R. Saravanan
Professor
Department Head
Variability and predictability of climate on seasonal to millennial timescales, coupled ocean-atmosphere interaction, large-scale dynamics of the atmosphere and the oceans
Research
My research deals with mathematical and physical aspects of the climate system, with a focus on atmospheric dynamics, climate modeling, and ocean-atmosphere interaction. I work with global and regional models of climate to study phenomena such as midlatitude storms, tropical cyclones, and global modes of low-frequency variability. An important goal of my research is to help improve predictions of weather and climate. Foreknowledge of sea surface temperature can be used to predict the evolution of atmospheric flow. Coupled climate models can help predict the evolution of sea surface temperatures on time scales of months to years.
My recent research addresses the following science questions:
- What is the influence of large-scale phenomena such as El Niño and the Atlantic Meridional Mode on tropical cyclone activity?
- Do mesoscale eddies in the ocean affect atmospheric storms in the middle latitudes?
- Can statistical and machine learning approaches be used to analyze the relationship between atmospheric state and satellite measurements of rainfall?
I use a hierarchy of weather and climate models running on supercomputers, as well as statistical data analysis, to answer these questions.
Additional information on my research and other interests can be found on my personal TAMU web page: http://people.tamu.edu/~sarava/>
Selected Publications
Patricola, C.M., R. Saravanan, P. Chang, 2018: The response of Atlantic tropical cyclones to suppression of African easterly waves, Geophysical Research Letters, 45, 471-479, 10.1002/2017GL076081
Patricola, C.M., P. Chang, R. Saravanan, 2016: Degree of simulated suppression of Atlantic tropical cyclones modulated by flavour of El Niño, Nature Geoscience, 9, 155-160, doi:10.1038/ngeo2624
Ma, X., P. Chang, R. Saravanan, R. Montuoro, J.-S. Hsieh, D. Wu, X. Lin, L. Wu, Z. Jing, 2015: Distant influence of Kuroshio eddies on North Pacific weather patterns? Scientific Reports, 5, 17785, doi:10.1038/srep17785
Wang, Y., R. Zhang, and R. Saravanan, 2014: Asian pollution climatically modulates mid-latitude cyclones following hierarchical modelling and observational analysis. Nature Communications, 5, 3098, doi:10.1038/ncomms4098
Balaguru, K., P. Chang, R. Saravanan, and L. R. Leung, 2012: Ocean barrier layers’ effect on tropical cyclone intensification, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109, 14343-14347 doi:10.1073/pnas.1201364109
Magnusdottir, G., C. Deser, and R. Saravanan, 2004: The effects of North Atlantic SST and sea-ice anomalies on the winter circulation in CCM3: Part I: Main features and storm-track characteristics of the response. Journal of Climate, 17, 857-876.
Giannini, A., R. Saravanan, and P. Chang, 2003: Oceanic forcing of Sahel rainfall on interannual to interdecadal time scales. Science, 302, 1027-1030.
Saravanan, R., and J. C. McWilliams, 1998: Advective ocean–atmosphere interaction: an analytical stochastic model with implications for decadal variability. Journal of Climate, 11, 165–188.
Saravanan, R., 1993: Equatorial superrotation and the maintenance of general circulation in two–level models. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 50, 1211–1227.
See ResearcherID Profile for a full list of publications: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/G-8879-2012Education
Ph.D. (Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences), Princeton University, 1990
Master of Science (Physics), Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, 1986
Additional Notes:
Postdoctoral Research, Dept. of Applied Math. & Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, UK, 1990-93
Awards
College of Geosciences Distinguished Research Award, Texas A&M University, 2015
Additional Information
Selected service activities:
Member, Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Atlantic (PIRATA) Science Steering Committee (2010-)
Member, American Meteorological Society Committee on Climate Variability and Change (2014-2017)
Member, National Research Council (NRC) Committee on the Assessment of Intraseasonal to Interannual Climate Prediction and Predictability (2009)
Editor, American Meteorological Society Journal of Climate (2007-2010)
