Theses and Dissertations - Department of Atmospheric Science
Recent Submissions
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Synoptic through mesoscale environments of South American thunderstorms
Subtropical South America east of the Andes Mountains is a global hotspot for deep convection owing to frequent mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) that contribute to over 90% of the region's rainfall and produce severe ... -
Investigating emissions and evolution of reactive nitrogen in western U.S. wildfire smoke plumes
Wildfires are an important source of reactive nitrogen (Nr) to the atmosphere. Large wildfires are becoming more frequent in the western U.S. and smoke from large western U.S. wildfires is becoming a proportionately larger ... -
Characteristics of current and future flood-producing storms in the continental United States
Understanding the changes to extremes in the hydrologic cycle in a future, warmer climate is important for better managing water resources and preventing detrimental impacts to society. The goal of this dissertation is to ... -
Axisymmetric and asymmetric processes contributing to tropical cyclone intensification and expansion
This dissertation endeavors to advance our understanding of tropical cyclones (TCs) by investigating axisymmetric and asymmetric processes contributing to TC intensification and expansion. Chapter 2 examines the extreme ... -
Projecting end-of-century human exposure to eastern Colorado tornadoes and hailstorms: meteorological and societal perspectives
The eastern half of Colorado is one of the most active areas for hailstorms and tornadoes in the U.S. An average of 39 tornadoes and 387 severe hail reports are tallied each year over this domain, and a number of damaging ... -
Observations of aerosol particles and deep convective updrafts and the modeling of their interactions
Within cloud updrafts, cloud droplets form on aerosol particles that serve as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Varying the concentrations of CCN alters the concentrations of cloud droplets, which in turn modifies subsequent ... -
Ketones in the troposphere: studies of loss processes, emissions, and production
Ketones play an important role in atmospheric chemistry of the troposphere because they are oxidized VOCs that are both relatively abundant with sufficiently long-lifetimes to be distributed regionally. Ketone photolysis ... -
Origins and impacts of tropopause layer cooling in tropical cyclones
Remote sensing data from GPS radio occultation reveal temperatures lower than climatological average over a layer several kilometers deep near the tropopause above tropical cyclones (TCs). This signal, here referred to as ... -
From forests to the remote ocean to smoke plumes: aerosol microphysics in diverse environments
To view the abstract, please see the full text of the document. -
Response of convective cold pools and precipitation to changes in soil moisture
In Part 1 of this dissertation, we examine the role of soil moisture in modulating convective cold pool properties. This investigation is performed within an idealized modeling framework featuring a cloud-resolving model ... -
Variability in observed remote marine aerosol populations and implications for haze and cloud formation
In many oceanic regions of the planet, once pristine environments are known to have a high degree of sensitivity to changing aerosol populations and perturbations from anthropogenic emissions. However, difficulties in ... -
Impacts of Arctic warming and sea ice loss on the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude large-scale circulation
The consequences of the rapid warming of the Arctic and associated sea ice loss on the Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation is still largely debated. The uncertainty in the circulation response stems from a poor ... -
Using modelling tools to advance the understanding of ammonia dry-deposition and bidirectional flux processes next to large animal feeding operations
Ammonia in the atmosphere is a trace gas that can play a big role in the Earth's climate, as well as human and ecological health. Due to its stickiness and solubility, ammonia can enter the biosphere via wet and dry ... -
On the relation between satellite observed liquid water path, cloud droplet number concentration and cloud base rain rate and its implication for the auto-conversion rate in stratocumulus clouds
Stratocumulus clouds are low-level convective clouds that develop within the atmospheric boundary layer. Their persistence and broad coverage of the earth's surface produces important impacts on the global radiation energy ... -
Constraining marine ice nucleating particle parameterizations in atmospheric models using observations from the Southern Ocean
The limited anthropogenic and terrestrial aerosol sources impacting the Southern Ocean (SO) make it a unique site to study the production of primary sea spray aerosols (SSA) and their role in modifying cloud properties. ... -
Spatial patterns and particle size distributions of atmospheric amines in northern Colorado
Emissions of reactive nitrogen along the Front Range in Northern Colorado have implications for sensitive and protected environments such as those in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). Nitrogen-containing pollutants exert ... -
Characteristics and organization of precipitating features during NAME 2004 and their relationship to environmental conditions
The focus of this study is to examine the characteristics of convective precipitating features (PFs) during the 2004 North American Monsoon Experiment (NAME) and their precursor environmental conditions. The goal is to ... -
Response of MCSs and low-frequency gravity waves to vertical wind shear and nocturnal thermodynamic environments
Low-frequency gravity waves have been found to both increase and decrease environmental favorability ahead of mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) based on their associated vertical motions. The strength and timing of these ... -
Fire and ice: analyzing ice nucleating particle emissions from western U.S. wildfires
Wildfires in the western U.S. can have impacts on health and air quality and are forecasted to increase in the future. Some of the particles released from wildfires can affect cloud formation through serving as ice nucleating ... -
Consistency in the AMSR-E snow products: groundwork for a coupled snowfall and SWE algorithm
Snow is an important wintertime property because it is a source of freshwater, regulates land-atmosphere exchanges, and increases the surface albedo of snow-covered regions. Unfortunately, in-situ observations of both ...
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