Atmospheric Circulation Newsletter of the University of Washington Atmospheric Sciences Department

Autumn 2011 Atmospheric Circulation Newsletter of the University of Washington Atmospheric Sciences Department

Making of the YouTube Can Crushing Video by Kelly McCusker he Department of Atmospheric Sciences and boiled down to the essential information, all brief departure to smooth jazz while the Safety TOutreach group has recently ventured while remaining within the story arc and incor- Chicken shared his safety message. into a bold new frontier: YouTube. Composed porating some humor. “Due to recent advances The rest of the crew for this video included: of faculty, staff, and students, our group has in de-cylindrification theory, the power to crush Bryce Harrop, Brian Smoliak, Jack Scheff, and been volunteering time for over 20 years, shar- cans without undue physical exertion is now in yours truly, with new additions for upcoming ing science with youth on visits to the depart- the power of everyday citizens like yourself!” videos. The process was exceptionally fun, but ment, demonstrating concepts relevant to the Pure genius! We had lots of fun coming up with we did run across some pitfalls, many of which atmosphere, and generally illustrating the won- everyone’s lines. Can you pick out the lines that the group has since corrected. In order to cre- ders of our field. ate high definition video, we now utilize an reference an early 90’s song? In early 2009, the outreach group was HD video camera from the UW Student Tech Step three: filming. We used the department approached by UW’s Joint Institute for the Fee equipment office. We also now focus on Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO) to video camera, providing us the flexibility to maintaining consistent audio throughout (care- participate in their Science in 180 initiative. The film on multiple days, including one afternoon ful placement of any microphones or backup idea was to create 3-minute videos for online where many grad-student volunteers acted as video cameras, avoiding echoes, etc.). Finally, distribution that demonstrate a simple scien- water vapor molecules and liquid water drops we acquired video editing software—thanks to tific concept at a middle school level. We were on the ATG roof. Thanks to hysterical bloop- our gracious Department Chair—so editing can excited from the start, envisioning viral videos ers and goofiness, the “crew” probably had the be done comfortably in-house, and with high- and movie-stardom for all. most laughs during filming. quality software. Our debut video involved “can-crushing,” Step four was less fun: editing the footage. The end result of our efforts—borne out of a popular demonstration wherein the power of This required many, many…many hours inside JISAO’s idea but very much distinctly Atmos. air pressure is used to crush a soda can. When the Odegaard Library computer lab using the Outreach—is a quirky, 290-second video that Assistant Professor Dargan Frierson signed on video-editing software. Thank goodness for now has almost 3,500 views on YouTube. You to help out with its creation, we knew it would Reid Wolcott, who accomplished the bulk of can find the link to the video and to our YouTube be a hit. the job. This was the most iterative step, and channel at the outreach website, www.atmos. Step one was storyboarding. In order to where the most improvements were made. At washington.edu/~outreach. Also, stay tuned maintain a viewer’s interest throughout, we cre- for the soon-to-be-released video: Cloud-in-a- one point we encountered a potentially disas- ated an overarching storyline—the main charac- Bottle: THE MOVIE! trous problem when the original video files ter (Cool Guy) is a poor soul who is incapable of By the way, the lines that reference the crushing a can. He feels uncool because he lacks were LOST FOREVER; we resorted to editing 1990’s song are in an exchange between the this ability, while it seems everyone else can do a less-flexible file format, which proved abit Cool Guy and the Scientist. Cool Guy: “Let’s it—even felines! Enter the Scientist to save the frustrating. get this party started,” Scientist: “Right,” Cool day with air pressure. Finally, step five was musical scoring. The Guy: “Quickly”—in deference to lyrics from Step two was scripting the storyline. Our finishing touch is, of course, the soundtrack. the beginning of C&C Music Factory’s dance goals were to be clear, concise, and hilarious. Dargan Frierson provided a lively, bluegrass tune “Here We Go (Let’s Rock & Roll),” circa Concepts needed to be repeated in multiple ways score to keep the video moving along, with a 1990.

The beginning and end of the 3-minute video starring Brian Smoliak as the Cool Guy.

