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.
Recent News
On May 11, Alex was invited to serve a four-year term (through March 2028) on the U.S. CLIVAR Process Study and Model Improvement (PSMI) Panel: https://usclivar.org/panels/psmi. Congrats, Alex!
From May 6–10, Alex and Fouzia attended the American Meteorological Society (AMS) 36th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology in Long Beach, CA. Alex had a poster presentation entitled, “Daily ITCZ States over the East Pacific in Observations, Reanalyses, and CMIP6 Models” (https://ams.confex.com/ams/36Hurricanes/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/442632) and he co-chaired two sessions: Madden-Julian Oscillation and Intraseasonal Variability I (https://ams.confex.com/ams/36Hurricanes/meetingapp.cgi/Session/66506)…
Fouzia and Alex publish their ITCZ and convectively coupled waves research in the Journal of Climate
On March 22, Fouzia, Alex, and co-authors (Justin Stachnik and Brett Chrisler) published a paper entitled, “The Relationship between Convectively Coupled Waves and the East Pacific ITCZ” in the Journal of Climate: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/clim/37/8/JCLI-D-23-0398.1.xml. Congrats to all involved! Significance Statement Convectively coupled atmospheric waves (CCWs) are a critical feature of tropical weather and are an important…
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Many marine gastropods, including conchs and sea slugs, spend their early lives as plankton. Translucent membranes called velum help them maintain buoyancy and capture food particles, but disappear once the animal becomes a bottom-dweller.
📸 by Jialing Cai/homoplankton.com
Many marine gastropods, including conchs and sea slugs, spend their early lives as plankton. Translucent membranes called velum help them maintain buoyancy and capture food particles, but disappear once the animal becomes a bottom-dweller.
📸 by Jialing Cai/homoplankton.com
Like many of us "of a certain age," there are rumors about whether or not #Alvin has had any work done... after all, the deep sea sub doesn't exactly look 60!
📣 Find out all you ever wanted to know (and more) about ALVIN: http://go.whoi.edu/alvin60
Like many of us "of a certain age," there are rumors about whether or not #Alvin has had any work done... after all, the deep sea sub doesn't exactly look 60!
📣 Find out all you ever wanted to know (and more) about ALVIN: http://go.whoi.edu/alvin60