Skip to main
Atmospheric science
George Mason University
Events

23 October (CLIM) Kuo, Regional Hydroclimatic Change

Oct 23, 2024, 1:30 - 2:30 PM

Planetary Hall 224

Yan-Ning Kuo, Cornell University 

Title: On the contributions of anthropogenically forced and the sea surface temperature-driven regional hydroclimate change

October 23 2024, 1:30pm 

Planetary Hall 224 and via Zoom (for link, email lortizur@gmu.edu) 

Host: Erik Swenson 

Several severe droughts over the Southwestern United States (SWUS) in the past decades have caused costly socio-economic impacts. Precipitation decline is regularly identified as the main driver of the SWUS droughts, while its cause remains unclear and has often been chalked off to internal climate variability. In this talk, I will cover the evidence of how the atmospheric circulation has changed and led to the SWUS precipitation decline. Through a hierarchy of model simulations, I will demonstrate the mechanisms of this atmospheric circulation change by the anthropogenic emissions, the sea surface temperatures (SSTs, either internal or anthropogenically forced), and their interplays.