Environmental Internship Program - 2022 Booklet

David Ban ’24
GEOSCIENCES
EXTREME WEATHER
AND IMPACTS
PROJECT TITLE
The Climate Footprint on
Sea Surface Temperatures
and Tropical Cyclones
ORGANIZATION(S)
Climate Central
LOCATION(S)
Princeton, New Jersey
MENTOR(S)
Andrew Pershing,
Director of Climate
Science, Climate Central;
Daniel Gilford, Climate
Scientist, Climate Central
I studied the influence of climate change on
Atlantic Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) and
its relation to tropical cyclones. Warm water is a
key factor for tropical cyclones, and the impact
of warmer SSTs on cyclones is a significant topic
in climate science and meteorology. I aimed to
better quantify global warming’s footprint on
SST and to highlight this footprint for cyclones.
Climate Central created a Climate Shift Index
(CSI) scale that compares the likelihood of a given
land temperature in the current climate and in a
warming-free climate. I used the program Python
to apply the underlying method of the CSI project
to SSTs to obtain climate factor (CF) values,
which measure the change in probability of a
certain SST at a location and time. Then, I used
tropical cyclone data to obtain CF values along
a storm’s track at the corresponding time and
location to find relationships between the storms
and the CF. I gained experience with Python and
learned to analyse large meteorological datasets.
I always wanted a future in severe weather
research, but never thought that I would engage
with climate issues. I now have an appreciation
for how intertwined climate science and
meteorology are.
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