earth science

Thomas Knutson

Thomas Knutson is a earth 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 Thomas Knutson rather than just read about it. In short: Thomas R. Knutson is a climate modeller at the US Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Thomas R. Knutson is a climate modeller at the US Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). His research covers hurricane activity, the link between climate change and hurricane incidence and intensity, and climate change detection and attribution.

Biography He served as a contributing author on working group 1 of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. He is an Associate Editor of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate. He has published in Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal of Climate, Tropical Cyclone Research and Review, Tellus A and the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. In 2004, Knutson published a paper suggesting that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide would lead to more intense hurricanes. This finding was subsequently supported by independent research. Knutson was invited to discuss his thesis on Ron Reagan's MSNBC talk show, but the invitation was withdrawn after the White House intervened.

Selected works Delworth, Thomas L.; Broccoli, Anthony J.; Rosati, Anthony; Stouffer, Ronald J.; Balaji, V.; Beesley, John A.; Cooke, William F.; Dixon, Keith W.; Dunne, John; Dunne, K. A.; Durachta, Jeffrey W.; Findell, Kirsten L.; Ginoux, Paul; Gnanadesikan, Anand; Gordon, C. T.; Griffies, Stephen M.; Gudgel, Rich; Harrison, Matthew J.; Held, Isaac M.; Hemler, Richard S.; Horowitz, Larry W.; Klein, Stephen A.; Knutson, Thomas R.; Kushner, Paul J.; Langenhorst, Amy R.; Lee, Hyun-Chul; Lin, Shian-Jiann; Lu, Jian; Malyshev, Sergey L.; et al. (2006). "GFDL's CM2 Global Coupled Climate Models. Part I: Formulation and Simulation Characteristics". Journal of Climate. 19 (5): 643–674. Bibcode:2006JCli...19..643D. doi:10.1175/JCLI3629.1. Knutson, Thomas R.; Tuleya, Robert E. (2004). "Impact of CO2-Induced Warming on Simulated Hurricane Intensity and Precipitation: Sensitivity to the Choice of Climate Model and Convective Parameterization". Journal of Climate. 17 (18): 3477–3495. Bibcode:2004JCli...17.3477K. doi:10.1175/1520-0442(2004)017<3477:IOCWOS>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 1520-0442. S2CID 13407628.

References

External links GFDL home page biographical sketch [1] Donaghy, T., et al. (2007) "Atmosphere of Pressure" a report of the Government Accountability Project (Cambridge, Mass.: UCS Publications), page 30

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thomas Knutson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thomas Knutson claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth 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 Thomas Knutson 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 Thomas Knutson 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 Thomas Knutson

In research: Thomas Knutson appears in earth 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 Thomas Knutson 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: Thomas Knutson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American climatologists, Atmospheric scientist stubs, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change contributing authors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thomas Knutson 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 Thomas Knutson in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Thomas Knutson 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 Thomas Knutson out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Thomas Knutson in simple terms?

Thomas R. Knutson is a climate modeller at the US Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Why does Thomas Knutson matter?

Because it connects several earth 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 Thomas Knutson?

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 Thomas Knutson.