Morris Bender
Senior Research Associate
Weather and Atmospheric Dynamics Group
Phone: (609) 452-6559
Email: Morris.Bender@noaa.gov
Bibliography | Curriculum Vitae
Most of my scientific career has been focused on hurricane research and modeling. In 1976, I joined the hurricane dynamics group at GFDL, working with the group's founder (Yoshio Kurihara) to develop the GFDL movable mesh hurricane model. During the next decade, I conducted research on hurricane structure, energetics, decay at landfall, and impacts of topography on tropical cyclones. In the late 1980s, the group's focus changed to a multi-year effort to adapt the GFDL model for potential use for hurricane prediction. This resulted in the development of the GFDL hurricane forecast system, which became an operational hurricane model for NOAA's Weather Service in 1995. The Navy also adopted the GFDL model for operational use in most of the world's ocean basins, the following year.
During the past 15 years, the GFDL hurricane model has been the most reliable hurricane forecast model for track prediction. During this time, I have focused on upgrading the prediction system both for the Weather Service and the Navy, resulting in continual improvement in the model's reliability.
Recently, I have been a collaborator in applying the GFDL hurricane model to a pioneering down-scaling study to evaluate the impact of Anthropogenic warming on Atlantic intense hurricane activity. This paper is being featured in the January 22nd issue of Science.
Research
- Operational hurricane modeling
- Hurricane-ocean coupling and air-sea interaction
- Impact of Global Warming on Atlantic Hurricane Activity
- Improving understanding of how hurricanes behave
- Developing better physics in hurricane models for improved prediction of track and intensity
