hierarchy of models and observations, including our own atmospheric instrumentation. 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 experiments to K–12 and college classrooms, to conducting teacher workshops on atmospheric and oceanic science education, we strive to motivate a generation of future scientists.
Recent News
On 8 August, a proposal submitted by Alex G., Alex K., and James Edson (WHOI, Applied Ocean Engineering and Physics) was funded by WHOI’s Access to the Sea Program, from September 2026–August 2028. The project will focus on observing marine fog in coastal Martha’s Vineyard via existing air-sea instrumentation, new cloud instrumentation, and weather balloons…
On 20 May, a proposal submitted by Alex G., Alex K., and colleague Kuniaki Inoue (Columbia University) on high-resolution interactions between tropical rainfall and low cloud decks using NASA TROPICS mission data was funded. The grant begins in July and goes through June 2029. Congrats to everyone!
On 14 April, Fouzia’s paper on the fidelity of tropical low clouds in atmospheric reanalyses was published in JGR-Atmospheres: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2025JD044949. Congrats, Fouzia!
On 1 April, ULCA colleague and fellow Do-It-Yourself Dynamics (DIYnamics) team member, Jonathan Aurnou, published an article with Alex G. and other the DIYnamics team members on simulating atmospheric rivers with affordable rotating tank systems in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/107/4/BAMS-D-24-0011.1.xml. Congrats to Jon, Alex, and the rest of the DIYnamics team!
On 27 February, former group member (and now Assistant Professor at Northeastern University) Chengfei He’s paper was published in Nature Communications entitled, “Climate models exaggerate greenhouse gas impact on recent interhemispheric temperature patterns and tropical climate.” Congrats, Chengfei!