Assistant Professor
Department of Environment and Geography
472 Wallace Building
125 Dysart Rd.
Winnipeg, MB
R3T 2N2
alex.crawford@umanitoba.ca
ORCID: 0000-0003-1561-290X
Google Scholar Page: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8ACnCg4AAAAJ&hl=en
GitHub Page: https://github.com/alexcrawford0927
Academic Background
B.A. Colgate University, 2012, Geography and Geology
M.A. University of Colorado Boulder, 2014, Geography
Ph.D. University of Colorado Boulder, 2017, Geography
Teaching
GEOG 7440: Climate Change
GEOG 2540: Weather and Climate
GEOG 1290: Introduction to Physical Geography
Research Interests
Extratropical cyclones are large storms that bring rain and snow, strong winds, and abrupt temperature changes to the mid-latitudes and polar regions. One of my main scientific contributions is a set of code that detects and tracks these storms in various datasets. I use the output to study how complex interactions between these storm systems and various components of the Arctic climate system are changing in response to global warming. This involves both how changes to the Arctic surface influences storm development, and how storms influence the Arctic land, ocean, ice, and people. Complementing this research, I also investigate the seasonal timing of when sea ice advances in fall and retreats in summer throughout various regions of the Arctic. The timing of sea ice retreat and advance has major implications for human activities in the Arctic, like hunting and shipping. It also impacts everything from weather events to marine ecology. All my work relies on large datasets like atmospheric reanalysis and fully coupled Earth system models.
Recent and Significant Publications
Crawford AD, MR McCrystall, JV Lukovich, & JC Stroeve (2023). The Response of extratropical cyclone propagation in the Northern Hemisphere to global warming. Journal of Climate, 36(20), 7123-7142. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-23-0082.1
Crawford AD, E Rosenblum, JV Lukovich, JC Stroeve (2023). Sources of Seasonal Sea Ice Bias for CMIP6 Models in the Hudson Bay Complex Annals of Glaciology, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2023.42
Crawford A, J Lukovich, M McCrystall, J Stroeve, D Barber (2022): Reduced Sea Ice Enhances Intensification of Winter Storms over the Arctic Ocean. Journal of Climate, 35(11), 3353-3370. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-21-0747.1
Crawford, A, J Stroeve, A Smith, & A Jahn (2021). Arctic open-water periods are projected to lengthen dramatically by 2100. Communications Earth & Environment, 2, 109. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00183-x
Crawford AD, KM Krumhardt, NS Lovenduski, G van Dijken, & K Arrigo (2020). Summer High-Wind Events and Phytoplankton Productivity in the Arctic Ocean. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. 125 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016565