David Wright

Profile:

As humans, we interact with our environment on daily to monthly time scales. This makes it difficult for us to directly relate to the topic of climate, and an extension climate change, which occurs on a time scale of decades to centuries. In recent media coverages of severe weather events, the question “Was this storm caused by climate change?” has been asked numerous times but has yet to be fully answered by the scientific community. This question arises from the need to try to relate changes happening on a very long time scale, like climate change, to daily weather patterns which humans are most familiar. To begin to answer this question we need a better understanding of the relationship between changes in storm-scale components and climate. David’s research focuses on trying to answer this question by understanding the sensitivity of mesoscale atmospheric features to changes in surface components predominately in the Great Lakes region and how this information can be used to improve forecasts and simulations. The lakes play a major role in the climate of the region by both creating and modifying weather patterns. By understanding the sensitivity of weather phenomena to the lakes, we can begin to better understand the regional atmsopheric dynamics, how climate change is influencing weather, and improve weather forecasts over the region.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Atmospheric Science, University of Michigan (2016)
• M.S. in Atmospheric Science, University of Michigan (2010)
• B.S.E. in Earth System Science Engineering, Concentration in Meteorology, University of Michigan (2009)

Research Interest/Area of Expertise:

• Great Lakes precipitation processes
• Lake/Ocean surface characteristics and their role in atmospheric dynamics
• FV3GFS and FVCOM modeling and coupling
• Climate change’s impact on weather
• High-resolution WRF modeling
• Weather forecasting

Recent Publications: 

Fujisaki-Manome, A., L.E. Fitzpatrick, A.D. Gronewold, E.J. Anderson, B.M. Lofgren, C. Spence, J. Chen, C. Shao, D.M. Wright and C. Xiao. 2017. Turbulent Heat Fluxes during an Extreme Lake-Effect Snow Event. Journal of Hydrometeorology. (DOI:10.1175/JHM-D-17-0062.1). [Altmetric Score]

Michalak, A.M., E.J. Anderson, D.M. Beletsky, S. Boland, N.S. Bosch, T.B. Bridgeman, J.D. Chaffin, K.H. Cho, R. Confesor, I. Daloğlu, J. DePinto, M.A. Evans, G.L. Fahnenstiel, L. He, J.C. Ho, L. Jenkins, T. Johengen, K.C. Kuo, E. LaPorte, X. Liu, M. McWilliams, M.R. Moore, D.J. Posselt, R.P. Richards, D. Scavia, A.L. Steiner, E. Verhamme, D.M. Wright and M.A. Zagorski. 2013. Record-setting algal bloom in Lake Erie caused by agricultural and meteorological trends consistent with expected future conditions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. (DOI:10.1073/pnas.1216006110). [Altmetric Score]

Wright, D.M., D.J. Posselt and A.L. Steiner. 2013. Sensitivity of Lake-Effect Snowfall to Lake Ice Cover and Temperature in the Great Lakes Region. Monthly Weather Review. (DOI:10.1175/MWR-D-12-00038.1). [Altmetric Score]

All Publications

Recent Presentations:

Fitzpatrick, L., A. Fujisaki-Manome, A. Gronewold, E.J. Anderson, C. Spence, J. Shen, C. Shao, D.J. Posselt, D.M. Wright, B.M. Lofgren and D.J. Schwab. 2017. Reconstructing Heat Fluxes Over Lake Erie During the Lake Effect Snow Event of November 2014. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2017. abstract #EP11C-1564.

Wright, D.M. and D.J. Posselt. The Influence of Lake Surface Temperature on a Cold Frontal Passage Over Lake Superior. Talk Presented at the 2016 International Association for Great Lakes Research Conference. Guelph, Ontario. June 2016.

Wright, D.M., D.J. Posselt and G. Mann. Examining the land-lake-atmosphere interactions of the May 5, 2003 severe weather event over southwest Michigan. Poster presented at the 16th Conference on Mesoscale Processes, Boston, MA. August 2015.

All Presentations