I am a PhD candidate in the Program for Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at MIT. I am also a participant in the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. My supervisor is Paul O'Gorman. I hold a bachelor's degree in Physics from Trinity College Dublin and a master's degree in Applied Mathematics from Oxford University (University College).
My research interests are atmospheric dynamics, the hydrological cycle, and climate change. In particular, I am interested in understanding the water cycle over land and how it responds to changes in climate. Recently I have also been working on a simple theory to estimate the magnitude of the "land-ocean surface warming contrast" whereby, under warming scenarios, land surface temperatures tend to increase to a greater extent than ocean surface temperatures. Future work will focus on the role of land surfaces in determining the onset, strength, and extent of monsoon circulations.
Contact information:
You can reach me by email byrnem...at...mit.edu, by phone at 617.253.1984, or by foot in office 54-1815.