PNNL: Atmospheric Sciences & Global Change

Restoring Rain to a Model Amazon Forest

PNNL scientists found a way to more accurately depict rainfall over the Amazon forest, taking complex topography and coastlines into account. Their study helps us understand where water vapor goes and how convection is formed in this region, with implications around the globe.
Catch and Release: How Hemispheres Handle Energy through the Seasons in a Warmer World

Using a suite of multi-model climate projections, researchers found that an interhemispheric energy contrast shifts the tropical rain band southward. This leads to a delayed migration of tropical rainfall to the Northern Hemisphere during summer, a seasonal shift that greatly affects climate in the tropics and subtropics.
Steven Ghan Selected as Fellow of the American Geophysical Union

Steven Ghan, a climate researcher at PNNL for more than 25 years, has been elected to the newest class of Fellows of the American Geophysical Union. No more than 0.01 percent of AGU's total membership—currently around 61,000 globally—receive the Fellow's honor each year. This year's 61 new members come from 21 different countries.
Indian Monsoon Steers Tropical Cyclones across the Atlantic

Observational and modeling evidence demonstrated that a stronger Indian monsoon drives Atlantic tropical cyclones farther west due to large-scale steering changes. This link implies an increased probability of landfalling hurricanes during a strong monsoon season.
Measuring the Tropics' Bulging Waistline

In an invited review for Nature Climate Change, scientists examined the rates and possible causes of the expanding width of the tropics. They found the expansion rate is likely at the lower end of the range previously indicated, and that natural climate swings played a larger role than previously thought.

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How do human activities and natural systems interact to affect the Earth's climate? Ultimately, that is the question challenging scientists in PNNL’s Atmospheric Sciences & Global Change Division.

Read more about our organization. [+ expand/ - collapse]

The Atmospheric Sciences & Global Change division at PNNL is a diverse and multi-disciplinary organization that supports a key focus of the U.S. Department of Energy: Advance the predictive understanding of the Earth's climate and environmental systems. Nearly all energy-related systems interact with the atmosphere and more broadly with the Earth's climate system. Our research on atmospheric processes and the interconnections among energy, climate, and other human and natural systems is critical to inform sustainable solutions to the Nation's energy and environmental challenges.

Within the integrated Earth system science paradigm, our major research thrusts include the physics and chemistry of aerosols, clouds and precipitation; integrating our understanding of climate, energy, and other human and natural systems through the development and application of models that span a wide range of spatial scales; and determining the impacts of and informing responses to climate and other global and regional environmental changes. We provide leadership and expertise to major programs within the Department of Energy's Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research program, including the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility, the Atmospheric System Research program, and DOE's climate modeling programs. We also conduct research, often working in collaboration with scientists and engineers across PNNL and around the world, on related topics such as the renewable energy, complex regional meteorology and chemistry, and the possible national security implications of climate change.

In addition to leading and participating in a broad range of research activities, staff from the Atmospheric Sciences & Global Change division hold leadership positions in a number of scientific societies and journals and contribute their expertise to a broad range of national and international reports and assessments from organizations such as the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the U.S. National Climate Assessment.

I invite you to explore these pages, learn about the innovative research by our scientists and engineers, and connect with our staff to learn more about how we can work together to better understand the integrated Earth system.

Dr. Ian Kraucunas

Director, Atmospheric Sciences & Global Change Division

Restoring Rain to a Model Amazon Forest

Catch and Release: How Hemispheres Handle Energy through the Seasons in a Warmer World

Steven Ghan Selected as Fellow of the American Geophysical Union

Indian Monsoon Steers Tropical Cyclones across the Atlantic

Measuring the Tropics' Bulging Waistline

Atmospheric Sciences & Global Change

Science at PNNL