MIT Club of Southwest Florida

Professor Kerry Emanuel

Kerry Emanuel (PhD, 1983, MIT) is Professor of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science at MIT. Professor Emanuel's research group is investigating possible links between global climate and tropical cyclone activity, focusing on the possible role of tropical cyclones in driving oceanic heat fluxes. Other research activities include research on tropical cyclone genesis, environmental control of tropical cyclone intensity, the role of cumulus convection in regulating atmospheric water vapor and clouds, and the development of new techniques for assimilating nonlinear coherent structures into numerical models.

Prof. Emanuel has authored numerous papers on hurricanes and has just published a beautiful and informative book, "Divine Wind: The History and Science of Hurricanes" [Oxford Press, 2005]. Kerry has gained national notoriety because of his recent findings of the correlation of the increased energies of hurricanes to the observed warming of the ocean surface waters. Although Kerry has been thrown into the controversy of whether the cause of warming is natural or human made, he's been labeled a "cautious centrist", trying to stick to the known scientific facts. His work has been discussed in feature articles in the New York Times and national news magazines and he has also been interviewed on several TV news programs including the PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer.

Related links

• Prof. Emanuel's Home Page
• Emanuel's Nature article, 4 August 2005, on increasing destructiveness of tropical cyclones,
• Emanuel's Nature article, supplement.
• Anthropogenic Effects on Tropical Cyclone Activity September, 2005
• Divine Wind - The History and Science of Hurricanes, by Kerry Emanuel.
• January 10, 2006 N.Y. Times interview
• NOAA's Hurricane FAQs
• National Hurricane Center
• What Does Current Scientific Research Have to Say About the Present and Future Risks Associated with Hurricanes? A lecture given by Kerry Emanuel on October 31, 2005. Click here to obtain a streaming video presentation of the lecture. Click on the "Play now" button when the page downloads in order to download the streaming video page.