Lecture 4: The Hydrological Cycle and Global Warming

By Prof. Isaac M. Held

Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory

NOAA and Princeton University

Time:Wednesday, 03:00 pm, November 2, 2011

Location:Sunny Hall, Yingjie Exchange Center

Contact:胡永云 (YongyunHu)，62754291，yyhu@pku.edu.cn

Abstract：Many of the most important effects of global warming are expected to involve the Earth’s hydrological cycle. This talk will outline some global aspects of how the patterns of rainfall are expected to respond to warming. Topic covered will include the factors that control the global mean rate of precipitation, the idea that the “wet will get wetter and the dry drier”, and why we expect the tropical rain belts to move towards the hemisphere that warms the fastest.

CV of Prof. Isaac M. Held：

Prof. Isaac Held is one of the leading scientists in global climate change over the world. He is best known by his outstanding theoretical work on the Hadley circulation. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 2003. Prof. Isaac M. Held received his B.S. degree from University of Minnesota, M.A. degree from State University of New York at Stony Brook and Ph.D. degree from Princeton University. He was a research fellow in Climate at Harvard University from 1976 to 1978. After that he joined the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, NOAA. He is currently head of Weather and Atmospheric Dynamics Group, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory/NOAA, Princeton University.