- E-mailmichael.town@uib.no
- Visitor AddressAllégaten 705007 Bergen
- Postal AddressPostboks 78035020 Bergen
My climate research efforts have historically focused on polar regions. I have used remote sensing and in situ field observations to retrieve cloud occurrence and examine the surface energy budget in stable boundary layers. I have also used advanced modeling and machine learning techniques to simulate the energy and isotopic content of the near-surface snow. As part of the SNOWISO project I will improve stable water isotope climate interpretation on different time scales. I will use the surface energy and mass budgets, local meteorology, and near-surface snow processes to further our understanding of how the stable water isotope record represents present day climate, either locally or regionally. I will then apply this first-principles, physical understanding to snow and ice core records of the past.
Key fields of interest: Surface energy budget, Stable boundary layer, Snow pack processes, Clouds, Polar meteorology, Stable water isotope, Paleoclimate, Numerical modeling, Mountain meteorology, Avalanches, Education, Equity.
My education efforts have been focused developing an equitable teaching methodology in which students learn real-world skills by solving real-world problems. This effort has many facets including (but not limited to):
- a focus on educators collecting and learning from equity-relevant data in their classrooms,
- curating data sets and collaborations that draw the outside world into the classroom,
- putting students at the center of the problem-solving, learning, and celebrations.
Highlights from these education efforts are:
- An autonomous temperature array network deployed and analyzed by students on Mt. Baker, WA, USA,
- Student assessment of operational trends in Northwest Avalanche Center forecasts,
- Analysis of microclimates in Seattle, WA USA.
Some links to other blogs and other media illustrating these efforts and philosophy.
- (2022). Evaluation of Temperature-Dependent Complex Refractive Indices of Supercooled Liquid Water Using Downwelling Radiance and In-Situ Cloud Measurements at South Pole. Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR): Atmospheres. 10 pages.
More information in national current research information system (CRIStin)
Rowe, P.M., V.P. Walden, R.E. Brandt, M.S. Town, S.R. Hudson, and S. Neshyba, 2021: Evaluation of Temperature-Dependent Complex Refractive Indices of Supercooled Liquid Water Using Downwelling Radiance and In-Situ Cloud Measurements at South Pole. J. Geophys. Res.: Atmospheres, 127, e2021JD035182. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD035182.
Town, M. S., 2018: Avalanche Science and Safety Practices in a High School Classroom. The Avalanche Review,37.1, pp. 14-17.
Warren, S. G., and M. S. Town, 2011: Antarctica. Encyclopedia of Climate and Weather 2nd Ed., Oxford Univ.Press.
Froyland, H. K., N. Untersteiner, M. S. Town, S. G. Warren, 2010: Evaporation from Arctic sea ice in summerduring the International Geophysics Year, 1957-1958. J. Geophys. Res., 115, D15104,doi:10.1029/2009JD012769.
Genthon, C., M. S. Town, D. Six, V. Favier, S. Argentini, A. Pellegrini, 2010: Meteorological atmosphericboundary layer measurements and ECMWF analyses during summer at Dome C, Antarctica. J. Geophys.Res., 115, D05104, doi:0.1029/2009JD012741.
Town, M. S., 2009: Training Scientists to Manage. Science, 326, DOI: 10.1126/science.326.5956.1062-a.
Town, M.S., S.G. Warren, V.P. Walden, and E.D. Waddington, 2008: Effect of atmospheric water vapor onmodification of stable isotopes in near-surface snow on ice sheets. J. Geophys. Res., 113, D24303,doi:10.1029/2008JD009852.
Town, M.S., E.D. Waddington, V.P. Walden, S.G. Warren, 2008: Temperatures, heating rates, and vaporpressures in the near-surface snow of East Antarctica. J. Glaciol., 54, 487-498.
Hagler, G., M. Bergin, E. Smith, M. Town, and J. Dibb, 2008: Local anthropogenic impact on particulateelemental carbon concentrations at Summit, Greenland. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 2485-2491.
Town, M.S., V.P. Walden, S.G. Warren, 2007: Cloud cover climatology over the South Pole from visualobservations, satellite retrievals, and surface based infrared measurements. J. Climate, 20, pp. 544-559.
Town, M.S., V.P. Walden, S.G. Warren, 2005: Spectral and broadband longwave downwelling radiative fluxes,cloud radiative forcing and fractional cloud cover over the South Pole. J. Climate, 18, pp. 4235-4252.
Walden, V.P., M.S. Town, B. Halter, and J.W.V. Storey, 2005: First Measurements of the Infrared SkyBrightness at Dome C, Antarctica. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 117 (829), pp.300-308.
Hudson, S.R., M.S. Town, V.P. Walden, S.G. Warren, 2004: Temperature, humidity, and pressure response ofradiosondes at low temperatures. J. Atmos. and Oce. Technol., 21 (5), pp. 825-836.
Cooper, O.R., J.L. Moody, T.D. Thornberry, M.S. Town, M.A. Carroll, 2001: PROPHET 1998 meteorologicaloverview and air-mass classification. J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 106 (D20), pp. 24289-24299.
Pippin, M., S. Bertman, T. Thornberry, M. Town, M.A. Carroll, S. Sillman, 2001: Seasonal variations of PAN,PPN, and O-3 at the upper Midwest PROPHET site. J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 106 (D20), pp. 24451-24463.