James F. Booth

Associate Professor

Deputy Chair of the EAS Department

Main Affiliation

Earth & Atmospheric Science

Additional Departments/Affiliated Programs

Earth System Science and Environmental Engineering

Sustainability in the Urban Environment

CUNY-CREST Institute

Areas of Expertise/Research

  • Climate Change
  • Weather
  • Storms
  • Hurricanes
  • Bomb Cyclones
  • Storm Surge

Building

Marshak Science Building

Office

735

Phone

212-650-6471

Email

jbooth@ccny.cuny.edu

Website

https://jfbooth.ccny.cuny.edu

Portrait of James Booth

James F. Booth

Introduction

Professor Jimmy Booth is an atmospheric scientist whose research focus is hazardous weather. On this topic, he currently is working on: (1) statistical analysis of the hazards – in terms of their trends, probabilities, and variability; (2) climate model development targeting the hazards; and (3) geophysical fluid dynamics work focused on physics of the storms that create the hazards. 

Jimmy has multiple projects and research papers related to hazardous weather that impacts NYC. He has looked at wind extremes, precipitation extremes and coastal flooding for the region. He has helped the NYC Emergency Management office in their creation of communication tools on climate change preparedness. He has co-authored chapters in reports be the NYC Panel on Climate Change. He also recently gave a talk to the NYC FEMA office focused on future weather changes. 

Jimmy has close collaborations with two of the primary climate model development labs in the United States: NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in NYC, and NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton NJ. He works with scientists at this labs to compare the model performance with observations of the present climate and analyze model projections of weather hazards in future climates.
 

Education

B.S. Environmental Science and Engineering, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 2000
M.S. Applied Math, University of Kentucky, 2003
M.S. Atmospheric Science, University of Washington, 2005
PhD Atmospheric Science, University of Washington, 2010

CV (pdf)

Motivation and Appreciation

My work is focused on improving our understanding of weather and climate. While it is true that climate is the statistics of weather, the interpretation of the statistics is subtle - especially when extreme events are involved. I chose to study Atmospheric science because I was interested pursuing questions about geophysical fluid dynamics. As my career at CCNY has evolved, my interests have grown. I now spend more time considering the societal impacts of the weather and climate physics that I study. The work that I pursue is applicable to near-term weather hazard preparedness and long-term climate adaptation. I am lucky to be in a field in which I get to pursue unique physics problems while simultaneously working to help solve real-life problems that impact society. 

I am also very interested in helping to diversify the earth sciences community. I love working at CCNY because the students that I teach and mentor come from diverse backgrounds and bring rich new perspectives. Or to say it another way: in my time at CCNY, I've learned as much from the students as I've taught. 

Here is an alternative photo of me that captures more attitude (btw, I love layering jackets).

Portrait 2 James Booth
Representing for the Division of Science!

 

Personal Website

https://jfbooth.ccny.cuny.edu

Publications

Enriquez, A. R., T. Wahl, H. E. Baranes, S. A. Talke, P. M. Orton, J. F. Booth, I. D. Haigh, 2022: Predictable changes in extreme sea levels and coastal flood risk due to nodal and perigean astronomical tidal cycles. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans.  https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JC018157

 

Towey, K. L., Booth, J. F., A. Rodríguez Enríquez, T. Wahl, 2022: Tropical cyclone storm surge probabilities for the east coast of the United States: A cyclone-based perspective. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1287–1300,  https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1287-2022.

 

Narinesingh, V., Booth, J. F., Y. Ming, 2022: Blocking and General Circulation in GFDL Comprehensive Climate Models, Journal of Climate. Accepted.

 

Booth, J. F., V. Narinesingh, K. L. Towey, J. Jeyaratnam, 2021: Storm Surge, Blocking, and Cyclones: A Compound Hazards Analysis for the Northeast United States, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. 60(11), 1531-1544.

 

Najibi, N., Mazor, A., Devineni, N.,  Mossel, C., &  Booth, J. F., 2020:  Understanding the spatial organization of simultaneous heavy precipitation events over the conterminous United States. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 125, e2020JD033036. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD033036

 

Narinesingh, V., J. F. Booth, S. Clark, Y. Ming, 2020: Atmospheric blocking in an aquaplanet and the impact of orography. Weather and Climate Dynamics., 1, 293–311, 2020 https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-293-2020

 

Naud, C. M., J. F. Booth, K. Lamer, R. Marchand, A. Protat, and G. M. McFarquhar, 2020: On the Relationship Between The Marine Cold Air Outbreak M Parameter And Low-Level Cloud Heights In The Midlatitudes.  Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 125, e2020JD032465. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD032465

 

Lamer, K., C. M. Naud, and J. F. Booth, 2020: Relationships between precipitation properties and large-scale conditions during subsidence at the ARM eastern north Atlantic observatory. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. DOI: 10.1029/2019JD031848

 