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Chair’s Column This academic year, UW tuition is rising by Department News 20%. Each student’s tuition and mandatory fees any of you will total $10,574. Interestingly, Washington rof. Thomas Ackerman has been elected Mmay have State University will remain more pricey than Pas a Fellow of the AGU. heard about signifi- UW; WSU’s tuition and fees, which are going up Prof. David Battisti was one of the organizers cant changes in the more slowly (a 16% increase), will cost $10,798 for the College of the Environment’s public lec- tuition paid by UW per year. The UW will also remain less expen- ture series on “Food: Eating Your Environment.” students and the level sive than many of our peer public universities, Daniel Grosvenor joined Prof. Wood’s re- of support that the such as the University of Michigan ($13,434) search group as a postdoc in March 2011. Dan- UW receives from and UCLA ($11,643). iel got his Ph.D. from the School of Earth, At- the state. I have read Many of our undergrads work part time to mospheric and Environmental Sciences at the a few things about finance their education, and as we know all too University of Manchester. this that were mis- well, wages are not increasing at a rate remotely Prof. Dennis Hartmann was honored by be- leading, so I’d like to similar to that of college tuition. We always ing selected as the Bernhard Haurwitz Memorial take this opportunity greatly appreciate the donations that have been Lecturer for 2011. He was given the honor for to set the record straight. given to the department by our alumni and the many important and fundamental contribu- As shown in the accompanying figure, after friends. During these difficult economic times, tions to our understanding of atmospheric and accounting for inflation, the cost of educating a your help makes a tremendous difference. Con- climate dynamics. The lecture was presented at UW student (total student funding per FTE) is tributions to the Richard and Joan Reed Under- the American Meteorological Society’s annual slightly less today than it was in 1989. In 1990, graduate Endowed Scholarship fund will help meeting on January 25. the state provided nearly 80% of the funding provide financial support for our undergraduate Prof. Lyatt Jaeglé has been promoted to full per student and the students covered the other majors. professor effective September 16, 2011. 20%. From 1990 to 2008, there was a steady I’d like to close by again thanking those of Louise Leahy won second place in the AMS decline in state support and a roughly similar you who have sent us information about your student poster award for the Third Symposium steady increase in the tuition paid by undergrad- activities, which we have collected on page 7. It on Aerosol-Cloud-Climate Interactions. uates. Beginning in 2009 the situation changed; is always great to hear from you. Please help us Art Rangno, retired Cloud and Aerosol state support for UW has shrunk drastically, and share news about you and your family with your Research Group (CARG) meteorologist, volun- tuition has gone up sharply. As a consequence, classmates by sending us your updates. teered to do a mountain of work for the depart- in the new academic year, the students will now Best wishes, ment this spring. Art has scanned 16 boxes of CARG data over the last few months and com- pay for most of the cost of their instruction Dale Durran (about 70%) while the states contribution has piled them onto DVDs for the department. Art dwindled to roughly 30%. is also sending a copy of these DVDs to NCAR for their archives (Steve Williams, Data Man- ager). Kudos to Art for his hard work for the department and the bygone CARG! State and Tuition Funding per FTE Kristen Rasmussen and Scott Powell par- (in 2013 Dollars) ticipated in the Seattle Mariners and KOMO 4 $25,000 Weather Education Day on June 1. Approxi- mately 4,000 students attended the event at $17,000 $16,600 Safeco Field. Kristen and Scott did weather (FUNDING PER FTE) (FUNDING PER FTE) experiments by creating a cloud in a bottle as $20,000 well as imploding soda cans with a fun emphasis on atmospheric pressure. Steve Pool and Scott Sistek from KOMO TV/Radio and Ted Buehner of NWS Seattle were also among the educators. $15,000 Former visiting scientist, Ulrike (Ulli) Ro- matschke, successfully completed her Ph.D. defense (with a top grade of “sehr gut”) at the $10,000 University of Vienna on Dec. 13, 2011. Her dis- sertation research was all done at the UW under an agreement between Prof. Robert Houze and the University of Vienna. Her committee was $5,000 composed of Rinehold Steinacker, Hans Volkert, Tuition Revenue per FTE Vanda Grubisic, and Robert Houze. Since the State Funding per FTE University of Vienna is actually the Universitaet Total Funding per Student FTE Wien, she got her Ph.D. jointly from two UWs. $0 We are very pleased to report that Dr. Abigail Swann will join the department as a new Assis- 1989-901990-911991-921992-931993-941994-951995-961996-971997-981998-991999-002000-012001-022002-032003-042004-052005-062006-072007-082008-092009-102010-112011-122012-13 tant Professor in the fall of 2012. Dr. Swann’s Percentage of Total Funding/FTE from State Appropriations research is in atmosphere-biosphere interactions. Dr. Swann will develop an interdisciplinary research program in this rapidly evolving Cost of educating an undergraduate UW student in inflation-adjusted dollar over a 23-year sub-discipline. Her position, which was created by the new College of the Environment, will be period. The three curves show the total cost, that portion funded by the state, and that coming 2/3 in Atmospheric Sciences and 1/3 in the Bi- from tuition (a student FTE is a “full-time-equivalent” student). ology Department. Dr. Swann has a Ph.D. from Chart provided by UW Office of Planning and Budgeting. (Continued on page 3)

