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Sam Stechmann Colloquium
March 21, 2014 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Sam Stechmann
Department of Mathematics
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Applied Math Seminar
Friday March 21, 2014 4:00-5:00 PM
Phillips Hall 332
Title:
Models for Water, Waves, and Convection in the Atmosphere
Abstract:
One of the most important — and most difficult — atmospheric quantities to model is water. We feel it at the surface as precipitation, and we see it in the sky as clouds, a manifestation of convection. What is the best way to model water and waves and convection in the atmosphere? In this talk, we describe several models that capture realistic features of clouds and convection yet have, at the same time, a simple mathematical form that is potentially amenable to analysis. This is in contrast to the models used for operational forecasts, which require a comprehensive treatment of all water processes, and which have a prohibitively complicated mathematical form. Different models will be presented for different length and time scales of interest: an individual storm (a “squall line”) is represented by a minimal model of precipitating turbulent convection, and a planetary-scale wave envelope (the “Madden-Julian Oscillation”) is represented using a nonlinear oscillator model.