CW3E Director gives virtual talks for UCLA and Stony Brook University

October 26, 2020

As many universities’ Fall Seminar series have kicked off virtually this year, travelling to different departments to share research has been easier than ever! CW3E’s director, Dr. Marty Ralph, recently gave a virtual seminar on the topic of “Atmospheric Rivers: Recent developments in science, impacts and policies” for UCLA’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science on Wednesday, October 21, 2020, and for Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) Ocean, Sustainability, Atmosphere Colloquium on Friday October 23, 2020.

In the presentation, Dr. Ralph reviewed recent developments in the study of atmospheric rivers (ARs), including creation of the formal definition of an AR, the scale for AR intensity and impacts, the operational airborne AR Reconnaissance program, and AR-focused forecast tools. He then discussed the role of ARs in extreme precipitation, including examples from the US East Coast and trends in the occurrence of extreme 3-day-total precipitation events. Lastly, Dr. Ralph described how the AR topic has related to recent public policy developments at state and federal levels, focusing on the potential for better AR forecasts to support water management.

The full seminar delivered to Stony Brook is available here, and the recording delivered to UCLA is available here. If you would like to inquire about CW3E participation in upcoming seminars or outreach opportunities, please don’t hesitate to get in touch directly or sign up for our mailing list!

Screenshot from the seminar given to Stony Brook; outline slide of Marty Ralph’s virtual talk.

Screenshot from seminar given to Stony Brook; results from recently published work.