Charles Powell

G2.07, Centre for Mathematical Sciences

University of Cambridge

Hi! I’m a post-doctoral research associate at the Institute for Computing in Climate Science and the Atmosphere & Ocean Dynamics group at the University of Cambridge, working with Dr. Alison Ming. I am also a Bye-Fellow at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

I am interested in all aspects of atmospheric fluid dynamics, with a particular focus on convection. My PhD addressed hydration of the tropical tropopause layer by overshooting deep convection. To get to grips with the mechanisms at play, we studied the idealised fluid dynamical problem of convective penetration of a buoyant plume into a stably stratified layer, using numerical simulations.

My current research focuses on coupling between large-scale stratospheric dynamics (the QBO) and convection in the troposphere, either directly via modification of the lower stratosphere or indirectly via modulation of patterns of convection such as the MJO.

Beyond my research, I have two main pastimes: rowing and amateur meteorology/cloudspotting. See here for my cloudspotting log.

selected publications

Internal waves generated by a plume impinging on a stratified fluid

Charles Powell, Bruce Sutherland, Peter Haynes, and 1 more author

Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Mar 2025

Bib PDF Website

@article{powell2025_igw,
  title = {Internal waves generated by a plume impinging on a stratified fluid},
  volume = {1006},
  doi = {10.1017/jfm.2025.40},
  journal = {Journal of Fluid Mechanics},
  author = {Powell, Charles and Sutherland, Bruce and Haynes, Peter and Taylor, John},
  year = {2025},
  month = mar,
  pages = {R2},
}

Diagnosing tracer transport in convective penetration of a stably stratified layer

Charles Powell, Peter Haynes, and John Taylor

Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Oct 2024

Bib PDF Website

@article{powell2024,
  author = {Powell, Charles and Haynes, Peter and Taylor, John},
  title = {Diagnosing tracer transport in convective penetration of a stably stratified layer},
  journal = {Journal of Fluid Mechanics},
  year = {2024},
  month = oct,
  volume = {997},
  number = {A48},
  doi = {10.1017/jfm.2024.662},
}

Poster: Minimal moisture models in convective penetration of a stably stratified layer

Charles Powell, Peter Haynes, and John Taylor

In UK Climate Dynamics Workshop , Bath, UK, Jul 2024

Poster

Automated Spectrogram Analysis for Meteor Head Echoes

Charles Powell

WGN, Journal of the International Meteor Organization, Apr 2019

Bib PDF Website

@article{powell2019,
  author = {Powell, Charles},
  title = {{Automated Spectrogram Analysis for Meteor Head Echoes}},
  journal = {WGN, Journal of the International Meteor Organization},
  year = {2019},
  month = apr,
  volume = {47},
  number = {2},
  pages = {55-65},
  adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System},
}

Temporal and Spatial Variation of Meteor Flux in Radio Data

Charles Powell, and Kristina Veljkovic

WGN, Journal of the International Meteor Organization, Aug 2017

Bib PDF Website

@article{powell2017_2,
  author = {Powell, Charles and Veljkovic, Kristina},
  title = {{Temporal and Spatial Variation of Meteor Flux in Radio Data}},
  journal = {WGN, Journal of the International Meteor Organization},
  year = {2017},
  month = aug,
  volume = {45},
  number = {4},
  pages = {73-81},
  adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System},
}