Dr. Ron McTaggart-Cowan
Current research and/or projects
Research in numerical weather prediction from the local to the global scale, and for time scales ranging from minutes to seasons
- Research on the use of high resolution models to produce forecast guidance
- Development of coupled modelling systems for environmental prediction
- Research into tropical/extratropical interaction, particularly in relation to the development of tropical cyclones from extratropical precursors
- Research on the ability of mid and high resolution modelling systems to accurately predict the cyclogenesis and intensity of tropical cyclones
- Evaluation of high resolution numerical guidance, particularly in regions of steep terrain
Professional activities / interests
Lead of the Canadian contribution to the Mesoscale Alpine Project (MAP) Demonstration of Probabilistic Hydrological and Atmospheric Simulation of flood Events in the Alpine region (D-PHASE), a WMO Forecast Demonstration Project based in Switzerland
Member of the thesis committee for a doctoral student in tropical/extratropical interaction and tropical cyclogenesis
Education and awards
Ph.D. (2003), Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, QC
B.Sc. (1998), Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Key publications
McTaggart-Cowan, R., G. Deane, L. F. Bosart, C. A. Davis and T. Galarneau. 2008. Climatology of tropical cyclogenesis in the North Atlantic (1948-2004). Mon. Wea. Rev. 136(4):1284-1304.
McTaggart-Cowan, R., L. F. Bosart, J. R. Gyakum and E. Atallah. 2007. Hurricane Katarina (2005), part I: Complex lifecycle of an intense tropical cyclone. Mon. Wea. Rev. 135(12):3905-3926.
McTaggart-Cowan, R., L. F. Bosart, J. R. Gyakum and E. Atallah. 2007. Hurricane Katarina (2005), part II: Evolution and hemispheric impacts of a diabatically-generated warm pool: Hurricane Katrina (2005). Mon. Wea. Rev. 135(12):3927-3949.
Desgagne, M., R. McTaggart-Cowan, W. Ohfuchi, G. Brunet, M. K. Yau, J. Gyakum, Y. Furukawa and M. Valin. 2006. Large atmospheric computation on the Earth Simulator: the LACES project. Scientific Computing. 14:13-25.
McTaggart-Cowan, R., L. F. Bosart, C. A. Davis, E. H. Atallah, J. R. Gyakum and K. A. Emanuel. 2006. Analysis of Hurricane Catarina. Mon. Wea. Rev. 134:3029–3053.
McTaggart-Cowan, R., L. F. Bosart and J. Gyakum. 2006. Hurricane Juan (2003). Part II: forecasting and numerical simulation. Mon. Wea. Rev. 134:1748–1771.
Contact
Research facility
Expertise
Affiliations
Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
American Meteorological Society