Gavin Gong

Research Interests      Graduate Students     Education      Teaching     

Curriculum Vitae      Publications and Presentations

Research Interests

I am a hydroclimatologist, interested primarily in the interaction between hydrologic and atmospheric phenomena, and their impact on climate variability and predictability. In particular, I currently conduct research on snow hydrology and physical relationships between snow and climate, using statistical analyses and multi-dimensional climate models. Related interests include the development and management of water resource systems, mathematical modeling of hydrodynamic flow and surface water quality, and how these environmental systems are impacted by climate variations.

Graduate Students

Our research group seeks to identify physically-based causal relationships amidst an extremely complex climate system. To accomplish this, we analyze large environmental datasets, and conduct simulation experiments using sophisticated models of the Earth’s atmosphere and land surface waterbodies. Our work is motivated by environmental concerns such as climatic interannual-decadal variability and anthropogenic change, and achieved via rigorous quantitative analysis.

Incoming graduate students typically have an academic background in either environmental engineering, civil engineering, environmental science or atmospheric science. Many are familiar with hydrology or climatology, and some are comfortable with computational programming and graphical presentation. All students are interested in furthering their knowledge of these subjects and skills.

Education

·   Ph.D. in Hydrology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, June 2003

·   M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, May 1994

·   B.E. in Civil Engineering, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, NY May 1991

Teaching

·   EAEE E6240 Physical Hydrology, Fall 2006

·   CIEE E4252 Environmental Engineering, Fall 2006

·   CIEE E3250 Hydrosystems Engineering, Spring 2006

In development:   Landsurface-atmosphere interaction,  Climate processes and modeling

Journal Publications

Ge, Y. and G. Gong, 2006.  Observed Differences between Snow Extent and Snow Depth Variability at Regional/Continental Scales. Journal of Climate, in review.

Gong, G., J. Cohen, D. Entekhabi, and Y. Ge, 2005.  Hemispheric-Scale Climate Response to Northern Eurasia Land Surface Characteristics and Snow Anomalies. Global and Planetary Change, in press.

Cherry, J.E., L.B. Tremblay, M. Stieglitz, G. Gong and S.J. Dery, 2006.  Development of the Pan-Arctic Snowfall Reconstruction: new land-based solid precipitation estimates for 1940-1999. Journal of Climate, in review.

Frei, A and G. Gong, 2005.  Decadal to Century Scale Trends in North American Snow Extent in Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models.  Geophysical Research Letters, 32, L18502, doi: 10.1029/2005GL023394.

Gong, G., D. Entekhabi, J. Cohen and D.A. Robinson, 2004.  Sensitivity of Atmospheric Response to Modeled Snow Anomaly Characteristics. Journal of Geophysical Research, 109: D06107, doi: 10.1029/2003JD004160.

Gong, G., D. Entekhabi and J. Cohen, 2004. Orographic Constraints on a Modeled Siberian Snow – Arctic Oscillation Teleconnection Pathway.  Journal of Climate, 17: 1176-1189.

Gong, G., D. Entekhabi and J. Cohen, 2003.  Relative Impacts of Siberian and North American Snow Anomalies on the Northern Hemisphere Mode.  Geophysical Research Letters, 30(16), 1848, doi: 10.1029/2003GL017749.

Gong, G., D. Entekhabi and J. Cohen, 2003.  Modeled Northern Hemisphere Winter Climate Response to Realistic Siberian Snow Anomalies.  Journal of Climate, 16: 3917-3931.

Gong, G., D. Entekhabi and J. Cohen, 2002.  A Large-Ensemble Model Study of the Wintertime AO/NAO and the Role of Interannual Snow Perturbations.  Journal of Climate, 15: 3488-3499.

Seigneur, C., P. Pai, M. Gerath, D. Mitchell, G. Hamby, G. Gong, C. Whipple, and L. Levin, 1997.   Probabilistic Assessment of Regional Mercury Exposure. Water, Air and Soil Pollution, 97: 159-168.

Gong, G., D. Entekhabi and G.D. Salvucci, 1994.  Regional and Seasonal Estimates of Hourly Fractional Storm Coverage Based on Station Precipitation Observations.  Journal of Climate, 7: 1495-1505.

Conference Proceedings

Gong, G., K. Hickey and M. Higgins, 1998.  Hydrodynamic Flow and Water Quality Simulation of a Narrow River System Influenced by Wide Tidal Marshes.  Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Estuarine and Coastal Modeling, October 22-24, 1997, Alexandria, VA, 679-692.

