AOS Faculty Profile
Isidoro Orlanski
Lecturer with Rank of Professor, Ph.D. M.I.T.
Address: 232 GFDL
Phone: (609) 452-6546
E-mail: isidoro.orlanski at noaa.gov
Cyclones and Fronts
Cyclones and fronts are the most common systems in any weather map and affect the atmospheric circulation on all scales, from local to planetary. Considerable skill has been developed to forecast these systems a few days in advance. However, in the region of large scale orography significant errors still contaminate the forecasts. Mountains partially block the flow and affects the evolution of the cyclone-frontal system. My interest is to understand and better simulate the effects of orography on those systems.
The role cyclone-scale eddies play in affecting the environment in which they developed is now considered to be of paramount importance. My research aims to understand the parameters that control the development and evolution of cyclone systems and to understand why some regimes produce violent storms and others support packets of waves that are maintained for many days. The research goal is to more accurately assess the impact of cyclone-scale eddies on the planetary scale circulation. Cyclones are the fundamental units in which the planetary circulations are shaped and modified. A better understanding of the elements that control cyclone evolution may render more accurate simulation of these systems by general circulation models used for weather forecasts. As a consequence, improving the areas of intense cyclonic activity over the planet would produce more accurate weather forecasting from weekly to seasonal timescales.
Some Recent Publications:
Orlanski Isidoro and Silvina Solman. The Mutual Interaction between External Rossby Waves and Thermal Forcing: The sub-polar regions. Journal of Atmospheric Sciences (in press) 2010.
Orlanski, Isidoro, The rationale on why Climate Models should adequately resolve the Mesoscale; Book, High Resolution Numerical Modelling of the Atmosphere and Ocean, editor, K. Hamilton, 2007.
Rivière, G., and I. Orlanski, 2007: Characteristics of the Atlantic storm-track eddy activity and its relation with the North Atlantic Oscillation. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 64(2), 241-266.
Orlanski, I., 2005: A new look at the Pacific storm track variability: sensitivity to tropical SST’s and to upstream seeding. Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, 62(5), 1367-1390
Orlanski,I.2003: Bifurcation in Eddy Life Cycles: Implications for storm track variability. Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, 60, (8) 993-1023