Earth and Environmental Sciences Area Logo Earth and Environmental Sciences Area Logo
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Logo
Menu
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Organizational Charts
    • Virtual Tours
    • EESA Strategic Vision
  • Our People
    • A-Z People
    • Alumni Network
    • Area Offices
    • Committees
    • Directors
    • IDEA Working Group
    • Paul A. Witherspoon
    • Postdocs & Early Careers
    • Search by Expertise
  • Careers & Opportunities
    • Careers
    • Intern Pilot w/CSUEB
    • Mentorship Program
    • Recognition & Funding Opps
    • EESA Mini Grants
    • S&E Metrics for Performance and Promotion
    • Student Opportunities
    • Supervisor EnRichment (SupER) Program
    • Promotion Metrics (Scientific)
  • Research
    • Area-Wide Program Domain
      • Earth AI & Data
    • Our Divisions
    • Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division
      • Environmental & Biological Systems Science
        • Programs
        • Environmental Remediation & Water Resources
        • Ecosystems Biology Program
        • Bioenergy
      • Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions
        • Programs
        • Climate Modeling
        • Atmospheric System Research
        • Terrestrial Ecosystem Science
      • Climate & Atmosphere Processes
        • Programs
        • Climate Modeling
        • Atmospheric System Research
      • Earth Systems & Society
        • Programs
        • Climate Modeling
    • Energy Geosciences Division
      • Discovery Geosciences
        • Programs
        • Basic Energy Sciences (BES) Geophysics
        • Basic Energy Sciences (BES) Geochemistry
        • Basic Energy Sciences (BES) Isotope
      • Energy Resources and Carbon Management
        • Programs
        • Carbon Removal & Mineralization Program
        • Carbon Storage Program
        • Geothermal Systems
        • Hydrocarbon Science
        • Nuclear Energy & Waste
      • Resilient Energy, Water & Infrastructure
        • Programs
        • Water-Energy
        • Critical Infrastructure
        • Environmental Resilience
        • Grid-Scale Subsurface Energy Storage
        • National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI)
    • Projects
    • Research at a Glance
    • Publication Lists
    • Centers and Resources
    • Technologies & National User Programs
  • Departments
    • Climate Sciences
    • Ecology
    • Geochemistry
    • Geophysics
    • Hydrogeology
    • Operations
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
    • Earth & Environment Newsletter
  • Intranet
  • Safety
    • EESA Safety
  • FoW
  • Search

  • all
  • people
  • events
  • posts
  • pages
  • projects
  • publications

CESD Expert Writes About the Dangers of Sluggish Tropical Cyclones for Nature Magazine3 min read

by Christina Procopiou on July 31, 2018

Climate & Carbon Sciences Program Climate & Carbon Sciences Program Area Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division Climate Modeling Program Climate Sciences Department Energy Geosciences Division GC-Climate Carbon Sink

CESD research scientist Christina Patricola weighed in this summer on new research indicating a global slowdown in the rate at which tropical cyclones move over a region. Because the amount of tropical-cyclone-related rainfall that any local area might experience is inversely proportional to this translation speed, these findings could have important implications for regional rainfall rates.

Commenting on the study findings by James P. Kossin in a piece for the News & Views section of Nature, Patricola drew upon knowledge from her own studies of the impact of climate warming on tropical cyclone, or hurricane intensity and rainfall.

Kossin analyzed 68 years of observations of global trends in tropical-cyclone translation speed, and regional trends over individual ocean basins and adjacent land. Kossin found that translation speeds — the speed at which a cyclone moves over a region — have decreased globally over the period from 1949-2016.  Since regional rainfall from tropical cyclones is inversely proportional to translation speed (and proportional to rainfall rate), Kossin’s work suggests that the total amount of regional rainfall from tropical cyclones might have increased.

“Hurricane Harvey is an extreme example of how slowly a cyclone can move over land, and of how that slow translation speed can be accompanied by extremely heavy rainfall,” Patricola explains. “Scientists have begun to understand that as the climate warms, there’s an expectation that global-scale circulation — or winds — in the Tropics will slow.

