Katharine Kanak

Katharine M. Kanak is an American atmospheric scientist with noted publications on the dynamics and morphologies of atmospheric vortices, including tropical cyclones, supercell storms, tornadoes, and convective boundary layer vortices, such as dust devils,^[1] both terrestrial^[2][3]and Martian.^[4][5] She has also published papers on mammatus clouds,^[6][7][8] hailstorms, and hail processes^[9] and numerical techniques.

Katharine M. Kanak
Alma mater	University of Oklahoma (B.S., 1987) University of Wisconsin–Madison (M.S., 1990) University of Oklahoma (Ph.D., 1999)
Known for	Turbulent boundary layer structures; Dust devils on Earth and Mars; Tornadoes and supercells; Mammatus clouds; Hailstorms
Awards	University of Wisconsin-Madison: Schwerdtfeger Award and Lettau Award. University of Oklahoma: Graduate Teaching Award
Scientific career
Fields	Meteorology
Institutions	University of Oklahoma, School of Meteorology/ CIMMS (now CIWRO)
Thesis	On the Formation of Vertical Vortices in the Atmosphere  (1999)
Doctoral advisor	Douglas K. Lilly John T. Snow
Other academic advisors	Gregory J. Tripoli

Kanak earned a B.S. from the University of Oklahoma in 1987, majoring in meteorology and minoring in mathematics. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison she completed an M.S. in meteorology in 1990 with the thesis, Three-Dimensional, Non-Hydrostatic Numerical Simulation of a Developing Tropical Cyclone. She returned to the University of Oklahoma and was awarded a Ph.D. in 1999 with the dissertation On the Formation of Vertical Vortices in the Atmosphere. Kanak has developed three-dimensional numerical models for both Earth and Mars and collaborated in field research. She was assistant field coordinator for Project VORTEX in 1994-1995 and participated in STEPS in 2000,^[10] as well as VORTEX2 in 2009-2010.^[11]

See also

• Jerry Straka
• Erik N. Rasmussen

References

1. Speckman, Stephen (2001-07-24). "Utah a dust-devil haven". Deseret News. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
2. Kanak, Katharine M.; Lilly, Douglas K.; Snow, John T. (October 2000). "The formation of vertical Vortices in the convective boundary layer". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. 126 (569): 2789–2810. doi:10.1002/qj.49712656910. ISSN 0035-9009.
3. Kanak, Katharine M. (2005-04-01). "Numerical simulation of dust devil-scale vortices". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. 131 (607): 1271–1292. doi:10.1256/qj.03.172.
4. Kanak, Katharine M. (October 2006). "On the numerical simulation of dust devil–like vortices in terrestrial and Martian convective boundary layers". Geophysical Research Letters. 33 (19). doi:10.1029/2006GL026207. ISSN 0094-8276.
5. Cantor, Bruce A.; Kanak, Katharine M.; Edgett, Kenneth S. (December 2006). "Mars Orbiter Camera observations of Martian dust devils and their tracks (September 1997 to January 2006) and evaluation of theoretical vortex models". Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 111 (E12). doi:10.1029/2006JE002700. ISSN 0148-0227.
6. Schultz, David M.; Kanak, Katharine M.; Straka, Jerry M.; Trapp, Robert J.; Gordon, Brent A.; Zrnić, Dusan S.; Bryan, George H.; Durant, Adam J.; Garrett, Timothy J.; Klein, Petra M.; Lilly, Douglas K. (2006-10-01). "The Mysteries of Mammatus Clouds: Observations and Formation Mechanisms". Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. 63 (10): 2409–2435. doi:10.1175/JAS3758.1. ISSN 1520-0469.
7. Kanak, Katharine M.; Straka, Jerry M.; Schultz, David M. (2008-05-01). "Numerical Simulation of Mammatus". Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences. 65 (5): 1606–1621. doi:10.1175/2007JAS2469.1. ISSN 1520-0469.
8. Kanak, Katharine M.; Straka, Jerry M. (October 2009). "Effects of linear, ambient wind shear on simulated mammatus‐like clouds". Atmospheric Science Letters. 10 (4): 226–232. doi:10.1002/asl.224. ISSN 1530-261X.
9. Straka, Jerry M.; Kanak, Katharine M.; Gilmore, Matthew S. (2007-08-01). "The Behavior of Number Concentration Tendencies for the Continuous Collection Growth Equation Using One- and Two-Moment Bulk Parameterization Schemes". Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. 46 (8): 1264–1274. doi:10.1175/JAM2527.1. ISSN 1558-8432.
10. Kanak, Katharine M. (Jun 2012). "Vitae". University of Oklahoma. Archived from the original on 2014-05-17. Retrieved 2014-05-17.
11. "VORTEX2: Our Team". Archived from the original on 2016-08-01. Retrieved 2014-05-19.

External links

• Katharine Kanak publications indexed by Google Scholar
• Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3479-9669