I have a four-year proposal funded by the Finnish Academy to model the interaction between fronts and the boundary layer. Victoria Sinclair (Ph.D. Reading University, 2009) is a post-doctoral research associate working on this project.

My Ph.D. thesis explored the interaction between the synoptic scale and the mesoscale in forming different cyclone/frontal conceptual models. (I've since collaborated with Heini Wernli and Fuqing Zhang on modeling these structures in baroclinic channel models.) I have tried to apply my knowledge of synoptic and mesoscale processes to understanding the convective scale. Recent research with Paul Roebber shows that the morphology of convective storms is related to the environment in which the storms form.

While researching the material for my book Eloquent Science: A Practical Guide for Becoming a Better Writer, Speaker, and Atmospheric Scientist, I have become interested in how science works, goes through the review process, and gets communicated. This has lead to such research as whether the number of reviewers on a paper affects the rejection rate (published in Scientometrics) and the rejection rates of atmospheric science journals (to be published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society).

One of the goals of synoptic-dynamic meteorology is to perform research that leads to better weather forecasts. FMI has both research and operational forecasting colocated. Part of my job is to improve the interactions between the research and forecasting groups. One effort has been the Aurinko Collaboratory, a research laboratory where collaborations can occur. The other effort is to better understand the climatology of severe weather in Finland. This has produced a climatology of severe hail (Tuovinen et al. 2009) and a synoptic climatology of tornadoes (ongoing research with Jenni Rauhala).