Much of the regional variability of weather occurs because of the displacement of the jet stream and its associated storm tracks. The axis of the jet stream and the cyclones steered by it move from one geographical area to another and some jets are observed to be more active in producing cyclones than others. This project will improve the understanding of the displacement and activity of atmospheric storm tracks. It will also exploit the methods that have been developed for analyzing storm track dynamics to improve weather forecasts through advancing understanding of forecast and data assimilation error growth. The PI will develop new methods for analyzing the interaction between the jet structure and the eddy fields including advances in stochastic jet turbulence modeling and novel contributions to the stability theory of statistical equilibria.