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Departmental News, cont. from page 2 Houze group because of our research on Berkeley and currently holds a postdoctoral ap- South American severe pointment at Harvard. storms. One of the seg- Nicole Wigder was awarded second place ments of the program for student poster presentations in the AMS was focused on the 13th Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry beautiful cloud forest (91st AMS Annual Meeting). At the January 2011 AMS annual meeting, in Calilegua National Prof. Robert Wood received the Henry G. Park near Jujuy, Argen- Houghton Award for advancing understanding tina and the large con- of the interactions of cloud droplets, aerosols, vective storms that radiation, and precipitation in marine stratocu- occur along the foot- mulus. This award is given to promising young hills of the Andes. or early-career scientists in recognition of re- The film crew’s goal search achievement in the field of physical me- was to capture the full teorology, including atmospheric chemistry. diurnal cycle of con- Baby News—Ethan Zikai Zhang was born vection along the steep to Yanxu and Yunli on April 26, which was the eastern foothills of the Throughout the day during my filming segment in Calilegua exact due date. Andes and to have a National Park, I would advise the director in various ways to meteorologist there to give him guidance on where to go and what we might observe help direct them dur- regarding certain weather events. Invitation to Interview ing daily operations. I with the BBC/Discovery was surprised to find that I was not only being ous types of clouds that they wanted to film. As Channel in Argentina interviewed on camera about my research, but a graduate student, it was very nice to be able was also expected to nowcast the immediate to share my research with the general public and by Kristen Rasmussen weather for filming as well as edit and critique it was even more exciting that the BBC/Discov- the BBC’s script for their presenter (the BBC n January 2011, I had the honor of being ery Channel searched us out because they were and Discovery Channel share footage, but not invited to travel to South America to be interested in our research! This was an incredible I presenters or interviewers). On the 16-hour day interviewed for an upcoming science program that I was being filmed, with my knowledge of experience, both personally and scientifically, from the BBC/Discovery Channel. The three the diurnal influence on convection and from and I am very grateful to have had the opportu- part series is about weather and climate around studying storms in the region, I was successfully nity. The program will be aired in early 2012 and the globe and the producers were directed to the able to predict the timing and location of vari- is called “23 Degrees.”

Fitzpatrick. Most of the first week we were Antarctic Expedition camp-bound by blizzards, working to keep the tents secure against the wind (and when that by Steve Warren was done, I graded final exams and term papers for my class). But we did get some days suitable e’ve identified modern analogues for for measuring the reflection of sunlight by the Wice types that would have existed on different ice types, and extracting core samples. the tropical ocean of Snowball Earth 700 mil- Analysis of the bubble sizes should allow us lion years ago. The most important of these is to explain the reflectance measurements. The bare glacier ice exposed by sublimation, which camping was surprisingly comfortable, but has never experienced melting. This type of required some bizarre behavior, such as sleep- ice now exists only in the “blue ice” areas of ing with the Tabasco sauce so it would be liquid the Trans-Antarctic Mountains, blown free of the next day. For larger images see www.atmos. snow by the strong winds. I spent three weeks washington.edu/alumni.update/2011newsltr/ Uploading the ski plane. in December at a tent camp near the Allan Hills, img/album/warren/. with Peter Mullen, Ružica Dadić, and Melanie

Ruschle and Peter measuring albedo of blue ice. Cutting snow blocks for a windbreak. Allan Hills.

3 Department of Atmospheric Sciences In Memoriam 2010 Robert Fleagle Conway B. Leovy Endowed Lecture by Prof. David Catling in Atmospheric Sciences Policy he Robert Fleagle Endowed Lecture was Theld on October 13, 2010 at Kane Hall. Prof. David W. Keith of the University of Calgary was the featured speaker. Keith’s timely and inter- esting talk, Engineering Earth’s Climate: Risks, Limitations, and Prospects received enthusiastic reviews. The lecture was part of the College of the Environment’s Fall Dean’s Club event. Keith is one of the leading thinkers in the arena of geoengineering. He is the Canada Research Chair in Energy and the Environment at UC. He has spent most of his career in the US at Harvard and Carnegie Mellon before returning to Canada to lead a research group in energy and environmental system at UC. He has served on numerous high profile advisory panels such as the UK Royal Soci- ety’s geoengineering study, the IPCC, and Cana- dian “blue ribbon” panels and boards. The next Fleagle lecture is planned for spring 2012.

