GESTAR II Seminar Series, May 21 at 1pm

Wed, 15 May 2024 15:56:24 -0400
gestar2

Join us for a virtual seminar by Dr. Mimi Hughes, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Her talk is titled "Too much and too little water: using hydrometeorological modeling to characterize and understand water extremes."

Date and Time: Tuesday, May 21, 2024 at 1:00pm EST

Join us via Teams.

Abstract:

"Hydrologic predictions and projections, necessary to plan for and mitigate hydrologic extremes, often require information from weather and climate models that is both unbiased and at finer resolution than native meteorological modeling sources provide. This presentation will focus on work done over the past several years to improve understanding and representation of hydrometeorological processes with the goal of improved predictions and projections of hydrologic extremes, in particular droughts and floods in the western United States. The talk will draw from three examples that demonstrate different aspects of our common approaches toward this broader goal. First, I will describe techniques we use to evaluate whether or not models sufficiently represent the processes we’re aiming to characterize with an example focused on drought monitoring. Second, an example focused on Western US precipitation projections from downscaled climate models will demonstrate how we provide confidence in results with physical process arguments, and detail some of the necessary choices taken to make a projection usable by end users. The talk will conclude with results from a study focused on understanding uncertainty in projections of Western US snow drought through the lens of a moderately high-resolution climate model large ensemble, to highlight areas where I think more work is needed."

Biography:

Dr. Mimi Hughes is a Research Meteorologist at NOAA’s Physical Sciences Laboratory where she leads the hydrometeorological modeling team in the Hydrology Applications Division. Mimi got her B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics from Penn State University, and her M.S. and PhD in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. After her PhD, she began working at NOAA’s Earth Science Research Laboratory (ESRL), Physical Sciences Division, which is now the Physical Sciences Laboratory. She began working in PSL as a National Research Council Postdoctoral fellow, then continued as a CIRES research scientist, before becoming a federal employee in 2019.

Mimi's current research focuses on improving understanding and forecasts of hydrometeorological events that result in droughts and floods, especially in the contiguous United States, through investigations of model representation of critical physical processes. She diagnoses the ability of high-resolution models to properly represent physical processes key to hydrometeorological event simulation, working toward understanding the sensitivity of these processes to model configuration. She also focuses on improving our understanding of future projections of hydroclimate, especially in the mountainous western United States.

Mimi is currently serving on the Earth Science Women’s Network Associate Board, leading a team focusing on understanding mentorship needs of the ESWN community. She also serves as an Editor for the AMS Journal of Hydrometeorology.

For more information on the GESTAR II Seminar Series, click here.