Over these last six plus years, I have been the happy and grateful recipient of much friendship, advice, and support. Here I would like to mention those who have been most directly involved with my efforts to complete this research.
Thanks to my Mom and Dad and sister for everything. It's a joy to be their son and brother. Thanks to my Dad for being my first and best math and physics teacher.
If it is true that the wealth of a man can best be measured by his generosity, then my advisor David Neelin owns a vast fortune of creativity. His unstinting donation of advice, ideas, and time have been the foundation of this research.
Thanks to my thesis committee, Profs. Robert Fovell, David Neelin, Didier Sornette, and Michio Yanai, for their encouraging and helpful spirit.
The members of the UCLA Graduate Christian Fellowship, especially those in the men's prayer group, have given me much prayer, encouragement, and "iron sharpening iron" challenges. Communities like this fellowship are rare treasures.
Thanks to: Chia Chou for all the discussions that helped clear up my physical understanding of the processes involved; Ning Zeng for discussions and answering a myriad of questions regarding the QTCM1 model; Jianbo Gao for his insight and originality; Chia Chou and Hsin-Hsin Syu for showing me the ropes as a new member of the research group; Wen-wen Tung, Katrina Hales, Jonathan Meagher, Hui Su, and Matthias Munnich for ideas on how to make things work; Devin Kramer, Fabrice Cuq, and Bill Weibel for helping me in using the department's computers; the department's office staff; the copyeditors at AMS and AGU; the authors of IDL, TeX, LaTeX, and BibTeX; my officemates and fellow graduate students for fun talks and fine dining.
Finally, thanks to God for the joy and opportunity to worship Him through learning more about this small part of His creation.
Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5, as well as portions of the dissertation abstract (see page xxix), are reproduced, with modifications, from Lin et al. (2000, copyright by the American Meteorological Society), and is used by permission of the American Meteorological Society. The research described is UCLA IGPP contribution number 5097, was partially supported by National Science Foundation grant ATM-9521389 and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant NA86GP0314, and benefited from comments from an anonymous reviewer and discussions with B. Chen, J. Gao, H. Hendon, C. Lin, A. Majda, D. Porinchu, H. Su, W. Tung, M. Wheeler, M. Yanai, and especially C. Chou.
Chapter 7, portions of Chapter 6, as well as portions of the dissertation abstract (see page xxix), are reproduced, with modifications, from Lin and Neelin (2000b, copyright by the American Geophysical Union), and is used by permission of the American Geophysical Union. The research described in those chapters was partially supported by National Science Foundation grant ATM-0082529 and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant NA86GP0314, and benefited from discussions with A. Arakawa, C. Chou, J. Gao, A. Majda, B. Mapes, J. Meagher, H. Su, and N. Zeng. Thanks to J. Meyerson for help with figures. The MSU precipitation data used was obtained from the NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center, Boulder, Colorado (from their Web site at http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research data archives.
Chapter 8, portions of Chapter 6, as well as portions of the dissertation abstract (see page xxix), is reproduced, with modifications, from Lin and Neelin (2000a, to be submitted for publication). This research was partially supported by National Science Foundation grant ATM-0082529 and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant NA86GP0314, and benefited from discussions with C. Chou, J. Gao, B. Mapes, J. Meagher, H. Su, and N. Zeng. Copies of the MSU precipitiation data were obtained from the National Center for Atmospheric Research data archives and from the NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center, Boulder, Colorado, from their Web site at http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/.
Up-Hill Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day's journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.But is there for the night a resting-place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?
Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?
They will not keep you standing at that door.Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labour you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.- Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)
Johnny Wei-Bing Lin
Los Angeles, California
November 2000