
Contact Information
Champaign, IL 61820
Research Areas
Biography
My research falls within the intersections of the fields of boundary layer meteorology, mesoscale meteorology, and cloud/precipitation microphysics. My overall interest is in understanding how local variations in the earth's surface alter low-level atmospheric flow fields and, ultimately, change larger-scale weather conditions. Much of my work has been on weather and climate in the Great Lakes region. My research group has collected and analyzed field data taken in and around wintertime lake-effect snow storms, and conducted collaborative studies using mesoscale numerical models. Other areas of interest include lake- and sea-breezes, near-shore thunderstorms, and urban circulations. These weather phenomena are often complicated by cloud microphysical processes, particularly when thunderstorms or snowstorms develop. Understanding interactions between boundary layers, mesoscale circulations, and precipitation processes, is an area of intense current research in the atmospheric sciences community.
Graduate students in my research group have the opportunity to work with field data collected by instrumented aircraft, operational and research radars, rawinsondes, and other observational systems. Often, my students participate in the collection of data by participating in major field experiments and in collaborative efforts with scientists from other universities and research organizations. I expect my students to actively participate in the identification of important research questions and development of methods to address them. Ultimately, students are expected to present their research results not only in their theses, but also in journal publications, conferences, and seminars.
I am currently the Chief Editor of the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology published by the American Meteorological Society.
Education
Ph.D. Cloud Physics/Meteorology, The University of Chicago, 1991
Additional Campus Affiliations
Head, Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Illinois State Water Survey
Recent Publications
Gates, O. C., Theuerkauf, E. A., Phillips, A., Anderson, A. C., Kristovich, D. A. R., & Briley, L. (2020). From Products to Services: Engaging Beach Managers to Improve Coastal Resilience in the Great Lakes Region through Scenario Planning. In The AMS Past, Present and Future: Linking Information to Knowledge to Society (LINKS). AMS.
Kristovich, D. A. R., Takle, E. S., Young, G. S., & Sharma, A. (2020). 100 Years of Progress in Mesoscale Planetary Boundary Layer Meteorological Research. In The AMS Past, Present and Future: Linking Information to Knowledge to Society (LINKS). AMS.
Kristovich, D. A. R., Wang, J., & Hiscox, A. (2020). A SAVANT Case Study: Aerosol Transport in Drainage/Converging Flows at a Shallow Gully. In The AMS Past, Present and Future: Linking Information to Knowledge to Society (LINKS). AMS.
Kristovich, D. (2020). Data availability principles and practice. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 59(12), 1951. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-20-0236.1
Kristovich, D. (2020). Significance statements communicate our science more widely. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 59(12), 1949-1950. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-20-0228.1