Claudia Stephan has been accepted into the Elisabeth Schiemann Kolleg

Her primary field of research is the relationship between clouds, circulation and atmospheric gravity waves. Tropical clouds play a key role in determining Earth´s temperatures and circulation but climate models show a disconcerting diversity at simulating tropical convection. Clouds are also an efficient source of atmospheric waves, which can in turn modulate convection. Such feedbacks between convection and waves, in particular small-scale gravity waves, are not well represented in contemporary climate models. Unlike clouds, waves in the wind field are invisible. This has greatly hampered efforts to understand how they influence, and are influenced by, atmospheric deep convection. Combining new kilometer-scale global models, deep learning techniques, and novel observational methods has begun to make the invisible visible and the understanding of the interaction of convection with waves tractable. Claudia Stephan and her cloud-wave coupling group study how tropical convection interacts with its environment to regulate its properties, and what the nature of these interactions portend for global warming.

The Elisabeth Schiemann Kolleg promotes activities that serve to successfully establish a career in science for its fellows. At the same time, the Kolleg offers an interdisciplinary forum for scientific exchange. The Kolleg bears the name of Elisabeth Schiemann, who was appointed scientific member of the Max Planck Society in 1953.

More information:

Elisabeth Schiemann Kolleg (Max Planck Society)

Contact:

Dr. Claudia Stephan
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology
Phone: +49 (0) 40 41173 124
Email: claudia.stephan@we dont want spammpimet.mpg.de