Graduate Research

I am currently working with Dr. Kevin Reed and Dr. Brian Medeiros to understand the dynamics of the North American monsoon (NAM) in observations and climate model simulations. The NAM is characterized by a season reversal of wind and pressure that dominates the seasonal cycle of precipitation with peak rainfall occurring during July, August, and September. Northwestern Mexico receives 70-80% of its annual rainfall during this season and the southwestern United States receives nearly half of its annual precipitation. We seek to understand the dynamics behind the monsoon by examining the moist static energy budget. While the NAM is not a new phenomenon, there are still several questions behind what drives the monsoon. Some of the questions we are considering are:

• Does the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) represent the North American monsoon?
• Does the higher resolution (0.25-degree) simulation represent a more realistic monsoon?
• Can we quantify the orographic contribution to the NAM using a moist static energy budget analysis?

Undergraduate Research

Coming soon!