Dr. Trent Ford (PI) and I recently received 3 years of funding from NSF Physical and Dynamic Meteorology for a project titled “Improving Process-Level Understanding of Surface-Atmosphere Interactions Leading to Convection Initiation in the Central United States“.
This project will assess the nature and strength of soil moisture feedbacks on convective precipitation in the central United States using a coupled observation-modeling framework to examine the physical processes linking the soil and boundary layer atmosphere. The objectives of the project are to: (1) evaluate whether convection occurs preferentially over wet or dry soils in the central United States, (2) quantify the influence of soil moisture on convection and precipitation using process-based metrics and high quality land and atmosphere observations, and (3) evaluate the response of convection and precipitation to changes in soil moisture conditions using the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model.
I am looking for a PhD student or Postdoc who is interested in working on this project.