Group Leader
Brian Colle
PROFESSOR; DIVISION HEAD, DIVISION OF ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES, SOMAS
Contact | Personal Page | CV
I have been at Stony Brook University since 1999. I received my B.S. at Ohio University (1991), M.S., Ph.D., and post-doc training at the University of Washington (1991-1999). I have an extensive background in various mesoscale processes (orographic flow and precipitation, convective storms, coastal flows, tropical cyclones, etc…), synoptic meteorology, and numerical weather prediction. I have participated in numerous field studies, such as NASA IMPACTS along the U.S. East Coast studying precipitation bands within winter storms from Jan-Feb 2020-2020, orographic precipitation during the OLYMPEX project over the Olympics Mountains of Washington State in December 2015, IMPOWR around Nantucket Island (summers 2013-2014), and the Doppler Radar for Education And Mesoscale Studies (DREAMS) in June 2013 on Long Island. I particularly enjoy research that bridges the gap between research and operational weather forecasting through a multi-year CSTAR collaboration with the National Weather Service and other NCEP operational centers. More recently, I have been interested in regional climate issues for future changes in East Coast winter storms, severe convective storms, and coastal storms and flash flooding. I served as a member of the New York City Panel for Climate Change (2015-2018) as well as Editor for the AMS journal “Weather and Forecasting” from 2005 to 2011. When I am not working, you can find me on a Long Island beach surf fishing or enjoying time with family.
Current Students
Nicholas Leonardo
Post Doc.
Contact | CV
I joined COMAP as a Ph.D. student in the fall of 2014, after completing my M.S. in Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook. My Ph.D. research involved the predictability of North Atlantic tropical cyclones, focusing on cases in which ensemble systems, such as the ECMWF and GEFS, poorly forecast the track. More specifically, I analyzed any systematic model biases potentially contributing to these different forecast “busts”.
I graduated in the summer of 2019 and am now a post-doc at Stony Brook. Currently, as part of the IMPACTS project, my work also involves analyzing the development of snow bands in idealized simulations. The goal is to understand what mechanisms and environmental parameters cause convection in the comma-head region to organize into elongated bands.
Recent Publications
Leonardo, N. M., and Hameed, S, 2015: Impact of the Hawaiian High on Interannual Variations of Winter Precipitation over California. J. Climate, 28, 5667-5682.
Leonardo, N. M., and B. A. Colle, 2017: Verification of Multimodel Ensemble Forecasts of North Atlantic Tropical Cyclones. Wea. Forecasting, 32, 2083-2101.
Leonardo, N. M., and B. A. Colle, 2020: An Investigation of Large Along-Track Errors in North Atlantic Tropical Cyclone ECMWF Ensemble Forecasts. Mon. Wea. Rev., 148, 457-476. DOI: 10.1175/MWR-D-19-0044.1.
Leonardo, N. M., and B. A. Colle, 2021: An Investigation of Large Cross-Track Errors in North Atlantic Tropical Cyclones in the GEFS and ECMWF Ensembles. Mon. Wea. Rev., 149, 395-417. DOI: 10.1175/MWR-D-20-0035.1.
Na Zhou
Ph.D. GRADUATE STUDENT
Contact | CV
I joined COMAP in the fall of 2016 after completing a M.S. in Meteorology from the University of Reading, UK. My current research is focusing on diagnosing the performance of the cloud microphysical schemes in WRF model, including P3, Morrison, SBU and Thompson scheme, by using OLYMPEX field measurements. The ice and rain hydrometeor fields, the dominant microphysical processes simulated by these BMPs are analyzed associated with the atmospheric river events.
Keenan Fryer
M.S. GRADUATE STUDENT
Contact | CV
I joined COMAP in the fall of 2017 after completing my B.S. in Atmospheric Science and Applied Mathematics from Stony Brook University. My research interests include mesoscale modeling, data assimilation, and statistical analysis. My main focus has been on applications of the EnKF for use in Data assimilation and the design and tuning of a WRF ensemble. I am particularly interested in improving our observation and simulation of the atmospheric boundary layer.
Phillip Yeh
Ph.D. GRADUATE STUDENT
Contact | CV
I joined COMAP in the fall of 2019, after completing my M.S. in Atmospheric Science at Rutgers University, New Jersey. My current research focuses on mesoscale snow bands and other precipitation objects in the cyclone comma head, and will include IMPACTS field measurements taken during the winters of 2019-20, 2021-22, and 2022-23. Through both observations and modeling, my research goal is to better understand the underlying dynamics involved in the occurrence, structure, and predictability of these snow bands in a cyclone-relative frame, in winter storms in the Northeast U.S. My research includes the use of a new algorithm to identify and isolate these precipitation structures in radar reflectivity.
Erin Leghart
Ph.D. GRADUATE STUDENT
I joined COMAP in the Fall of 2020 after earning a B.S. in Atmospheric Science at the University at Albany, SUNY. My research interests include winter weather, ice microphysics, radar meteorology, and airborne atmospheric research. My current research utilizes data from the Ka-Band Scanning Radar (KASPR) located at the Stony Brook Radar Observatory on campus. During winter storms KASPR often observes horizontal layers of enhanced spectrum width, which we hypothesize are generated by wind shear and/or microphysical processes. My goal is to investigate the processes which lead to the development of these layers, what storm environments the layers occur most frequently, and if they have any relation to snow band development and evolution. My research is supported by the NASA Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS) campaign.