Professor J. David Neelin 2011 Graduate Students’ Distinguished onway B. Leovy, Emeritus Professor of In the 1970s, Conway became a co-investiga- CAtmospheric Sciences and Geophysics, tor for the Limb Infrared Monitor of the Strato- Visiting Lecturer passed away on July 9. His family held the memo- sphere (LIMS) instrument that flew on the Nim- rial service on August 13. The Colloquium on Sep- bus 7 satellite. Nimbus 7 observations obtained rof. Neelin was invited to visit the depart- tember 30 celebrated Conway’s university career between 1978 and 1994 showed that the ozone Pment as the Graduate Students’ Distin- and a reception was held after. hole appearing each winter season over the Ant- guished Visiting Lecturer. He gave the lecture on arctic grew bigger and was definitively linked to May 5 entitled “The Rain is a Pain—The Chal- Conway Leovy: Scientific Career manmade chlorofluorocarbons. Later, Conway lenges of Predicting Rainfall Changes Under Conway’s contributions to our understanding participated in the Upper Atmosphere Research Global Warming.” Neelin also gave the May 6 of planetary atmospheres span over 40 years, 31 Satellite, deployed in 1991 by the Space Shuttle. Atmospheric Sciences Colloquium lecture entitled of which were spent as a professor at the Uni- Data from this satellite improved our understand- “Precipitation Parameter Sensitivity and Optimiza- versity of Washington (UW). Conway joined the ing of the chemistry and radiation of Earth’s me- tion in Climate Models.” UW faculty in 1968 and was a full Professor from sosphere and stratosphere. Besides these studies, 1974 to 1999, after which he retired from teach- Conway also became interested in the climatic J. David Neelin is a professor and chair at ing but remained active in research. impact of clouds over the ocean. For the wider the University of California–Los Angeles in the Conway was fortunate to come of profes- community, Conway served on committees for Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. sional age during the Space Age, which enabled NASA, the National Academy of Sciences, and He received his Ph.D. from Princeton Univer- him to participate directly in NASA’s missions the University Cooperation for Atmospheric Re- sity. He leads the Climate Systems Interactions to Mars. These were groundbreaking missions search. At the University of Washington, Conway group and is a faculty member of the Institute of because the limitations of telescopic studies left was also the director of the Institute of Environ- Geophysics and Planetary Physics. a great deal to be discovered. During the 1960s, mental Studies from 1986 to 1989. Conway participated in imaging experiments on Conway’s outstanding contributions to science NASA’s Mariner 6 and 7 flyby missions to Mars, are his studies of the structure and circulation of Upcoming 2012 Peter V. Hobbs which were followed, in the 1970s, with partici- planetary atmospheres, their radiation, and their pation in the imaging experiment of the Mariner interactions with the planetary surfaces. Conway Memorial Endowed Lecture 9 Mars orbiter and the Meteorology Experiment always favored an interdisciplinary approach and in Experimental Meteorology on NASA’s Viking Landers. Later, Conway was in the late 1990s, he became a great supporter of a co-investigator for the Mars Climate Sounder NASA’s new thrust in astrobiology, i.e., the sci- he third Peter V. Hobbs Memorial Endowed instrument on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, ence concerned with life on Earth and elsewhere TLecture is planned for February 7, 2012, launched in 2005. In 1973, Conway was awarded in a cosmic context. At the same time, Conway at 7:30 in Kane Hall, Room 210. The speaker the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement developed a keen interest in examining the geol- will be Prof. Owen Brian Toon from the Depart- Medal—an award given for unusually signifi- ogy of the surface of Mars to look for signs of an- ment of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the cant scientific accomplishments that contribute cient climate change. In 2000, the contribution of University of Colorado. The lecture is entitled to NASA’s programs. He was also a joint re- Conway’s career was recognized by the Kuiper “Severe Atmospheric Aerosol Events: Aerosols cipient of the 1978 American Association for the Prize of American Astronomical Society’s Divi- Along the Spiral of Geologic Time.” A web site Advancement of Science (AAAS) Newcombe sion of Planetary Science. The Kuiper Prize is will be available for registration in January prior Cleveland Award given to the scientific investi- awarded to scientists whose achievements have to the event or check the department’s endowed gators on NASA’s Viking Mission. most advanced our understanding of the planets. lecture site at www.atmos.washington.edu/alumni. update/lectures.shtml.

