Kerry Emanuel

Kerry Emanuel
Born	(1955-04-21) April 21, 1955
Nationality	United States
Fields	Meteorology
Institutions	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Thesis	Inertial stability and mesoscale convective systems (1978)
Doctoral advisor	Jule Charney
Known for	Dynamics, hurricanes
Notable awards	Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal
Website eaps4.mit.edu/faculty/Emanuel/

Kerry Andrew Emanuel (born April 21, 1955) is an American professor of meteorology currently working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. In particular he has specialized in atmospheric convection and the mechanisms acting to intensify hurricanes. He was named one of the Time 100 influential people of 2006. In 2007, he was elected as a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

He hypothesized in 1994 about a superpowerful type of hurricane which could be formed if average sea surface temperature increased another 15C more than it's ever been (see "hypercane").

In a March 2008 paper published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, he put forward the conclusion that global warming is likely to increase the intensity but decrease the frequency of hurricane and cyclone activity. Gabriel Vecchi, of NOAA said of Emanuel's announcement, "While his results don't rule out the possibility that global warming has contributed to the recent increase in activity in the Atlantic, they suggest that other factors—possibly in addition to global warming—are likely to have been substantial contributors to the observed increase in activity."

In 2013, with other leading experts, he was co-author of an open letter to policy makers, which stated that "continued opposition to nuclear power threatens humanity's ability to avoid dangerous climate change."

See also

• Wind-induced surface heat exchange

Selected publications

• Emanuel, K.A.(1994): Atmospheric Convection, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506630-8
• Emanuel, K.A.(2005): Divine Wind: The History And Science Of Hurricanes, ISBN 0-19-514941-6
• Emanuel, K.A.(2005): "Increasing destructiveness of tropical cyclones over the past 30 years". Nature
• Emanuel, K.A.(2007): Phaeton’s Reins - The human hand in climate change. Boston Review.
• Emanuel, K.A.(2007): What We Know About Climate Change, The MIT Press & Boston Review. ISBN 978-0-262-05089-0
• Emanuel, K.A.(2008): "Hurricanes and Global Warming: Results from Downscaling IPCC AR4 Simulations". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

External links

• Emanuel's website
• Brian Tang and Kerry Emanuel (2010): "Mid-level ventilation's constraint on tropical cyclone intensity". Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Volume 67, Issue 6 .
• Brian Tang and Kerry Emanuel (2012): "A ventilation index for tropical cyclones". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Volume 93, Issue 12.