Climate science in the tropics: Waves, vortices and PDEs

Boualem Khouider, Andrew J. Majda, Samuel N. Stechmann

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Clouds in the tropics can organize the circulation on planetary scales and profoundly impact long range seasonal forecasting and climate on the entire globe, yet contemporary operational computer models are often deficient in representing these phenomena. On the other hand, contemporary observations reveal remarkably complex coherent waves and vortices in the tropics interacting across a bewildering range of scales from kilometers to ten thousand kilometers. This paper reviews the interdisciplinary contributions over the last decade through the modus operandi of applied mathematics to these important scientific problems. Novel physical phenomena, new multiscale equations, novel PDEs, and numerical algorithms are presented here with the goal of attracting mathematicians and physicists to this exciting research area.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numberR1
Pages (from-to)R1-R68
JournalNonlinearity
Volume26
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2013

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
  • Mathematical Physics
  • General Physics and Astronomy
  • Applied Mathematics

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