Hickey, K., M. Gerath, J.D. Bowen and G. Gong, 1998.  Design of Field Program and Use of Field Measurements to Calibrate a Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model of an Estuarine River System.  Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Estuarine and Coastal Modeling, October 22-24, 1997, Alexandria, VA, 737-751.

Gong, G. and J.D. Bowen, 1996.  The Role of Circulation Patterns on the Simulation of Constituent Transport in San Juan Bay, Puerto Rico.  Proceedings of the ASCE 4th International Conference on Estuarine and Coastal Modeling, October 26-28, 1995, San Diego, CA, 518-529.

Wolf, L.J. and G. Gong, 1996.  Hydrodynamic Model and Sensitivity Analysis for San Juan Bay, Puerto Rico.   Proceedings of the ASCE 4th International Conference on Estuarine and Coastal Modeling, October 26-28, 1995, San Diego, CA, 505-517.

Conference Presentations

Gong, G. and A. Frei, 2005.  Decadal to century scale trends in North American snow extent based on IPCC AR4 model simulations.  American Geophysical Union Fall 2005 Meeting, December 5-9, 2005, San Francisco, CA.

Frei, A., G. Gong and R. Brown, 2005.  Simulations of North American Snow Cover by AGCMs and AOGCMs.  62nd Annual Eastern Snow Conference, June 8-10, 2005, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Gong, G., D. Entekhabi and J. Cohen, 2004.  Hemispheric-Scale Climate Response to Northern Eurasia Snow Anomalies.  American Geophysical Union Fall 2004 Meeting, December 13-17, 2004, San Francisco, CA.

Entekhabi, D., G. Gong and J. Cohen, 2004.  Climatic Impacts of Snow Depth Anomalies over Frozen Ground.  American Geophysical Union Fall 2004 Meeting, December 13-17, 2004, San Francisco, CA.

Gong, G., D. Entekhabi and J. Cohen, 2003.  Orographic and Geographic Constraints on a Modeled Siberian Snow – Arctic Oscillation Teleconnection Pathway.  American Geophysical Union Fall 2003 Meeting, December 8-12, 2003, San Francisco, CA.

Gong, G, D. Entekhabi and J. Cohen, 2002.  Modeled Northern Hemisphere Climate Mode Response to Realistic Siberian Snow Anomalies via Tropospheric-Stratospheric Coupling.  American Geophysical Union Fall 2002 Meeting, December 6-10, 2002, San Francisco, CA.

Entekhabi, D, G. Gong and J. Cohen, 2002.  Wintertime Climate Variability Affected by Snow Cover Anomalies.   American Geophysical Union Fall 2002 Meeting, December 6-10, 2002, San Francisco, CA.

Gong, G., D. Entekhabi and J. Cohen, 2002.  Modulation of the Arctic Oscillation by Extreme Land Surface Snow Conditions over Siberia.   27th Annual Climate Diagnostics and Prediction Workshop, October 21-25, 2002, Fairfax, VA.

Gong, G., D. Entekhabi and J. Cohen, 2001.  A Large-Ensemble Model Study of the Atmospheric AO/NAO Pattern and the Role of Surface Perturbations in Wintertime Atmospheric Variability.  American Geophysical Union Fall 2001 Meeting, December 10-14, 2001, San Francisco, CA.

LaChance, J.C., K. Johnson, G. Gong, E. Drake, J. Herberich and M. Worthy, 1998.   Numerical Simulation of a Chlorinated Organics Plume Indicates Steady-State Conditions Due to Natural Attenuation.  First International Conference on Remediation of Chlorinated and Recalcitrant Compounds, May 18-21, 1998, Monterey, CA.

Gong, G., D. McLaughlin, J. Lieberman and A. Rex, 1997.  Statistical Analysis of CSO Receiving Water Data to Measure Interannual Changes in Water Quality.   WEFTEC '97, the Water Environment Federation Annual Conference and Exposition, October 18-22, 1997, Chicago, IL.

Gong, G., D. Entekhabi and G.D. Salvucci, 1993.  Regional and Seasonal Estimates of Spatial Rainstorm Coverage Based on Station Precipitation Observations.  Fourth International Conference on Precipitation, April 26-28, 1993, Iowa City, IA.