{"635212":{"#nid":"635212","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Dynamics of The Tropical Atmosphere and Oceans: Peter Webster Tackles Wind, Weather, Warming Waters in New Textbook","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E Professor Emeritus \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/webster-dr-peter-j\u0022\u003EPeter Webster\u003C\/a\u003E, author of a new university-level textbook on the complex relationship between the Earth\u0026rsquo;s atmosphere and its oceans, says it can be very tempting to think of the planet\u0026rsquo;s climate \u0026ldquo;in pieces.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWebster calls that a reductionist approach, \u0026ldquo;where climate is assumed to be made up of many parts,\u0026rdquo; he says. \u0026ldquo;Of course all of the parts interact, but they do so in a non-linear and, sometimes, in a manner that is non-predictable.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDynamics of The Tropical Atmosphere and Oceans, \u003C\/em\u003Epublished in April as the latest in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/wileyearthpages.wordpress.com\/book-series\/rmets\/\u0022\u003ERoyal Meteorological Society\u0026rsquo;s Advancing Weather and Climate Science Book Series\u003C\/a\u003E with \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.wiley.com\/en-us\u0022\u003EWiley\u003C\/a\u003E, takes a holistic approach, Webster says. \u0026ldquo;\u003Cem\u003EHolism\u003C\/em\u003E claims that complex systems are inherently irreducible, and are more than the sum of their parts, owing to chaos and non-linearities. Emergent behavior may arise from complex systems that cannot be deduced from consideration of the components of the system alone.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EViewing the atmosphere and ocean relationship holistically can positively impact public policy regarding climate change, Webster adds. \u0026ldquo;Taking a holistic viewpoint allows you to say that the\u0026nbsp;sea-surface\u0026nbsp;temperature will\u0026nbsp;increase from between 0.5 to 1.5 \u0026deg;C in the next\u0026nbsp;century, for example. This allows a range of\u0026nbsp;options of policy makers to consider. If we use a\u0026nbsp;purely reductionist method, we\u0026nbsp;may come up with just one number, 1.2\u0026deg;C, and this is not much use.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences chair and professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/eas.gatech.edu\/people\/huey-dr-greg\u0022\u003EGreg Huey\u003C\/a\u003E says Webster\u0026rsquo;s textbook is a \u0026ldquo;capstone achievement to his career, which has to a large extent concentrated on the tropical atmosphere and its interaction with the ocean.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn 2005, Webster was named an \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.aaas.org\/\u0022\u003EAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science\u003C\/a\u003E (AAAS) Fellow. He won the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sigmaxi.gatech.edu\/georgia-tech-sigma-xi-research-awards\/\u0022\u003ESigma Xi Sustained Research Award\u003C\/a\u003E from Georgia Tech in 2016, and he is the recipient of honors from the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.agu.org\/\u0022\u003EAmerican Geophysical Union\u003C\/a\u003E, the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ametsoc.org\/index.cfm\/ams\/\u0022\u003EAmerican\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.rmets.org\/\u0022\u003ERoyal\u003C\/a\u003E Meteorological Societies. Webster was chosen as the 116\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E Sir Edmund Halley Lecturer at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ox.ac.uk\/\u0022\u003EOxford University\u003C\/a\u003E in 2015.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAs explained by its publisher, \u003Cem\u003EDynamics of The Tropical Atmosphere and Oceans\u003C\/em\u003E is aimed at advanced undergraduates and graduate students. \u0026ldquo;It presents a unique and thorough view of the fundamental dynamical and thermodynamic principles underlying the large circulations of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system. Within, Webster describes a variety of large-scale tropical circulation systems \u0026shy;\u0026mdash; those measuring several thousand kilometres on a timescale of days to weeks \u0026mdash; and how they interact with a multitude of higher frequency systems \u0026mdash; those on a sub-daily timescale.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETopics covered include the Hadley (north-south) and Walker (east-west) wind circulation patterns, interactions between the tropics and extratropics (the middle latitudes beyond the tropics), El Ni\u0026ntilde;o and the Southern Oscillation, equatorial waves, disturbances, precipitation distributions, and the changing structure of the tropics under climate change.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWebster says without understanding the basic dynamics and thermodynamics of the tropical atmosphere \u0026mdash; the factors that impact weather and climate \u0026mdash; \u0026ldquo;it is difficult to discern what is natural variability and what is human-caused.\u0026rdquo; The first 17 chapters deal with that basic knowledge. The last chapter deals with what he calls \u0026ldquo;the changing tropics,\u0026rdquo; and the way that sea-surface temperature has increased during the last 100 years. \u0026ldquo;This has\u0026nbsp;involved changes in precipitation patterns and intensity, issues that are critical for\u0026nbsp;tropical societies,\u0026rdquo; he says. \u0026ldquo;Thus we have attempted to construct a strong physical\u0026nbsp;foundation to\u0026nbsp;understand climate change as it advances. Why\u0026nbsp;is this fundamental understanding\u0026nbsp;important? It allows the development of climate change above and\u0026nbsp;beyond that found in climate models.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"College of Sciences Professor Emeritus Peter Webster examines the tropical atmosphere and ocean relationship \u2014 and impacts on climate change \u2014 in new university textbook"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new college textbook takes a holistic approach to teaching climate science, according to its\u0026nbsp;author, a College of Sciences professor emeritus.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"College of Sciences Professor Emeritus Peter Webster examines the tropical atmosphere and ocean relationship \u2014 and impacts on climate change \u2014 in new university textbook"}],"uid":"34434","created_gmt":"2020-05-08 13:55:02","changed_gmt":"2020-05-08 15:56:49","author":"Renay San Miguel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2020-05-08T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2020-05-08T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"635214":{"id":"635214","type":"image","title":"Cover of Dynamics of the Tropical Atmosphere and Oceans ","body":null,"created":"1588946642","gmt_created":"2020-05-08 14:04:02","changed":"1588946642","gmt_changed":"2020-05-08 14:04:02","alt":"","file":{"fid":"241713","name":"Peter Webster Book.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Peter%20Webster%20Book.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Peter%20Webster%20Book.png","mime":"image\/png","size":222167,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Peter%20Webster%20Book.png?itok=USQyCrtn"}},"635213":{"id":"635213","type":"image","title":"Peter Webster, College of Sciences Professor Emeritus","body":null,"created":"1588946555","gmt_created":"2020-05-08 14:02:35","changed":"1588946555","gmt_changed":"2020-05-08 14:02:35","alt":"","file":{"fid":"241712","name":"Peter Webster.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Peter%20Webster.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Peter%20Webster.png","mime":"image\/png","size":94052,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Peter%20Webster.png?itok=kppo5s1S"}}},"media_ids":["635214","635213"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"364801","name":"EAS"}],"categories":[{"id":"154","name":"Environment"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"166926","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences"},{"id":"11834","name":"Peter Webster"},{"id":"173050","name":"climate science"},{"id":"831","name":"climate change"},{"id":"184775","name":"Dynamics of the Tropical Oceans and Atmosphere"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERenay San Miguel\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nComunications Officer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nCollege of Sciences\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404-894-5209\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["renay.san@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}