Dr. Corene J. Matyas

Associate Professor

Graduate Coordinator

matyas@ufl.edu

website

Areas of Specialization

• Tropical Climatology
• Hurricanes
  
• Severe Weather
  
• Precipitation
• Natural Hazards

Educational Background

• PhD -- Geography, Pennsylvania State University, 2005
  
• MA -- Geography, Arizona State University, 2001
  
• BS -- Environmental Geoscience, Clarion University of PA, 1999
  

Recent Courses

• GEO2242  Extreme Weather  (Fall)

• GEO3250/6255  Climatology  (Spring)

• MET3503/5504  Weather and Forecasting  (Spring)
  

• MET4532/6530  Hurricanes  (Fall)

• MET4750/6752 Atmospheric Data Analysis (Fall)                                     
• MET4765/6765 Atmospheric Teleconnections (First offering Fall 2013)

Recent Publications

• Matyas, C.J. 2013. Processes influencing rain field growth and decay after tropical cyclone landfall in the U.S. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 52, 1085-1096, DOI:10.1175/JAMC-D-12-0153.                                                            
• Villegas, J., Matyas, C.J., Srinivasan, S., Cahyunto, I., Thapa, B., Pennington-Gray, L. 2013. Cognitive and affective responses of Florida tourists after exposure to hurricane warning messages. Natural Hazards, DOI: 10.1007/s11069-012-0119-3.

• Matyas, C.J., Silva, J.A. 2013. Extreme weather and economic well-being in rural Mozambique. Natural Hazards, DOI: 10.1007/s11069-011-0064-6.

• Ash, K.D., Matyas, C.J. 2012. The influences of ENSO and the Subtropical Indian Ocean Dipole on tropical cyclone trajectories in the South Indian Ocean. International Journal of Climatology, 32:1, 41-56, DOI: 10.1002/joc.2249.

• Matyas, C.J., Srinivasan, S., Cahyunto, I., Thapa, B., Pennington-Gray, L, Villegas, J. 2011. Risk perception and evacuation decisions of Florida tourists under hurricane threats: A stated preference analysis, Natural Hazards, 59:2, 871-890. DOI: 10.1007/s11069-011-9801-0.

• Thompson, B.K, Escobedo, F.J., Staudhammer, C.L., Matyas, C.J., Qiu, Y. 2011. A model of hurricane-caused tree debris in Houston, Texas. Landscape and Urban Planning, 101:3, 286-297. DOI:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2011.02.034.

• Matyas, C.J. 2010.  Locating convection in landfalling tropical cyclones:  A GIS- based analysis of radar reflectivities and comparison to lightning-based observations. Physical Geography, 31:5, 385-406.

• Matyas, C. J. 2010. Use of ground-based radar for climate-scale studies of weather and rainfall, Geography Compass, 4:9, 1218-1237.

• Becker, S., Buker, M.L., Matyas, C.J., Rohli, R.V. 2010. Assessing links between upper atmospheric vorticity patterns and directional changes in hurricane tracks. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 102, 379-392. DOI: 10.1007/s00704-010-0269-8.

• Matyas, C.J.  2010. Associations between the size of hurricane rain fields at landfall and their surrounding environments. Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, 106, 135-148. DOI 10.1007/s00703-009-0056-1.

• Matyas, C.J.  2010. A geospatial analysis of convective rainfall regions within tropical cyclones after landfall. International Journal of Applied Geospatial Research, 1:2, 71-91.

• Matyas, C.J. and Carleton, A.M. 2010. Surface radar-derived convective rainfall associations with Midwest U.S. land surface conditions in summers 1999 and 2000, Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 93:3, 315-330. DOI: 10.1007/s00704-009-0144-7.

• Matyas, C.J. and Cartaya, M. 2009. Comparing the rainfall patterns produced by Hurricanes Frances (2004) and Jeanne (2004) over Florida. Southeastern Geographer 49:2, 132-156.

• Matyas, C.J. 2009. A spatial analysis of radar reflectivity regions within Hurricane Charley (2004), Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 48:1, 130-142. 

• Matyas, C.J. 2008. Shape measures of rain shields as indicators of changing environmental conditions in a landfalling tropical storm. Meteorological Applications, 15:2, 259-271.

• Matyas, C.J. 2007. Quantifying the shapes of U.S. landfalling tropical cyclone rain shields. The Professional Geographer, 59:2, 158-172.

Graduate Students Currently Supervised

• Ian Comstock, Ph.D.   (Fall 2011)
• GIS-based analysis of the spatial extent and duration of tropical cyclone rainfall over land                                                               

• Jose Hernandez - Ayala, Ph.D.  (Fall 2012)                                                       GIS-based analysis of rainfall over Puerto Rico                           

• Jingyin Tang, Ph.D.  (Fall 2012)
• Three-dimentional modeling of  tropical cyclones at landfall using  Level II radar                                                                                
• Stephanie Zick, Ph.D.  (Fall 2012)
• Conditions associated with rainfall production in tropical cyclones

• Yao Zhou, Ph.D.  (Fall 2012)
• GIS analysis of hazards associated with tropical cyclones

• Weiyu (Amy) Kong, M.S.  (Fall 2011)
•  Tropical cyclones and ENSO                                                                                          
• Qiao (Doris) Guo, M.S.  (Fall 2012)
• Modeling of tropical cyclone environments

In My Own Words

At the age of 4, I realized that one cannot hide from severe weather events. Consequently, I vowed to learn everything that I could about hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and other natural disasters because I wanted to be prepared when severe weather struck. Throughout my education as a scientist, I have maintained in interest in art, and the combination of these two pursuits led me to my thesis work where I examined the shapes of "rainprints" produced when convective thunderstorms moved through the region around Phoenix, Arizona during the monsoon season. For my dissertation work, I investigated how best to quantify the shapes of tropical cyclone rain shields. Many physical mechanisms affect rain production in these storms, such as topography, interaction with middle latitude weather systems, and atmospheric moisture. My doctoral research laid the groundwork for attributing changes in the rain shield shapes to these physical mechanisms, as well as explored a new set of methods for examining tropical cyclone rainfall patterns by using a GIS to spatially analyze base reflectivity data for these storms. With funding from a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, I seek to quantify how tropical cyclone rain shield shapes change over the life span of the storm, with a particular emphasis on the effects of landfall. 

My primary research involves the GIS-based analysis of rainfall  from tropical cyclones. I am interested in other severe weather events as well. I am also currently pursuing research on social and behavioral responses to natural hazards. I seek to mentor students who would like to examine severe weather events, atmospheric teleconnections, or rainfall, and who have GIS and/or remote sensing skills. I look forward to serving on committees for students working  in fields related to natural hazards, utilizing weather and climate-related data such as wind, rainfall, temperature trends, etc., examining atmospheric teleconnections and their influence on weather and climate, and human/environment interactions.

--top--

--back to faculty list--