Group
Atmospheric Variability and Change
The AVC group at the NYU investigates the role of atmospheric circulation and dynamics in a changing climate. We focus on a range of scales (from km sized gravity waves to global storm tracks) and methods. The unifying theme is a desire to understand the natural variability of our atmosphere and how it responds to external forcing. Understanding the atmospheric circulation is essential for narrowing uncertainty in regional climate change. When it comes to precipitation change over land, and hence water security, the answer my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.
Postdoctoral Research Scientists
- Madeleine Youngs is a NOAA Global and Climate Change fellow. She joined the group in August 2020 after completing her PhD at MIT with Glenn Flierl. Her research focuses on storm tracks in the oceans and atmosphere, bringing novel strategies from dynamical systems to bear on this classic problem.
- Minah Yang joined the group in June 2021 after completing her PhD in Applied Mathematics at the University of Colorado with Ian Grooms. She brings expertise in machine learning to the gravity wave parameterization problem.
- Ofer Shamir joined the group in June 2021. He completed his PhD with Nathan Paldor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He brings a background in atmospheric dynamics and modeling to the DataWave gravity wave parameterization project.
Aaron Match joined the group in December 2021, after completing his thesis with Stephan Fueglistaler at Princeton. He brings particular expertise in dynamical and radiative processes in the atmosphere. Aaron is supported by an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and interested in topics in attribution and climate dynamics.
Graduate Students
- Dave Connelly is a second year PhD student at NYU. He is interested using machine learning to represent the impact of un(der)resolved gravity waves in atmospheric models, and has explored the efficacy of regression tree approaches in particular.
Former Members
Postdoctoral Research Scientists
Martin Jucker (2014-2016) developed a Model of an idealized Moist Atmosphere (MiMA) while at NYU. He’s now a Lecturer in Climate Dynamics and the University of New South Wales.
Changhyun Yoo (2011-2014) investigated teleconnections between the tropical oceans and Antarctica. He’s now a professor at Ewha Womans University, Korea.
Doctoral Students
Aman Gupta (PhD, 2020) explored the impact of model numerics on the transport in atmospheric models. His thesis showed that there remain significant differences in stratosphere-troposphere coupling and tracer transport between the behavior of state-of-the-art dynamical cores. Aman traveled a bit farther afield for his postdoc, joining Thomas Birner’s group at LMU Munich!
Kevin DallaSanta (PhD, 2019) investigated the large scale circulation of the atmosphere. First, he investigated the tropospheric circulation response to volcanic eruptions, using a hierarchy of models to probe the mechanism. Second, he explored zonally coherent variability in the tropical atmosphere, discovering downward propagating anomalies on subseasonal time scales. He’s now a Postdoctoral Fellow at NASA GISS, just a few miles uptown!
Naftali Cohen (PhD, 2014) investigated the overturning circulation of the stratosphere and interactions between the resolved circulation and parameterized gravity waves in atmospheric models. He’s since shifted in data science and is working in industry (JP Morgan Chase, last time I checked!)
Xichen Li (PhD, 2014) focused on teleconnections between the the tropical oceans and the circulation around Antarctica, with a particular focus on links between the tropical Atlantic and Admunsen Sea. He’s now at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing.
Masters Students
Megan Lytle (MS, 2016)
Ho Yeung Hung (MS, 2014)
Undergraduates
Emma Knobloch (2021)
Dan Cao (2020)
Mihir Punji (2019)
Po Sheun (Portia) Chan (‘14)
Clement Chan (‘11)
Michael Hirsch (‘11)
Kelly Sielert (‘10)