“Hurricane Harvey is an extreme example of how slowly a cyclone can move over land, and of how that slow translation speed can be accompanied by extremely heavy rainfall.” — Christina Patricola

“The direction and speed at which a tropical cyclone travels is guided by the winds in the surrounding environment. Kossin’s work is novel in that he hypothesized how changes in overall atmospheric circulation can influence one of the tropical-cyclone characteristics — translation speed — important for rainfall,” Patricola says.

For her own studies of tropical cyclones, Patricola uses high-resolution numerical climate models and observations to understand connections between changes in climate and extreme events such as tropical cyclones, floods, and drought.

Her previous research indicates that climatological Atlantic hurricane frequency can be maintained in the absence of the typical hurricane precursor, African Easterly waves; that the spatial pattern of El Nino’s ocean warming is important for the magnitude of Atlantic hurricane reductions; and that favorable temperatures in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins concurrently can lead to extremely active hurricane seasons.

Patricola also participates on the research team engaged in DOE’s Calibrated and Systematic Characterization, Attribution and Detection of Extremes (CASCADE) Scientific Focus Area (SFA). Led by William Collins and Travis O’Brien in CESD, the CASCADE SFA is developing new ways to simulate and detect extreme events using software capable of processing vast amounts of climate model and observational data on the world’s fastest and most computationally efficient computers.

Climate Models

Climate Models: Horizontal Resolution, Simulation Quality (cascade.lbl.gov)

“The ability to use climate models as we do here at Berkeley Lab allows us to simulate changes in both the probabilities of extreme event occurrence, and the magnitude of extreme events,” Patricola says.

“Because we can simulate the tropical cyclones at regional scale, we are able to represent the intensities of the strongest types of cyclones. This ability gives us a clear pathway forward towards identifying the extent to which rainfall rates could increase as the climate warms.”

 

News & Events

Daniel Stolper Selected by DOE’s Early Career Research Program2 min read

June 22, 2022

Daniel Stolper is among five Berkeley Lab researchers to receive funding through the Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Program (ECRP), and is one of just 83 nationwide to be selected this year by the DOE for this prestigious award. Stolper is an EESA faculty scientist with a joint appointment at UC Berkeley, where he…

Wageningen Students Visit Ecology Department Team2 min read

On May 31, a delegation of students from Wageningen University & Research Center (WUR) Microbiology and Systems Biology Groups in the Netherlands came to visit EESA’s Ecology department. WUR is a highly esteemed world-class Dutch university that trains specialists in a variety of life sciences disciplines. WUR’s research and teaching activities range from sustainable agriculture…

Strengthening Wildland Fire Science and Scientific Collaboration through New Data Management Platform3 min read

June 13, 2022

  Wildfires are increasing in severity and frequency worldwide. A new report called Spreading like Wildfire: The Rising Threat of Extraordinary Landscape Fires indicates that wildfires are responsible for significant economic, environmental, and sociopolitical damage (UNEP, GRID-Arendal, 2021). They also contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions – thereby further fueling climate change.  Researchers need to…

Bhavna Arora Describes Agricultural Managed Aquifer Recharge5 min read

June 7, 2022

Managed Aquifer Recharge is a water management strategy used to store excess surface water underground and thereby replenish groundwater basins when and where possible. This strategy enables communities to use depleted groundwater basins as natural water storage to augment water supplies and prevent land subsidence. In coastal regions, MAR can be implemented to act as…

  • Our People
    • Area Offices
    • Committees
    • Directors
    • Organizational Charts
    • Postdocs
    • Staff Only
    • Search by Expertise
  • Departments
    • Climate Sciences
    • Ecology
    • Geochemistry
    • Geophysics
    • Hydrogeology
  • Research
    • Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division
    • Energy Geosciences Division
    • Program Domains
      • Programs
    • Projects
  • Contact
    • 510 486 6455
    • eesawebmaster@lbl.gov
    • Our Identity

Earth and Environmental Sciences Area Logo DOE Earth and Environmental Sciences Area Logo UC

A U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory Managed by the University of California

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory · Earth and Environmental Sciences Area · Privacy & Security Notice