Thesis: Ph. D. in Climate Physics and Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2014. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-171). / I present work on several topics related to land-atmosphere interaction and radiative-convective equilibrium: the first two research chapters invoke ideas related to land-atmosphere interaction to better understand radiative-convective equilibrium; the last two research chapters use the framework of radiative-convective equilibrium to better understand land-atmosphere interaction. First, I calculate how averaging the incident solar radiation can lead to biases in idealized climate models. I derive an expression for the absorption-weighted solar zenith angle, which minimizes the bias in mean absorbed shortwave radiation, and I find that it is closely matched by the insolation-weighted zenith angle. Common use of daytime-weighted zenith angle likely leads to high biases in albedo by ~3%. Second, I explore the time scales of approach to radiative-convective equilibrium with both a simple linearized two-variable model, and a single-column model with full physics. I show that there is a long time scale of approach to radiative-convective equilibrium that is order hundreds of days even when the surface heat capacity vanishes. The impact of water vapor on the effective atmospheric heat capacity can more than double this time scale for warm temperatures and low surface heat capacities. Third, I develop an analytic theory for the sensitivity of near-surface temperature to properties of the land surface. I show that the theory compares well against a simple numerical model of the coupled boundary layer-surface system, as well as a more complex two-column model, and discuss application of the theory to questions of how changes in land use or ecosystem function may affect climate change. Finally, I find that the diurnal cycle of convection is important for the spatial distribution of rainfall in idealized simulations of radiative-convective equilibrium with a cloud-resolving model. In a region that is partly an island and mostly ocean, precipitation over the island falls primarily in a regular, strong, afternoon thunderstorm, with a time-mean rainfall rate more than double the domain average. I explore mechanisms for this island rainfall enhancement, investigate the importance of island size for my results, and find that the upper troposphere warms with the inclusion of an island, which may have implications for the large-scale tropical circulation. / by Timothy Cronin. / Ph. D. in Climate Physics and Chemistry

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 208-212). / by Zhengyu Liu. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-90). / by Miles Aaron Sundermeyer. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 52). / by Jonathan N. Betts. / M.S.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2009. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 198-205). / There is increasing evidence that changes in the stratosphere can have an impact on the surface. While observational results show a surface response of about 0.5 - 1 m/s, modeling studies can show a signal two times and in a particular extreme, four to eight times larger. In this thesis, an investigation of this extreme result revealed the model's characteristic timescale associated with the leading mode of variability was unrealistically large, which ultimately led to the exaggerated responses. Numerous experiments confirmed the tropospheric setup lay in a transition zone in the model's parameter space, teetering between an eddy-driven jet (1) coexisting with or (2) being well-separated from the subtropical jet. Modest shifts in the peak equilibrium temperature profile in either direction removed the bimodal behavior reducing the timescale associated with the internal variability. Subsequently, the response associated with a stratospheric perturbation was greatly reduced and consistent with those found in observations. Composites of the observed mid-tropospheric Northern Annular Mode (NAM) anomalies persisting much longer than normal reveal a lower stratospheric signal, while there was a much weaker signal under normal conditions, suggesting the lower stratosphere has a role in increasing the persistence of the NAM. Using this framework, the following mechanism was proposed. When the lower stratospheric winds sufficiently weaken, there is an increased wave drag in the lower stratosphere which then projects onto the annular modes. / (cont.) The negative phase of the annular mode can continue as long as both the lower stratospheric winds remain weak and the wave source is sufficient. Model runs with lower stratospheric winds that were always sufficiently weak or always too strong showed no significant tropospheric response to any extreme stratospheric events. Similarly, shifting mountains into the polar region appeared to shift the wave drag away from synoptic eddy feedback region. In either of these two cases, none of the model runs exhibited signs of a tropospheric response, consistent with the wave drag projection onto the annular mode having a key role in allowing the stratosphere to affect the tropospheric circulation. / by Cegeon J Chan. / Ph.D.

Thesis: S.M. in Geophysics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 91-93). / The possibility of human-triggered earthquakes is critical to understand for hazard mitigation. This project was developed to better understand the stability of faults in areas with high amounts of fluid extraction, and was applied to both a groundwater and hydrocarbon basin. The theory of poroelasticity was used to calculate the stress changes resulting from fluid flow. Then, the resulting fault stability was evaluated with the the Coulomb Failure Function ([Delta]CFF). A COMSOL and MATLAB workflow was used to derive the results. Two applications were completed. The primary research focused on the extraction from a groundwater aquifer in Lorca, Spain, in relation to the M, 5.1, 2011 earthquake. A smaller project was completed for the production of an oil well in Wheeler Ridge, California, in relation to the Mw 7.7, 1952 earthquake. In Lorca, it was found that extraction from a local aquifer promoted failure on an antithetic fault to the major Alhama de Murcia Fault. Specifically, while the left-lateral portion of the slip was stabilized, the reverse component of the slip was promoted (depth -5 km). Published InSAR and focal mechanism results support a rupture plane aligned with the antithetic fault. The final stress change was ~0.03 MPa which is small but not negligible compared to the expected total stress drop (~2 MPa). In California, the production from Well 85-29 was of interest. It was found that oil extraction promoted failure on the White Wolf Fault. There was a region adjacent to but below the reservoir that tended toward destabilization after the production. However, there was a notably small stress change (~0.5 kPA). This project lends to some important conclusions, and demonstrates that the poroelastic deformation of an aquifer or reservoir can result in distinct zones of stabilization and destabilization on pre-existing faults. / by Anna Louise Rogers. / S.M. in Geophysics

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references. / by David Scott Silverberg. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, 1984. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND LINDGREN. / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 196-204. / by Karen Louise Von Damm. / Ph.D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-132). / by Xiaoli Wang. / Ph.D.

Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 143-155). / Gravity and topography data provide a powerful tool for studying the interiors of rocky planetary bodies. In this thesis I study three such bodies - Venus, Mercury and the Moon - and I use the gravity and topography data returned by recent NASA planetary science missions to model their structure and evolution. I calculate geoid/topography ratios on Venus using gravity and topography data from NASA's Magellan mission. These ratios inform models of crustal thickness and mantle density, which in turn have implications for the formation of Venus's highland crust. I perform spatio-spectral localization of gravity and topography on Mercury from the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission, and I perform analytical calculations of two layered mantle flow in order to interpret the high low degree admittances associated with Mercury's domical rises. Finally, I use lunar gravity from the Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission along with topography from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) to quantify the stress state in the nearside maria, thereby placing constraints on the Moon's thermal evolution. / by Peter Benjamin James. / Ph. D.