Research - Marcus Lofverstrom

Research Program

The goal of my research is to improve our understanding of how the climate system works and how it has evolved over a large range of time scales and forcing scenarios in Earth’s history and into the future. These questions can only be fully answered when considering the entire Earth system simultaneously, and a broad and interdisciplinary research program is therefore required. To this end, my research bridges the fields of atmosphere and ocean dynamics, (paleo-)climatology, and glaciology, and utilizes a hierarchy of numerical models (from idealized to fully coupled state-of-the-art Earth-system models), theoretical approaches, and encompasses many temporal and spatial scales. The commitment to a broad research program is epitomized in the name of my research lab, the “Earth-System Dynamics Lab”.

Since joining the University of Arizona, much of my time has been devoted to forging work relationships, nurturing existing collaborations, developing my own research and teaching programs, and working on ongoing research projects. My current research activities can be divided into a number of overarching themes, described below.

Climate modeling

Climate modeling in an invaluable tool in climate science that enables detailed studies of factors controlling the observed circulation. Numerical modeling can also be used to study past climate states, as well as make predictions of the future evolution of the climate system under climate change. This video by shows an application of nested grids in CESM2 (courtesy of Dr. Adam Herrington, NCAR).

Related papers:

Herrington, A.R., P.H. Lauritzen, M. Lofverstrom, W.H. Lipscomb, A. Gettelman, and M.A. Taylor: Gettelman, A., & Taylor, M. A. (2022). Impact of grids and dynamical cores in CESM2.2 on the surface mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 14, e2022MS003192. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022MS003192 | PDF | online
Muntjewerf, L., W. J. Sacks, M. Lofverstrom, J.G. Fyke, W.H. Lipscomb, C. Ernani da Silva, M. Vizcaino, K. Thayer-Calder, and J. T. M. Lenaerts: Description and demonstration of the coupled Community Earth System Model v2 – Community Ice Sheet Model v2 (CESM2-CISM2). Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 13, e2020MS002356. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020MS002356 | online
Lofverstrom, M., J. Fyke, K. Thayer-Calder, L. Muntjewerf, M. Vizcaino, W. J. Sacks, W. H. Lipscomb, B. L. Otto-Bliesner, and S. L. Bradley(2020): An efficient ice-sheet/Earth system model spinup procedure for CESM2-CISM2: description, evaluation and broader applicability, Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 12, e2019MS001984, doi: 10.1029/2019MS001984 | PDF, online.
Lofverstrom, M., and J. Liakka (2018): The influence of atmospheric grid resolution in a climate model-forced ice sheet simulation, The Cryosphere, 12, 1499–1510, doi: 10.5194/tc-12-1499-2018 (highlighted) | PDF, online.

Dynamic Meteorology

My research group is studying the interactions that shape the planetary scale atmospheric circulation. These interactions consist of flow-topography interactions, diabatic heating effects, as well as complex internal wave dynamics.

Some of the topics we study:

Flow-topography interactions
Rossby wave dynamics
Jet stream and storm track dynamics
Climate/ice sheet interactions

Related papers:

Lofverstrom, M. (2020): A dynamic link between precipitation extremes in western North America and Europe at the Last Glacial Maximum, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 534, doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116081 | online.
Lofverstrom, M., and J. M. Lora (2017): Abrupt regime shifts in the North Atlantic atmospheric circulation over the last deglaciation, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44, doi: 10.1002/2017GL074274 | PDF, online.
Lofverstrom, M., R. Caballero, J. Nilsson, and G. Messori(2016): Stationary wave reflection as a mechanism for zonalising the Atlantic winter jet at the LGM, J. Atm. Sci., 73, 3329–3342, doi: 10.1175/JAS-D-15-0295.1 | PDF, online.
Liakka, J., J. Nilsson, and M. Lofverstrom (2011): Interactions between stationary waves and ice sheets: linear versus nonlinear atmospheric response, Clim. Dyn., 38, 1249– 1262, doi: 10.1007/s00382-011-1004-6 | PDF, online.

Paleo-climate dynamics

My research has provided an improved understanding of the complex interactions between the atmospheric circulation and the evolving ice sheets over this important period in Earth's history. For example, my work has demonstrated that the continent-wide LGM Laurentide ice sheet (LIS) is not only extreme in terms of its scale but also in its influence on the planetary-scale atmospheric circulation. While the smaller pre- and post-LGM ice sheets are found to have a fairly limited influence on the planetary-scale atmospheric circulation, the LGM LIS promotes both stationary wave breaking and wave reflection, which yield an altered circulation regime with a strong and zonally oriented North Atlantic jet stream and storm track. This is shown to have large implications for the spatio-temporal evolution of the Eurasian ice sheet. In contrast, the growth-trajectory of the North American ice sheet is found to be more strongly controlled by local atmosphere--ice-sheet interactions.

Some of the topics we study:

Last Interglacial warm period
Last glacial inception
Last glacial maximum
Glacial climates
Late Pliocene warm period

Related papers:

Menemenlis, S., J. Lora, M. Lofverstrom, and D. Chandan: Influence of Stationary Waves on mid-Pliocene Atmospheric Rivers and Hydroclimate, Global and Planetary Change (in press)
Lofverstrom, M., and J. Liakka (2016): On the limited ice intrusion in Alaska at the Last Glacial Maximum, Geophys. Res. Letters, 43, doi: 10.1002/2016GL071012 | PDF, online.
Kageyama, M., S. P. Harrison, M. Kapsch, M. Lofverstrom, J. M. Lora, U. Mikolajewicz, S. Sherriff-Tadano, T. Vadsaria, A. Abe-Ouchi, N. Bouttes, A. N. LeGrande, F. Lhardy, G. Lohmann, P. A. Morozova, R. Ohgaito, A. Quiquet, D. M. Roche, X. Shi, A. Schmittner, J. E. Tierney, and E. Volodin: The PMIP4-CMIP6 Last Glacial Maximum experiments: preliminary results and comparison with the PMIP3-CMIP5 simulations, in press in Clim. Past | online.