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On 13 August (11:00-12:00, Room 3180 on the third floor of West Wing of GFI), our guest – Prof. Bo SUN - will present his work on “Tropical-Arctic Climate Connection: Model Performance and Changes under Climate Change”. Dr. Bo Sun is a Professor at the Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), who is a group leader of the Key Research and Development Program Project of China (‘Interaction between the Arctic Sea-Ice-Atmosphere System and the Tropical Sea-Atmosphere System and Connection with Global Warming’) and a group leader of the State Key Laboratory of Climate System Prediction and Risk Management of China. He earned his PhD from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015 at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics. His research particularly focuses on the mechanisms of extreme weather events in China, atmospheric teleconnection patterns, and predictive modelling—anchored at NUIST within Academician Huijun Wang’s research group. His ResearchGate profile lists 78 publications, 20,773 reads, and over 1,750 citations, highlighting his active engagement in atmospheric and climate science research. Abstract (authors: Bo Sun, Huijun Wang, Wanling Li, Wenchao Tang, Fei Li, Shengping He, Noel Keenlyside): The Arctic-tropical climate connection has profound impact on the climate in Northern Hemisphere. The climate models are essential for understanding the mechanisms of Arctic-tropical climate connection and predicting the climate anomalies associated with Arctic-tropical climate connection. It still remains unclear about the performance of climate models in simulating the dynamic processes of Arctic-tropical climate connection and the potential reasons. In addition, notable changes have been observed in the climate system such as the impact of ENSO and Arctic sea ice on mid-latitude climate. Nevertheless, the changes in Arctic-tropical climate connection has been less understood. In our studies, the performance of CMIP6 models in simulating the dynamic processes of Arctic-tropical climate connection is evaluated, where the best models are selected. Furthermore, a reversal in the relationship between ENSO and Arctic surface temperature during spring under climate change is revealed, which is related to changes in the ENSO-triggered Rossby waves. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the Arctic-tropical climate conn

Abstract When thinking about human understanding, there are known knowns. These are things that we know we know. There are also known unknowns, things we do not know. Unknown unknowns are things that we don't know we don't know. Finally, there are the unknown knowns---things we do not know we know. Operational experience and the scientific literature tell us that the structure and dynamics of fronts are more complicated than our common perception of them---in other words, there are unknown knowns. Many of these unknown knowns have existed since the earliest work on fronts in the early part of the 20th century, meaning we have not evolved with the state of the science. Come prepared to have your foundations in atmospheric science challenged as I show freaks of nature (that are more common that you may realize), including cold fronts tilting forward over the warm air, cold fronts where the wind shift is not coincident with the temperature gradient, and cold fronts characterized by surface warming after frontal passage! I will also discuss the issue of how cold fronts move and whether they necessarily move faster than warm fronts. Speaker information Short biography David Schultz is Professor of Synoptic Meteorology at the University of Manchester. He has published over 200 journal articles on atmospheric phenomenon from as small as mammatus and tornadoes to as large as the global circulation during the Snowball Earth 2.5 billion years ago. His principal research interests are extratropical cyclones, fronts, severe convective storms, and the organization of precipitation, where he has helped modernize and extend the Norwegian cyclone model, the formation of occluded fronts, and airstreams such as the cold conveyor belt and sting jet. He has been critical of poor science and communication, specifically the language around instabilities and the scientific literature published on the effect of weather on the spread of COVID-19. He has received multiple teaching and supervision awards, including the 2023 Inaugural Education Award from the Royal Meteorological Society. He was the third-longest serving Chief Editor in the 151-year history of Monthly Weather Review (2008–2022) and recipient of the 2024 Cleveland Abbe Award for Distinguished Service from the American Meteorological Society. He is author of Eloquent Science: A Practical Guide to Becoming a Better Writer, Speaker, and Atmospheric Scientist, which has been translated into Chinese and published by the China Meteorological Press.