Can scientists alter the weather? Should scientists alter the weather? What are the implications for humans? Here's your chance to ask these and other questions. We've assembled some of the scientific consultants involved with the program to tackle these tough issues. Post your questions at the link below and come back to see their answers.
ASK THE EXPERTS!
The Panel:
Kerry Emanuel
Dr. Kerry Emanuel is a professor of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has been on the faculty since 1981, after spending three years as a faculty member at UCLA. Professor Emanuel's research interests focus on tropical meteorology and climate, with a specialty in hurricane physics. His interests also include cumulus convection, and advanced methods of sampling the atmosphere in aid of numerical weather prediction. He is the author or co-author of over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and two books, including Divine Wind: The History and Science of Hurricanes, recently released by Oxford University Press and aimed at a general audience.
Christopher Landsea
Dr. Christopher W. Landsea is the Science and Operations Officer at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami. In addition to forecasting and training duties, he is responsible for administration and evaluation of Joint Hurricane Testbed projects, which may be implemented operationally to assist in the monitoring and forecasting of hurricanes. Dr.Landsea's main expertise is in seasonal forecasting of hurricanes, in hurricane climate variability and change, and in testing applied research projects for possible use in weather forecasting. He currently is leading up a re-analysis of the Atlantic hurricane database. 1992's Hurricane Andrew was officially upgraded to a Category 5 hurricane at landfall in southeastern Florida as part of this project. Dr. Landsea also participated in the HRD Hurricane Field Program by flying in the NOAA Orion P-3 aircraft into and in the NOAA Gulfstream IV jet around 15 Atlantic hurricanes (including Gilbert, Opal, Georges, Charley, Jeanne, Ivan, and Katrina) for research and forecasting purposes. He has published over 35 peer reviewed articles in scientific journals as well as several book chapters. Dr. Landsea is a member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), the National Weather Association and the American Geophysical Union.
Ross Hoffman
Dr. Ross Hoffman, Chief Scientist and Vice President of Research and Development, joined Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. in June of 1983 as a senior staff scientist. His principle areas of research activities include objective analysis and assimilation methods, atmospheric dynamics, climate theory and atmospheric radiation. Dr. Hoffman is the author of seminal papers in variational analysis, ensemble forecasting, radiance retrieval, feature calibration and alignment, and weather control. Dr. Hoffman has been the principal investigator of several research projects for the U.S. Air Force, NASA and Office of Naval Research. Dr. Hoffman has also made significant contributions in the field of data assimilation, including the development of some variational techniques. He is a member of the NASA Ocean Vector Winds Science Team (OVWST), the Committee on Earth Science of the Space Studies Board for the National Academy of Science, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU). To read more about hurricane modification research go to www.aer.com.