4 Department of Atmospheric Sciences

Bachelor of Science 2011 DoE Computational Science Graduate Congratulations to Fellowship: Bradley Carl Graduates Ka Man Joseph Chan Hansi Singh Caleb Cook Doctor of Philosophy Nicholas Davis 2011 NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship: Donohoe, Aaron, Radiative and Dynamic John Fink Controls of Global Scale Energy Fluxes Brett Grace Kristen Rasmussen (Battisti) Alexander Heye Fischer, Emily, Importing Ozone Precursors Jacob Maria 2011 NOAA Climate and Global Change and Aerosols to the North American Free Jim Sivisay Postdoctoral Fellowships: Troposphere: An Analysis of Peroxyacetyl Kristofer Stemmler Aaron Donohoe, Emily Fischer Nitrate and Aerosol Observations at Mount Bachelor (Jaffe) 2011 Harvard University Center for the Garfinkel, Chaim I., Stratosphere-Troposphere Welcome to New Environment Postdoctoral Fellowship: Coupled Variability in the Wintertime Emily Fischer Northern Hemisphere (Hartmann) Graduate Students Mahajan, Rahul B., Applying Ensemble 2011 Naval Weather Service Association Data Assimilation to Understand Tropical for 2010–2011 Scholarship: Cyclogenesis (Hakim) Eowyn C. Baughman, Cornell University Aaron Hill Nicholas, Robert, Two Approaches to Empirical Leo Miguel Paolo M. Baylon, Ateneo de Prediction of Regional Precipitation on Manila University, Philippines 2011 Atmospheric Sciences Achievement Monthly and Longer Timescales (Battisti) Cheng Dang, Lanzhou University Awards: Ueyama, Rei, The Structure and Variability of Kenneth Dixon, University of Miami the Tropical General Circulation (Wallace) Mark A. Gingrich, University of Colorado at Ka Man Joseph Chan, Joshua Smith Yang, Qiong, Radiative Energy Budget of the Boulder Tropical Upper Troposphere and Lower 2011 Phil Church Award: Natalia Hryniw, University of Chicago Stratosphere (Fu) Nicholas Davis Yatavelli, Reddy, Towards a Molecular- Karl E. Lapo, St. Olaf College level Understanding of Organic Aerosol Xiaojuan Liu, Ocean University of China The Phil Church Award is given to the gradu- Composition (Thornton) Crystal D. McClure, Texas A&M ating senior in the Department of Atmospheric Zelinka, Mark, Towards an Improved Maximo Q. Menchaca, University of Illinois Sciences with the most outstanding record of Understanding of Cloud Feedbacks and at Urbana‑Champaign scholarship, leadership and service. Professor Changes in Poleward Energy Transport Etienne Tetreault-Pinard, McGill University Phil Church was the founder and first Chair of Associated with Global Warming the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. (Hartmann) Master of Science Undergraduate and Harrold, Sara, Characterization of Speciated Acylperoxy Nitrates in Low and High NOx Faculty Research Environments (Thornton) Scholarships and The following undergraduate students and facul- Harrop, Bryce E., Testing the Role of Radiation in Determining Tropical Cloud Awards ty member worked together during the past year: Top Temperature (Hartmann) 2011 Holton Scholarship: Tyler Burns / Robert Houze: Radar and Luan, Yurong, Variability in Long-range Satellite Meteorology Transport of Aerosols from East Asia and Mark Gingrich North America (Jaeglé) Kevin Constantin / Joel Thornton: Halogen Rasmussen, Kristen, Orogenic Convection in 2011 Top Scholar Awards: Activation by N2O5 Subtropical South America as Seen by the Kenneth Dixon, Etienne Tetreault-Pinard Kenten Danas / Joel Thornton: Chemical TRMM Satellite (Houze) Analysis of Ship Plumes Scheff, Jacob S., CMIP3 21st Century Robust 2011 Hobbs Scholarship: Nicholas Davis / Dargan Frierson: The season- Subtropical Precipitation Declines are Eowyn Baughman al cycle of midlatitude static stability over Mostly Mid-latitude Shifts (Frierson) land and ocean in global reanalyses. Stoner, Marshall, The Madden-Julian 2011 National Science Foundation (NSF) Oscillation and Other Modes of Tropical Fellowships: Nicholas Davis / Robert Wood: The climatology of midlatitude marine stratocumulus Intraseasonal Variability: GCM Simulations Angel Adames, Eowyn Baughman for Idealized Sea Surface Temperatures and a boundary layer inversion model. Profiles (Frierson) 2011 American Meteorological Society (AMS) Aaron Hill / Robert Houze: Radar and Satellite Terai, Christopher R., Drizzle and the Aerosol Fellowship: Meteorology Indirect Effect in Marine Stratocumulus Kenneth Dixon Joshua Smith / Dargan Frierson: Tropopause (Wood/Bretherton) Warner, Michael, Wintertime Extreme Height Increases in Reanalysis Data 2011 Achievement Rewards for College Xiyue Zhang / Cecilia Bitz: Projections of Precipitation Events Along the Pacific Scientists (ARCS) Fellowship: Northwest Coast: Climatology and Synoptic snow depth on sea ice. Evolution (Mass) Maximo Menchaca 2011 EPA STAR Fellowship: Maria Zatko