Jeyaratnam, J., Booth, J. F., Naud, C. M., Luo, Z. J., and C. R. Homeyer, 2020:  Upright convection in extratropical cyclones: A survey using ground‐based radar data over the United States. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2019GL086620.  https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086620

 

Naud, C.M., J. Jeyaratnam, J.F. Booth, M. Zhao, and A. Gettelman, 2020: Evaluation of Modeled Precipitation in Oceanic Extratropical Cyclones Using IMERG. J. Climate,33, 95–113, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0369.1 

 

Tierney, G., Posselt, D.J. & Booth, J.F., 2019: The impact of Coriolis approximations on the environmental sensitivity of idealized extratropical cyclones. Clim Dyn 53, 7065–7080. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-019-04976-x

 

Catto, J.L., Ackerley, D., Booth, J.F., Champion A. J., Colle, B. A., Pfahl, S., Pinto, J. G., Quinting, J. F., Seiler, C., 2019: The Future of Midlatitude Cyclones. Curr Clim Change Rep 5, 407–420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-019-00149-4

 

González, J. E., Ortiz, L. , Smith, B. K., Devineni, N. , Colle, B. , Booth, J. F., Ravindranath, A. , Rivera, L. , Horton, R. , Towey, K. , Kushnir, Y. , Manley, D. , Bader, D. and Rosenzweig, C., 2019: New York City Panel on Climate Change 2019 Report Chapter 2: New Methods for Assessing Extreme Temperatures, Heavy Downpours, and Drought. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 1439: 30-70. doi:10.1111/nyas.14007

 

Orton, P., N. Lin, V. Gornitz, B. Colle, J. Booth, K. Feng, M. Buchanan, M. Oppenheimer, and L. Patrick, 2019: New York City Panel on Climate Change 2019 Report Chapter 4: Coastal flooding. Ann. New York Acad. Sci., 1439, 95-114, doi:10.1111/nyas.14011.

 

Naud C. M., J. F. Booth, Leo J. Donner and Charles J. Seman, Ming Zhao, Huan Guo, and Yi Ming, 2019: Extratropical Cyclone Clouds in the GFDL climate model: diagnosing biases and the associated causes. Journal of Climate.32, 20. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0421.1

 

Gurumurthy P., P. Orton, S. Talke, N. Georgas, J. F. Booth, 2019: Mechanics and historical evolution of sea level blowouts in New York Harbor. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering; J. Mar. Sci. Eng., 7(5), 160; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse7050160

 

Maloney E., A. Gettelman, Y. Ming, J. D. Neelin, D Barrie, A. Mariotti, C.-C. Chen, D. R. B. Coleman, Y.-H. Kuo, B. Singh, H. Annamalai, A. Berg, J. F. Booth, S. J. Camargo, A. Dai, A. Gonzalez, J. Hafner, X. Jiang, X. Jing, D. Kim, A. Kumar, Y. Moon, C. M Naud, A. H Sobel, K. Suzuki, F. Wang, J. Wang, A. Wing, X. Xu, M. Zhao, 2019: Process-oriented evaluation of climate and weather forecasting models. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 0, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0042.1 

 

Lamraoui, F., J. F. Booth, C. M. Naud, M. P. Jensen, and K. L. Johnson, 2019: The interaction between boundary layer and convection schemes in a WRF simulation of post cold frontal clouds over the ARM East North Atlantic site. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 124, 4699–4721. https:// doi.org/10.1029/2018JD029370

Naud, C., M., Booth, J. F., and F. Lamraoui, 2018: Post-Cold Frontal Clouds at the ARM Eastern North Atlantic site: An examination of the relationship between large-scale environment and low-level cloud properties. JGR-Atmosphere, 123, 12,117–12,132. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD029015.

Booth, J. F., Naud, C. M., & J. Jeyaratnam, 2018: Extratropical cyclone precipitation life cycles: A satellite-based analysis. Geophysical Research Letters, 45, 8647-8654. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL078977

Lamraoui, F., J. F. Booth, and C. M. Naud, 2018: WRF hindcasts of cold front passages over the ARM Eastern North Atlantic Site: a sensitivity study. Monthly Weather Review. 146, 2417-2432. https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-17-0281.1 

Towey, K. L., J. F. Booth, A. Frei, and M. R. Sinclair, 2018: Track and Circulation Analysis of Tropical and Extratropical Cyclones that Cause Strong Precipitation and Streamflow Events in the New York City Watershed. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 19, 1027 - 1042, doi: 10.1175/JHM-D-17-0199.1

Small, J., R. Msadek, Y.-O. Kwon, J. F. Booth, and C. Zarzycki, 2018: Atmosphere surface storm track response to resolved ocean mesoscale in two sets of global climate model experiments. Climate Dynamics, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-018-4237-9

Naud, C. M., J. F. Booth, Lebsock, M. and M Grecu, 2018: Observational Constraint for Precipitation in Extratropical Cyclones: sensitivity to data sources. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 57, 991–1009, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-17-0289.1

Tierney, G., D. J. Posselt, and J. F. Booth, 2018: An Examination of Extratropical Cyclone Response to Changes in Baroclinicity and Temperature in an Idealized Environment, Climate Dynamics, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-018-4115-5.

