Research interests

The Climate Systerms Interactions group's research involves interactions between different pieces of the climate system, starting with ocean-atmosphere interaction and later spreading to some of the other interactions that must be understood as fully coupled processes. Early in his career, Dr. Neelin, a grant program manager, struggling to categorize him as an atmospheric or an oceanic scientist, referred to him as "one of those damned new coupled modelers no one knows where to put".

Tropical climate variability has been a major area of endeavor. El Nino/Southern Oscillation phenomenon, Neelin became fascinated by the Achilles heel of early tropical ocean-atmosphere theory: the complex interaction between the large-scale tropical atmosphere and moist convection. These moist dynamical processes strongly affect and are affected by the ocean surface layer. Several research areas have evolved from this, including moist teleconnections and the tropical precipitation response to global warming.

Please see the sidebar for specific research areas and contributions.