Research Highlights
Research Interests
Tropical cyclone intensification, tropical cyclone genesis, precipitation, and mesoscale processes.
Jonathan Zawislak, Ph.D.
Associate Scientist (University of Miami/CIMAS), Hurricane Research Division
305.361.4403
4301 Rickenbacker Causeway
Miami, Florida 33149
“I have been fortunate to find my research at an intersection of two of my life-long interests: weather and aviation. Airborne observations remain one of the key tools we have at our disposal to better understand and predict two important aspects of the tropical cyclone evolution: their formation and their intensification.”
Dr. Zawislak’s research involves a synthesis of long-term satellite and airborne datasets to study tropical cyclone formation and intensification, with a particular focus on the precipitation processes involved in priming these storms for intensity changes, and how those processes are linked to the thermodynamic and kinematic structures of a storm.
Current Work
NASA New (Early Career) Investigator Program in Earth Science
PI, “The Relationship between Precipitation and Environmental Forcing during Tropical Cyclone Formation” (2016-2021)
NASA Weather and Atmospheric Dynamics Program
PI, “Why do tropical cyclones evolve toward symmetry before intensification? An observational and modeling study” (2017-2021)
NASA Weather and Atmospheric Dynamics Program
PI, “Using Aircraft and Satellite Observations to Characterize African Easterly Wave Variability and Environmental Factors Associated with Downstream Tropical Cyclogenesis” (2020-2023)
Office of Naval Research, Departmental Research Initiative: Tropical Cyclone Rapid Intensification
Co-PI, “Investigating interactions between the tropical cyclone inner core and near environment and their impacts on intensity change”
2013, Ph.D Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
2008, M.S. Meteorology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
2006, B.S. Meteorology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA
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Alvey, G.R., M. Fischer, P. Reasor, J. Zawislak, and R. Rogers. Observed processes underlying the favorable vortex repositioning early in the development of Dorian (2019). Monthly Weather Review, 150(1):253-273, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-21-0069.1 2022
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Esmaili, R., C. Barnet, J. Dunion, M. Folmer, and J. Zawislak. Evaluating satellite sounders for monitoring the tropical cyclone environment in operational forecasting. Remote Sensing, 14(13):3189, https://doi.org/10.3390/ rs14133189 2022
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Zawislak, J., R.F. Rogers, S.D. Aberson, G.J. Alaka, G. Alvey, A. Aksoy, L. Bucci, J. Cione, N. Dorst, J. Dunion, M. Fischer, J. Gamache, S. Gopalakrishnan, A. Hazelton, H.M. Holbach, J. Kaplan, H. Leighton, F. Marks, S.T. Murillo, P. Reasor, K. Ryan, K. Sellwood, J.A. Sippel, and J.A. Zhang. Accomplishments of NOAA’S airborne hurricane field program and a broader future approach to forecast improvement. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 103(2):E311-E338, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0174.1 2022
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Department of Commerce Gold Medal 2020
For courage, dedication, and heroism during search and rescue operations aboard NOAA’s P-3 Hurricane Hunter aircraft to locate the vessel Bourbon Rhode and its crew (on September 27-28, 2019).