Climatology

Current and Recent Research Projects

Climate Change

Climatologists at MSU investigate historical and potential future climate and the impacts on a variety of economic activities. Current and recent research projects include:

• The Pileus Project

• Climate Land Interaction Project (CLIP)

• The Atmospheric Component of Wildland Fire Risk in a Future Climate

• Agents of Change: Climate Change and International Trade

 

 

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Synoptic Climatology

Synoptic climatology, which is the study of the relationships between atmospheric circulation with local and regional climate, has historically been an important research emphasis at MSU. The focus of much of this research has been on the central United States and the Great Lakes region. A current example of synoptic climatological research at MSU is:

• Low-Level Jet Climatology

 

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Agricultural Climatology

Weather and its longer term variant, climate, remain among the most important uncontrollable variables in agricultural production systems. The climatology group is involved in a wide variety of agrometeorological and agroclimatological research, much of it collaboratively with researchers in MSU's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Examples of current and recent past research projects include:

• Plant Disease Risk Prediction with NEXRAD Precipitation Estimates

• Irrigation Scheduling in Michigan

• Enviro-Weather Project
  (use of real-time weather information for agricultural decision-making)

 

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Boundary Layer and Mountain Meteorology

Boundary layer and mountain meteorology research at MSU focuses on the structure and evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer in complex terrain with particular emphasis on stable stratification, cold air pools, and the interactions of thermally-driven circulations with large-scale flows. Current research projects include:

• The Meteorological Experiment in Arizona's Meteor Crater (METCRAX)

• Terrain-Induced Rotor Experiment (TREX)

 

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Applied Meteorology

With a wide variety of real-time and historical atmospheric data available, the climatology group explores new uses of climatological data as well as the links between weather and a number of weather-dependent processes. One current related project is:

• Wind Energy Resources in Michigan

 

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Fire and Air Pollution

Climatology faculty members are involved in joint venture agreements with the USDA Forest Service to improve our understanding of the dynamic interaction of wildland fire and atmospheric conditions, study the weather and climate associated with wildland fire risk, and developing tools for estimating the contributions of wildland and prescribed fires to air pollution. These projects include:

• The Atmospheric Component of Wildland Fire Risk in a Future Climate

• The Fire-Flux Experiment

• Validating the BlueSky Smoke Prediction System Using Observations

 

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