Katharine M. Kanak is an American atmospheric scientist with noted publications on the dynamics and morphologies of atmospheric vortices, including tornadoes, tropical cyclones, misocyclones and landspouts, and dust devils[1] both terrestrial and Martian.

Katharine M. Kanak
Alma materUniversity of Oklahoma (B.S., 1987)
University of Wisconsin–Madison (M.S., 1990)
University of Oklahoma (Ph.D., 1999)
Known forTurbulent boundary layer structures
Scientific career
FieldsMeteorology
InstitutionsUniversity of Oklahoma / CIMMS
Thesis On the Formation of Vertical Vortices in the Atmosphere  (1999)
Doctoral advisorDouglas K. Lilly
John T. Snow
Other academic advisorsGregory J. Tripoli

Kanak earned a B.S. from the University of Oklahoma (OU) in 1987, majoring in meteorology and minoring in mathematics. She went to the University of Wisconsin–Madison for a M.S. in meteorology, earned in 1990 with the thesis Three-Dimensional, Non-Hydrostatic Numerical Simulation of a Developing Tropical Cyclone. She returned to OU and was awarded a Ph.D. in 1999 with the dissertation On the Formation of Vertical Vortices in the Atmosphere. Kanak is interested in turbulent boundary layer structures and eddies generally and is additionally interested in tornadogenesis and cloud physics. She has developed three-dimensional numerical models for both Earth and Mars and collaborated in field research. Kanak was assistant field coordinator for Project VORTEX in 1994-1995 and participated in STEPS in 2000[2] as well as VORTEX2 in 2009-2010.[3]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Speckman, Stephen (2001-07-24). "Utah a dust-devil haven". Deseret News. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
  2. ^ Kanak, Katharine M. (Jun 2012). "Vitae". University of Oklahoma. Archived from the original on 2014-05-17. Retrieved 2014-05-17.
  3. ^ "VORTEX2: Our Team". Archived from the original on 2016-08-01. Retrieved 2014-05-19.