Simulating the Effects of Climate Change on Cloud Formations Around Mountainous Islands

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dc.contributor.advisorTorri, Giuseppe
dc.contributor.authorWhite, Kayla
dc.contributor.departmentOceanography
dc.contributor.departmentGlobal Environmental Science
dc.date.accessioned2022-10-07T19:08:07Z
dc.date.available2022-10-07T19:08:07Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.description.courseOCN 499 - Undergraduate Thesis
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/102416
dc.publisher.placeHonolulu
dc.subjectcloud formation
dc.subjectatmospheric science
dc.subjectclimate change
dc.subjectsea surface temperature
dc.titleSimulating the Effects of Climate Change on Cloud Formations Around Mountainous Islands
dc.typeThesis
dcterms.abstractIf islands are large enough and far enough from other continents, they can act as developers for convection in the tropics due to their diurnal cycle (Sobel et al. 2001). In order to better understand what climate change might bring to the Maritime Continent and other tropical islands, like Hawai‘i, I simulated the effects of global warming by increasing the sea surface temperature surrounding a flat and mountainous island. Numerical simulations were run with a sea surface temperature spanning the range between 300K to 303K with 0.5K increments, and statistical analysis was run on each of these executables, looking at the mixing ratio of the water vapor, zonal, vertical, and meridional velocity, potential temperature, relative humidity, cloudiness, rainfall rate and surface temperature. After running statistical analysis with a control flat island of the same size, we added a mountain to the simulation and compared these results with the control island. Statistical analysis was run on the mountainous island for each sea surface temperature, looking at the same variables. We found that, as the sea surface temperature increased, precipitation and cloud formations over the flat and mountainous island were larger and more extreme due to the larger temperature contrast between the ocean and land. As climate change causes the sea surface temperature to warm, cloud formations and rainfall rate are expected to increase above and around islands.
dcterms.extent80 pages
dcterms.languageEnglish
dcterms.publisherUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
dcterms.rightsAll UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.
dcterms.rightsHolderWhite, Kayla
dcterms.typePDF

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