Columbia University in the City of New York
Michael K. Tippett
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF APPLIED PHYSICS AND APPLED MATHEMATICS
Office: 287C Engineering Terrace
Mail: 200 Mudd, 500 W. 120th Street
Research Interests
Seasonal climate prediction. ENSO prediction and impacts. Extreme weather and climate. Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms. Hurricanes and tropical cyclones. Forecast verification.Tippett’s research provided the first evidence for skillful prediction of monthly tornado activity. For his work, he has been sought out as a collaborator with the national weather and climate forecasters and the insurance industry.
Tippett’s climate research ranges from the detection and attribution of climate change in models and observations on centennial time-scales, to decadal prediction of Atlantic sea surface temperatures, to forecasts of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) a year in advance, as well as seasonal outlooks for temperature and precipitation for coming months. On shorter weather time-scales, Tippett investigates how severe thunderstorms (those resulting in tornadoes, hail, or damaging wind) and tropical cyclones are related to climate, now and in the future. He analyzes data from numerical weather prediction models, meteorological observations, and storm reports to find patterns that can improve understanding, facilitate prediction, and manage risk.
Tippett received BS degrees in electrical engineering and mathematics from North Carolina State University in 1983 and a MS (1990) and PhD (1992) in mathematics from New York University’s Courant Institute.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
- Postdoctoral researcher, Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Germany, 1992-1995
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
- Associate Professor of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, 2016–
- Lecturer in the Discipline of Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, 2013-2016
- Senior Research Scientist, International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Columbia University, 2013
- Senior Research Scientist, International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Columbia University, 2003-2013
- Associate Research Scientist, International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Columbia University, 1999-2003
- Visiting Scientist, Center for Weather Prediction and Climate Studies (CPTEC), Brazil, 1996-1999
HONORS & AWARDS
- 2016 Editors’ Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Geophysical Research Letters
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
- M. K. Tippett, M. Ranganathan, M. L'Heureux, A. G. Barnston, and T. DelSole. Assessing probabilistic predictions of ENSO phase and intensity from the North American Multimodel Ensemble. Clim. Dyn., 2017. doi: 10.1007/s00382-017-3721-y.
- M. K. Tippett, C. Lepore, and J. E. Cohen. More tornadoes in the most extreme U.S. tornado outbreaks. Science, 354, 1419-1423, 2016. doi:10.1126/science.aah7393.
- G. W. Carbin, M. K. Tippett, S. P. Lillo, and H. E. Brooks. Visualizing long-range severe thunderstorm environment guidance from CFSv2. Bull. Am. Meteor. Soc., 97, 1021-1031, 2016. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00136.1.
- M. K. Tippett and J. E. Cohen. Tornado outbreak variability follows Taylor's power law of fluctuation scaling and increases dramatically with severity. Nat. Commun., 7, 10668, 2016. doi:10.1038/ncomms10668.
- C.-Y. Lee, M. K. Tippett, A. H. Sobel, and S. J. Camargo. Rapid intensification and the bimodal distribution of tropical cyclone intensity. Nat. Commun., 7, 10625, 2016. doi:10.1038/ncomms10625.
- J. T. Allen, M. K. Tippett, and A. H. Sobel. Influence of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation on tornado and hail frequency in the United States. Nat. Geosci., 8, 278-283, 2015. doi:10.1038/ngeo2385.
- M. K. Tippett, M. Almazroui, and I.-S. Kang. Extended-range forecasts of areal-averaged Saudi Arabia rainfall. Wea. Forecasting, 30, 1090-1105, 2015. doi:10.1175/WAF-D-15-0011.1.
- M. K. Tippett, A. H. Sobel, and S. J. Camargo. Association of U.S. tornado occurrence with monthly environmental parameters. Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L02801, 2012. doi:10.1029/2011GL050368.
- T. DelSole and M. K. Tippett. Predictability: Recent insights from information theory. Rev. Geophys., 45, RG4002, 2007. doi:10.1029/2006RG000202.
- M. K. Tippett, J. L. Anderson, C. H. Bishop, T. M. Hamill, and J. S. Whitaker. Ensemble square-root filters. Mon. Wea. Rev., 131, 1485-1490, 2003. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(2003)131<1485:ESRF>2.0.CO;2