The tropics not only host most of Earth’s biodiversity and are home to an increasingly large fraction of the human population, they also play a pivotal role in shaping Earth’s global climate and its change with time. I am interested in understanding key features of tropical climate such as the land-ocean precipitation contrast.

More recently, I started working on temperature extremes. As in the case of precipitation, there is a distinct land-ocean contrast in tropical temperatures with land warming more and exhibiting more pronounced hot extremes compared to the ocean. Near-surface humidity was identified as a key driver of hot days on land, but the factors controlling near-surface humidity itself are highly debated, in parts poorly understood, and overall surrounded by great uncertainty.

In general, perhaps due to my background in physics, I am keen to explore physical relationships that have validity beyond local contexts and can be formulated in terms of simple, quantitative theories.