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Hampton N. Shirer, PhD.
Department of Meteorology
518 Walker Building
University Park, PA 16802
Telephone: (814) 863-1992
E-mail: hns@psu.edu


Click HERE for Dr. Shirer's Lightning Cluster Mapper Home Page!
 

  • (The Pennsylvania State University), Associate Professor and Associate Head 
  • Member of Graduate Faculty 
Research Interests: Theoretical nonlinear dynamics, chaos and atmospheric predictability, stratocumulus dynamics, synthetic aperture radar interpretation, single-station lightning location. 

Teaching Interests: Atmospheric dynamics and synoptics, atmospheric waves and instabilities, energetics, applications of nonlinear mathematics, applications of computers. 

Dr. Shirer's convection studies concentrate on the development and evolution of cloud streets, stratocumulus decks, and three-dimensional convective cells as functions of larger-scale atmospheric forcing; recently he has focused on identifying their signatures in synthetic aperture radar imagery of the sea surface. He also collaborates with a mathematics professor, Dr. Robert Wells, and they study the structures and types of solutions to the equations of motion, develop general objective methods for designing truncated models of atmospheric flows, develop algorithms for quantifying the chaotic behavior of hydrodynamic systems and uses these algorithms to aid identification of coherent structures within the boundary layer.
 

Selected Publications:

Shirer, H.N. (ed.), 1987: Nonlinear Hydrodynamic Modeling: A Mathematical Introduction. Lecture Notes in Physics, 271, Springer-Verlag, 546 pp. 

Haack, T. and H.N. Shirer, 1992: Mixed convective/dynamic roll vortices and their effects on initial wind and temperature profiles. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 49, 1181-1201. 

Laufersweiler, M.J., and H.N. Shirer, 1995: A theoretical model of multi-regime convection in a stratocumulus-topped boundary layer. Boundary Layer Meteorology, 73, 373-409. 

Shirer, H.N., C.J. Fosmire, R. Wells, and L. Suciu, 1997: Estimating the correlation dimension of atmospheric time series. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 54, 211-229. 

Sikora, T.D., G.S. Young, H.N. Shirer, and R. Chapman, 1997: Estimating convective atmospheric boundary layer depth from microwave radar imagery of the sea surface. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 36, 833-845. 

Shirer, H.N., G.S. Young, R. Wells, A.N. Rogers, J.P. Rishel, R.A. Mason, L. Suciu, N.S. Winstead, H.W. Henderson, D.K. Rinkder, Jr., J.W. Rohrbach, J. Edson, C. Friehe, S. Wetzel, S. Miller and T. Hristov, 1999: Identifying coherent structures in the marine atmospheric boundary layer. In Air-Sea Exchange--Physics, Chemistry and Dynamics, G.L. Geernaert (Ed.), Klumwer Academic Publishers, 463-505.

Shirer, H.N. W.P. Roeder, H.W. Shirer, D.L. D'Arcangelo, J. Hilliker, J. Koval, N. Magee, and D.W. Mazeroski. Lightning location methods. In Encyclopedia of Imaging Science and Technology, J.P. Hornak (Ed.). John Wiley and Sons, invited manuscript in preparation.