science

Kerry Emanuel

Kerry Emanuel is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kerry Emanuel rather than just read about it. In short: 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.

Key takeaways

Kerry Emanuel belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kerry Emanuel to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kerry Emanuel from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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.

Research 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."

Lorenz Center Along with Daniel Rothman, Emanuel co-founded the MIT Lorenz Center in 2011, named for Edward N. Lorenz.

2012 threats In 2012, Emanuel served as keynote speaker for a conference for Republican voters concerned about climate change. Following the conference, the blog Climate Depot posted Emanuel's email address. After the conference and the exposure of Emanuel's email address on blogs, Emanuel received a large volume of emails "laced with menacing language, expletives, and personal threats of violence," according to editor James West of Mother Jones.

Nuclear power views 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."

Recognition 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 was elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society in 2020.

See also Wind-induced surface heat exchange

References

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 Kerry Emanuel publications indexed by Google Scholar 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.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kerry Emanuel

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kerry Emanuel claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kerry Emanuel before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kerry Emanuel ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kerry Emanuel

In research: Kerry Emanuel appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kerry Emanuel in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kerry Emanuel is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1955 births, American meteorologists, Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal recipients, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kerry Emanuel outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kerry Emanuel in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kerry Emanuel means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kerry Emanuel out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kerry Emanuel in simple terms?

Why does Kerry Emanuel matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kerry Emanuel?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kerry Emanuel.