Booth J. F., C. M. Naud, J. Willison, 2018: Evaluation of Extratropical Cyclone Precipitation in the North Atlantic Basin: An analysis of ERA-Interim, WRF, and two CMIP5 models. J. Climate, 31:6, 2345-2360.

Booth, J. F., E. Dunn-Sigouin, S. Pfahl, 2017: The relationship between extratropical cyclone steering and blocking along the North American East Coast. Geophysical Research Letters, 44. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL075941.

Shimkus, C., M. Ting, J. F. Booth, S. B. Adamo, M. Madajewicz, Y. Kushnir, H. E. Rieder, 2017: Winter storm intensity, hazards and property losses in the New York tri-state area. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Jul;1400(1):65-80.

Hall, T. and J. F. Booth, 2017: SynthETC: A Statistical Model for Severe Winter Storm Hazard on Eastern North America. Journal of Climate, 30:14, 5329-5343.

Booth J. F., Y.-K. Kwon, S. Ko, J. Small, R. Madsek, 2017: Spatial Patterns and Intensity of the Surface Storm Tracks in CMIP5 Models. Journal of Climate, 30, 4965–4981.

Hamidi. A., N. Devineni, J. F. Booth, A. Hosten, R. R. Ferraro, R. Khanbilvardi, 2017: Classifying Urban Rainfall Extremes using Weather Radar Data: An Application to Greater New York Area, J. Hydrometeor., 18, 611–623, doi: 10.1175/JHM-D-16-0193.1

Booth, J. F., H. Reider, Y. Kushnir, 2016: Comparing hurricane and extratropical storm surge for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Coast of the United States for 1979-2013. Env. Res. Lett. 11, 9. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/094004

Naud, C. M., J. F. Booth, A. D. Del Genio, 2016: The relationship between boundary layer stability and cloud cover in the post-cold frontal region. J. Climate, 29, 8129–8149, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0700.1.

Tedesco, M., T. Mote, X. Fettweis, E. Hanna, J. Jeyaratnam, J. F. Booth, R. Datta, and K. Briggs, 2016: Arctic cut-off high drives the poleward shift of a new Greenland melting record.  Nat. Comm. 7, 11723.

 Colle, B. A., J. F. Booth, E. K. M. Chang, 2015: A review of historical and future changes of extratropical cyclones and associated impacts along the U.S. east coast. Current Climate Change Reports. Current Climate Change Reports 1, 125-143.

Booth, J. F., H. Reider, D. E. Lee, Y. Kushnir, 2015: The paths of extratropical cyclones associated with wintertime high wind events in the Northeast United States. Journal of Applied Meterol. and Clim. 54, 1871-1885.

Booth, J. F., L. Polvani, P. O’Gorman, and S. Wang, 2015: Effective Stability in a Moist Baroclinic Wave, Atmospheric Science Letters, 16: 56–62. doi: 10.1002/asl2.520.

Naud, C. M., J. F. Booth, A. D. Del Genio, 2014: Evaluation of ERA-interim and MERRA Cloudiness in the Southern Oceans. J. Climate. 27, 2109-2124.

Booth, J. F., C. Naud, A. D. Del Genio, 2013: Diagnosing warm frontal cloud formation in a GCM: A novel approach using conditional subsetting. Journal of Climate, 26, 5827-5845.

Naud, C. M., J. F. Booth, D. J. Posselt, S. C. van der Heever, 2013: Multiple satellite observations of cloud cover in extratropical cyclones. J. Geophys. Res., 118, 9982–9996.

Booth, J. F., S. Wang, L. M. Polvani, 2013: Midlatitude storms in a moister world: lessons from idealized baroclinic life cycle experiments. Climate Dynamics, 41, 787 – 802, 10.1007/s00382-012-1472-3.

Booth, J. F., L. Thompson, J. Patoux, and K. A. Kelly, 2012: Sensitivity of midlatitude storm intensification to perturbations in the sea surface temperature near the Gulf Stream. Monthly Weather Review, 140, 1241–1256.

Booth, J. F., L. Thompson, J. Patoux, K. A. Kelly, S. Dickinson, 2010: The signature of the midlatitude tropospheric storm tracks in the surface winds. Journal of Climate. 23, 1160-1174.

 -Featured in Research Highlights section of Nature GeoSciences Jan. 2010.

Booth J. and I. Kamenkovich, 2008: Isolating the role of mesoscale eddies in mixing of a passive tracer in an eddy resolving model. Journal of Geophysical Research. 113, C05021, doi:10.1029/2007JC004510.