Huiyu received a BS degree in Atmospheric Sciences from Lanzhou University in China and spent her third year at the University of Reading in the UK. During her time as an undergraduate, she studied the radiative forcing of ozone and its impact on global precipitation and the aerosol properties in East Asia. For her Ph.D, she is researching on regional characteristics of variability in the jet streams and the roles of moist processes in controlling the jet variabilities.
Born & raised in the Lone Star state, David hails from Texas State with a B.S. in computer science. His current work explores vertical motions of the boundary layer within complex terrain by leveraging numerical weather modelling, wind climatology assembled with Doppler lidar and crowd-sourced weather data, and in-situ observations from sailships within the Rockfish Valley.
Within the Department there is a strong focus on the interactions between the Earth’s surface and its atmosphere. These efforts integrate hydrological, ecological, and meteorological principles to understand the exchange of water, heat, and trace gases between the land and the atmosphere. Much of the interest in these mass and energy fluxes centers on the nonlinear feedback effects between the surface and the atmosphere, and the resulting impacts to the biosphere and atmosphere.
The atmospheric sciences program at U.Va. focuses on relationships between atmospheric processes and the Earth’s biosphere and hydrosphere on a variety of spatial and temporal scales. Areas of specialization within the Department include: synoptic and dynamic climatology; air quality and visibility; atmospheric chemistry; modeling of acid depositions and trace gas transport; mesoscale meteorology and climatology; convective storms; and coastal processes.
I am an atmospheric chemist with broad interests in air quality, climate, and atmosphere-biosphere interactions. My research group makes measurements at the Earth’s surface and from onboard aircraft in diverse locations, including polluted cities, agricultural areas, and within forest canopies. Our focus is on the role of reactive nitrogen in chemical oxidation mechanisms and emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. We utilize spatial and temporal variability in our datasets to derive mechanistic insight into processes taking place in urban and human-influenced environments.
As a meteorologist interested in understanding the chemistry of the non-urban troposphere, and how it may be changing as a result of anthropogenic impact, I use meteorological data (including satellite observations) and models to discern dynamical processes that influence or control atmospheric composition. In several instances my students and I have also gone in the field, collecting data directly (e.g., from the balloon launches of ozonesondes over Charlottesville, Virginia; Sable Island, Nova Scotia; Boulder, Colorado; and Pellston Michigan; to the deployment of an NCAR boundary layer
Pollutant emissions are significantly altering the chemical composition of the atmosphere and its impacts on other earth systems. My research focuses on resolving fundamental chemical and physical processes in the troposphere and differentiating anthropogenic and natural influences.
The shorezone of sedimentary coasts, in climatological time, is fluid-like in its attributes and driven by atmospheric and oceanic motions. Coastal climatology, one of my areas of specialization, focuses on spatial and temporal variations of these three fluids, their interactions and effects on coastal ecosystems. Recent focus has included the Virginia Coast Reserve LTER research site with special attention to the long term changes in climate and vegetation at that site and on the modeling of the dynamics of the barrier island landscape.
My research group focuses on atmospheric dynamics and their role in variability and long-term change in the climate system. In our research, we explore key questions about the dynamics of the climate system through statistical analyses of intraseasonal, interannual, and decadal variability in observational data sets and climate model output.
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