5 Atmospheric Circulation Donor Recognition The Department of Atmospheric Sciences gratefully acknowledges the donors who have generously supported us during the past fiscal year July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011. Individual Donors Stephanie Dallas Lora Hein Ngar-Cheung Lau & Ethan Owens Patrick A’hearn Todd & Tamara Dankers Cheri Hendricks Chih‑Ping Hsu Timothy Parker Peter Abrahamsen Eric Davis Robert Henry Teresa & Tim Lawson Clayton Paulson Gordon Adams Paul Davis Mary Herrmann Margaret Le Mone & Peter Gerald Paulukonis Audra & Eric Adelberger Raymond & Judith Julie Hillers Gilman Michael Pearson Jeff Allen DeBuse Douglas Hillman & Lori John Leathers Paul Pendlebury Martha Anderson William Demorest Herman Jonell & Christopher Lee Alan Perry Sheal Anderson David Denhart Edward Hindman Karen Legg Susan Pfeifer Anonymous Gifts-Friends Clara Deser Peter Hobbs (D) Bonney & Jeff Lemkin Leonhard Pfister Henry & Linda Baddley Jr. Jean Dewart Sylvia Hobbs Brad Lenning Christopher Prosser Walt Bala Alan Dodson & K. Tanya Christopher Hodgkin Conway Leovy (D) Courtney & Tim Rayburn Robert Ball DeMarsh-Dodson Rod Holappa Brian Lichtenberger Steven Rayson Steven Banks Daryl Dukes James & Alma Holcomb Curtis Linderman Tracy Record Guido Bartolucci Dan Dundon & Molly Joshua (D) & Sandra William Lipscomb Robert & Britt Reeves Randal Bass Hueffed Holland Mario Lopez Jeffrey & Susan Renner Carol & James Bassett J. Richard Dunn Margaret Holton Rob Luethe Oskar & Julie Rey Robert Baughman Dale Durran & Janice Karl Holzmuller III Mark Lutz Robert Reynolds David & Lois Bauman Tervonen Arnold Hong Peter & Linda Machno Jr. Kermit Ritland Margaret Berger Imke Durre Lisa Horton Mark Maghie & Julie Steven Robinson Robert Berkovitz Glenn & Lisa Eastep Thomas Hunter Barbo Dale & Patricia Rogers Michael & Diana Anthony & Taeko Eckel James Illman Paul Maier Jr. Steven Rolfe Biggerstaff Jonathan & Laura Ehret Nicolas Irving Paul Marden Bernard & Nora Rossiter Byron & Sheila Bishop Charles & Mary Elderkin Nicholas Jackman John Marshall Paul Ruiz Thera Black William Epler Lesley Jacobs Christine Martin Elizabeth Ryll Wolf Blechschmidt Susan & Lindsey Erickson Karen James & Dexter Graham Mathes George Sambataro John & Connie Bloxom Jr. Dana Ericson & Robert McCulloch Michelle Mauro Doug Sandilands Robert Blumberg Calkins Timothy & Christina Richard McCammon Tod & Tina Schiff Thomas & Carol Borda William & Barbara Evans Jenkins Margaret McEldowney & Janet & Donald Schmitt Mark & Diana Borges Harold Federow William Mitchell Roy Jenne Sally Schoenberg & Cornelius & Catherine Brad Ferrier & Linda Steve McKenna Don Jensen & Ms. Hilary William Poteet Borman Carter-Ferrier Martha Means & Robert Goodall Eric & Anna Schoening John Bosche Aleta Finnila & Jim Coburn John Jesson Mark Seligman Shirley & Janet Boselly III Hugunin Robert Mearns Philip Johnson (D) Richard & Lennie Ann & Douglas Bostrom Chad Fisher Christine Melo Richard & LaVonne Semonin Sr. Kim & Susan Bottles Gary Fisher Diane Miller Carolyn Bowman Jennifer & Peter Francis Johnson Diane Mitte Maria Semple Margaret & Bart Brashers Carl & Lorena Franz Tom Johnson Melvin & Deborah David Shulman Christopher Bretherton & Thomas & June Frey Frederick Jorg Morgan Jr. Jennifer Sims & Ethan Alison Cullen Ann & Mark Gaponoff Philip Kahn Harold & Susan Mozer Patashnik Richard & Suzanne Christine Garrison John & Vivian Karamanian Harry & Elizabeth Muench Kaaren & David Slawson Brintzenhofe David Giaconi Micheal Kasprzak Joanna Muench & Craig Rebecca Slivka Charles & Mary Brock Dorothy Giroux Jaime Kaszynski Lee Ann Slutsky Robin Budd Gina Glascock-Broze Michael & Kristina Wendy & Peter Mullen David Spears Lesslie Burwell Phil Gorsuch Katsaros Steven Mullen & Rita Straton Spyropoulos David Butterfield & Janice Pierre Grand Pamela Keeley Jackson-Mullen Raymond Staley DeCosmo Thomas Grenfell & Sue Elizabeth & Ronald Margaret Murch & Roger Dennis Stanchfield Sally & Thomas Cahill Schauss Keeshan Burk Zachary Stednick & Anna Paul Carroll Arthur Grunbaum Nathan Kellogg George & Eileen Murphy Sherwood Kent Cauble Christopher & Amy Gulick Larry Kingsbury James & Michele Murphy Rebecca Stevenson Debra Cauthers Thomas Hacker Tom Kintner Frederick & Judith Murray Donald Stimson Chih-Pei & Hedy Chang Stephen & Michelle Thomas & Laura Kleespies Everett Murvine Kathryn & Penrose Stout Nicola Chapman Haffner Stephen Klein Gerald Myers Ronald & Mary Surface Jean Church Weick & Gregory & Lynne Hakim Kevin & Sheri Kodama Eva Nachmanson & Eric Eldon Tam & Bridget Richard Weick Drew & Genevieve Joost Businger & Blume Lamp Dean & Shervin Churchill Hamilton Marianne Kooiman Laurie Neil Erika Teschke Jessica Clawson Rebecca & Michael Karen Kowalewsky Kimberly & Michael Robert Thompson Jr. William Clugston Hannigan Nicole Kramer Nesteroff James Tillman Mark Combs Andrew Harris Frank Krentz Thomas Newbauer Tish Treherne Jim Corkey Halstead & Lynne Fred Krusemark Nora Nielsen Michael Tucker Darrel Cowan Harrison Terence Kubar Paul Norton Jon Valentine Donald & Barbara Coyner Lorraine & Dennis Walter Kuciej Michael O’Connell Al Vaskas Jenny Crook Hartmann Jaime Lang & Brock Helen Odegard Alex Vdolek David Cuthbert Sarah & Stephen Hauschka Gilman Candice Overman Carol & William Viertel (Continued on page 7)

