Dr. Kirsten Findell

Research Physical Scientist

Biogeochemistry, Atmospheric Chemistry, and Ecosystems Division

Research interests:

Hydroclimatology; land-atmosphere interactions; impacts of land use change on climate; floods and droughts in a changing world

World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Activities:

• Co-chair of the Lighthouse Activity on Explaining and Predicting Earth System Change
• Co-chair of the Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX, a core project of WCRP) Global Land-Atmosphere System Studies (GLASS) Panel

Land-atmosphere interactions:

• The role of moisture and heat fluxes from the land surface on convective triggering.
• The CTP-HIlow framework: understanding atmospheric controls on soil moisture-boundary layer interactions.

Land cover and land use change:

• Climatic differences between historical land use patterns and estimates of “potential natural” vegetation patterns.
• Extratropical impacts of tropical deforestation.
• Relative impacts of historical land use and common sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies.

Floods and droughts:

• Relationships between common SST anomalies and global flood and drought prevalence.
• Drought in the Sahel in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Surface hydrology in a changing climate:

• Summer drying/winter wetting in a world with higher levels of atmospheric CO₂.

Click here for my bibliography

Click here for my CV