Olivier Pauluis

My research is primarily focused on understanding the interplay between convection and atmospheric dynamics. Evaporation at the Earth's surface accounts for 80% of the atmospheric heating. However, this latent heat is only released when the water vapor condenses. This leads to a strong interplay between dynamics, which controls the transports of water vapor, and thermodynamics, which controls the atmospheric temperature distribution. My current research projects are (1) evaluating the role of thermodynamics constraints on the intensity of storms (hurricanes, thunderstorm and midlatitude weather systems) (2) building and analyzing idealized models for the interaction between moist convection and large-scale circulation, and (3) assessing the impacts of climate change on the global hydrological cycle and the intensity of the circulation.