Research on land-atmosphere interaction has long but shallow roots, with a limited intuitive understanding of the impact of land on climate. I believe, to date, we as climate modelers and field scientists are not capturing surface energy and water budgets. It is sensible that instrumentation can only give a sense of possible budget for a regional domain. However, research needs to be done to improve modeling techniques for better understanding of near-surface energy budget where plants/vegetation and humans live. Land-atmosphere interactions are critical for modulating variations in climate on temporal (diurnal to seasonal to centennial) and spatial scales (local to regional to global). My research aims to improve understanding of land-surface interactions by better capturing fluxes using modeling and instrumentation.
I have been working in the Great Lakes region, and a part of my research has focused on better quantifying fluxes of moisture and energy at the water surface for regional climate modeling using the Great Lakes as an example. Regional simulations with other thermodynamic sources such as lakes are crucial for determining local climate extremes, and hence they are imperative for climate change planning for human and natural systems. I beleive that including the dynamic and thermodynamic effects of lakes is expected to change regional and local predictions of over-lake evaporation and precipitation, lake-effect snow, and extreme convective storms in summer. I have research interests to improve lake models that will enhance understanding of currents, hydrodynamic mixing and transport of fluxes and nutrients.