Dr Raymond W Schmitt

I am interested in the Global Water Cycle, which has it origin in the ocean. Net evaporation from the mid-latitude subtropical high pressure systems over the oceans supplies the precipitation that dominates in the high latitude oceans, the tropical oceans and on land. We have discovered that the regional sea surface salinity anomalies arising when the ocean exports more or less water to other parts of the climate system are very valuable for seasonal and sub-seasonal rainfall predictions on land. Development of this powerful new tool will have great value for society. Investigators with skills in statistical analysis, machine learning and/or climate dynamics would gain much from this project.

Reference: Li, L., R. W. Schmitt, C. Ummenhofer, K. Karnauskis, 2016. Implications of North Atlantic Sea Surface Salinity for Summer Precipitation over the US Midwest: Mechanisms and Predictive Value. J. Climate, 29, 3143-3159. doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0520.1