6 Atmospheric Circulation

Donor Recognition, cont. from page 6 Norman & Barbara Richard Wieland Deryckx Woody Corporate, Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Wagner William & Carole Wieland Dennis Wulkan Organization Donors Foundation Michael & Kae Waller Matthew Winberry George Young Adobe Systems, Inc. Index Newspapers LLC Sean Walsh & Alice Daniel & Genevieve Charles Zaragoza AT&T Microsoft Corporation Hauschka Winkler Lixin Zeng Bank of America Jeff Renner, Inc. Marvin & Joan Wayne Michael Winter Xiaoli Zhu & Juan Liang Corporation Science Applications Jonathan Weil Michael Winton & Gretel Xun Zhu & Wei Liu The Boeing Company International James Weinman LaVieri Dieter Zube ConocoPhillips Company Corporation Albert Werner Debra Wolf

Steven Cavallo (’09, Ph.D.) accepted an tion, at both of which he was a senior scientist. Alumni News offer for a tenure-track faculty position at the Prior to that he spent 15 years working for the e are sorry to announce that there will University of Oklahoma. Department of Defense, first at what is now the be no alumni reception held this upcom- John Herring (’94, Ph.D., a.k.a. Jack) and Naval Research Laboratory Monterey, and later W Roxane Ronca (‘95, M.S.) continue to live at what was then known as the Air Force Geo- ing January at the AMS Annual Meeting in New in Prescott, Arizona, where Jack serves as the physics Laboratory. Orleans. Over the past several years, we have Dean of the undergraduate on-campus pro- Ian Kraucunas (’05, Ph.D.) is the Deputy really enjoyed the chance to catch up with our gram at Prescott College and Roxane teaches Director of Atmospheric Sciences and Global alumni at these receptions, but the increasingly undergrad courses in math and environmental Change at Pacific Northwest National Labora- difficult budget times have forced us to cancel science. They have two kids: Walker (2) and tory in Richland, Washington, a position he as- this year’s event. We are open to your feedback Paloma (8). sumed in January 2011 after five years working on this, and would certainly consider resuming Edward “Ward” Hindman (’75, Ph.D., at the National Research Council’s Board on these receptions in future years. Please email us P. Hobbs adviser), Professor Emeritus at City Atmospheric Sciences and Climate in Wash- your thoughts on this ([email protected]). College of New York, is editor of the interna- ington, D.C. He and his wife, Katie, recently H. W. “Buzz” Bernard (’75, B.S.) has pub- tional journal Technical Soring, which is online adopted a two-year-old boy from Thailand. lished his first novel Eyewall. His other five at journals.sfu.ca/ts. Have a look! W. Timothy Liu (’78, Ph.D.; Jet Propulsion works were nonfiction trade books about weath- Dr. Thomas J. Kleespies (’74, B.S.) recently Laboratory, California Institute of Technology) er and climate. His novel is published by Belle retired after 17 years with the NOAA/NESDIS was named a 2011 American Geophysical Union Bridge Books (www.bellebooks.com) and has Center for Satellite Applications and Research, Fellow. and the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimila- been a best seller in Amazon’s Kindle Store. (Continued on page 8) Giving to the Department of Atmospheric Sciences Please consider supporting the activities of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. Your gift strengthens the core of the UW through recruitment and retention of world-class students and faculty. Your support of undergraduate and graduate students helps to create the next generation of scientific leaders. Help us to ensure that the department continues to be a leader in weather, climate andquality. Yes, I want to support the Department of Atmospheric Sciences! I have enclosed $______to support Friends of Atmospheric Sciences Fund Atmospheric Sciences Graduate Education Fund Richard J. and Joan M. Reed Atmospheric Sciences Endowed Undergraduate Scholarship Fund James Holton Endowed Graudate Support Fund Visa Mastercard American Express Card Number ______Expiration Date (mm/yyyy) ______Signature______Name (First, Last) ______Address______City, State, Zip ______Home Phone No.______Work Phone No. ______This is a matching gift (Enclose matching form) This is a joint gift Your gift is tax-deductible as specified in IRS regulations. Pursuant to RCW 19.09, the University of Washington is registered as a charitable organization with the Secretary of State, state of Washington. To make your gift by phone, please call 1-877-UW-GIFTS (1-877-894-4387). Please send your check, payable to the “University of Washington” to: Debra Wolf, Assistant to the Chair, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Box 351640, Seattle, Washington 98195-1640 To make your gift online, log onto www.atmos.washington.edu/about/support.shtml or www.washington.edu/giving/make-a-gift. Appeal Code: ASN11

