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Extratropical Cooling, Interhemispheric Thermal Gradients, and Tropical Climate Change

UTIG Seminars


Extratropical Cooling, Interhemispheric Thermal Gradients,
and Tropical Climate Change

By:
John Chiang
University of California, Berkley

When: Friday, September 27, 2013, 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Join us for coffee beginning at 10:00 a.m.
Where: Seminar Conference Room, 10100 Burnet Road, Bldg 196-ROC, Austin, Texas 78758
Host: Yuko Okamura, UTIG

Click for a Live Broadcast.

 

image from Dr. Chiang's talk

Abstract
Recent studies suggest the existence of a global atmospheric teleconnection of extratropical cooling to the tropical rainfall climate, mediated through the development of a thermal contrast between the hemispheres-an interhemispheric thermal gradient. This teleconnection has been largely motivated by studies that show a global synchronization of rapid climate change during abrupt climate changes of the last glacial period. In this talk, I will review the motivations and recent developments of this teleconnection hypothesis, in particular the atmospheric dynamics of the underlying mechanisms and applications of this hypothesis toward understanding past, present and future tropical rainfall change.