Caitlin Crossett will be defending her proposal entitled Understanding the
Hydroclimatic Variability in the Northeastern US from 1979–2018.
Abstract
Long-term analysis of the hydroclimatic variability in the Northeast US,
through the use of paleoclimate and instrumental records, has shown that the
Northeast has moved in and out of periods of drought and wet conditions. The
variability and trends in drought and wet periods over the past 40-years can
be diagnosed by leveraging global climate reanalysis and statistical,
climatological, and machine learning techniques. The underlying reasons for
the observed variability may be examined and inferences made with regard to
how this variability may look in the future.

Bio
Caitlin is currently a third year Ph.D. student in the Civil and
Environmental Engineering department at UVM working with VT EPSCoR on the BREE project. She has a B.S. in Geoscience from Hobart and William Smith
Colleges and a M.S. in Mathematical Sciences from the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her previous research has been in the atmospheric
sciences and includes studies of: Cold surges along the African Highlands,
lake-effect snow in New York, the effect of climate change on oak trees in
Texas, and idealized modeling of thunderstorms in the Midwest US. Her current
work focuses on the variability of the hydroclimate in the Northeast US with
a specific focus on heavy precipitation and drought.

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