7 Department of Atmospheric Sciences

Alumni News, cont. from page 7 analytics software used by scientists/engineers. National Park, and became the leader of NWS Jason Stemmler (’10, B.S.) is working on his Riverton’s Facebook implementation. He con- Brian Magi (’06, Ph.D.) has some news (aside Masters at the University of Wyoming in Lara- tinues his dedication to public outreach by from his two super-cute kids). As of July, he’s an mie. giving presentations at area schools and civic Assistant Professor in the Department of Geogra- David Tashima (’99, M.S.) and his wife had events and had the opportunity to give a Ranger phy and Earth Sciences at the University of North a baby, Alexandra Novaes Tashima, Dec. 28, Talk at Grand Teton National Park. For those in- Carolina at Charlotte. Brian and his family are all 2010. They are currently living in Kennebunk, terested, he has continued his photography and enjoying Charlotte, where they have a real sum- ME. has many new photos of the incredibly beautiful mer. Of course, they really miss Seattle too. Michael Town (’07, Ph.D.) was awarded Wyoming. You can keep up with his photogra- Philip Mote (’94, Ph.D.) has closed the loop a prestigious teaching fellowship from the phy at www.reidwolcott.com. with the UW—alumnus, former employee, and Knowles Science Teaching Foundation (KTF) Ming-Jen Yang (’95, Ph.D.) is currently an now parent. His son Nathaniel just finished his valued at up to $150,000 over five years. The Associate Professor at National Central Universi- first year as a computer science major atUW fellowship includes professional and leadership ty, Taiwan. He was invited to give a lecture on wa- and is enjoying himself immensely. Phil is also development, teaching tools and materials, and ter budget for tropical cyclones at the 2011 Sum- pleased to be working with Dean Lisa Graumlich access to a network of like-minded colleagues mer School on Severe and Convective Weather in on creating the US Department of the Interior’s nationwide. Mike began teaching this fall at Manjing University, China. Prof. Robert Houze, Northwest Climate Science Center, a long-term University Prep. Ming-Jen’s Ph.D. adviser, was also invited to center funded as of September 2010. Glenn White (’81, Ph.D.) was among five give five lectures on clouds and precipitation at Chuck Robertson (’61, B.S.; ’63, M.S.) was people awarded a silver medal by the Depart- the same summer school, along with four other an undergraduate student in the Department of ment of Commerce: Shrinivas Moorthi, Jordan professors from the US and England. Meteorology and Climatology and a graduate C. Alpert, Glenn H. White, Hui-Ya Chuang, student in the Department of Atmospheric Sci- Yu‑Tai Hou. The medal was awarded in fall 2011 ences in the early 60s. His office/lab was in the for the implementation of the most significant Alumni Update annex while the classes were taught in the main improvements in the performance of the NCEP s we move to communicating with building. He said both were outdated when he Global Forecast System in the past 10 years. Ayou more online and less at a tra- was there, but he’s still sad to see them go. (See Reid Wolcott (’10, M.S.) has started his ditional mailing address, we don’t want to the 2009 newsletter at www.atmos.washington. career as a Meteorologist Intern with the Na- lose touch with anyone! Please encourage edu/alumni.update/newsletter.shtml to see im- tional Weather Service in Riverton, WY, and your colleagues and fellow UW Atmospheric ages of the demolition and move of Cunning- will likely begin to apply for General Forecaster Sciences alumni to update their contact in- ham Hall and the Johnson Annex.) positions in 2012. Since starting in December, formation with the department at this link: Steve Robinson (’07, M.S.) recently joined he has worked on a number of projects. For www.washington.edu/alumni/subscribe/ the development team at Tecplot, Inc. in Belle- example, he designed and implemented a new address-change.html. vue as a software test engineer for simulation recreational forecast product for Grand Teton

Contact Us Department of Atmospheric Sciences University of Washington Box 351640 Seattle, Washington 98195-1640 Phone (206) 543-4250 Fax (206) 543-0308 http://www.atmos.washington.edu

Dale R. Durran, Chair Debra Wolf, Editor

Atmospheric Circulation is published annually for alumni, friends, and members of the University of Washington Department of Atmospheric Sciences. This is the eleventh issue.

Please send alumni news, comments, questions, corrections and address updates to [email protected] or call (206) 543-4250.