PNNL: Atmospheric Sciences & Global Change - Fundamental & Computational Sciences

Agriculture's Growing Effects on Rain

Increased agricultural activity is a rain taker, not a rain maker, according to researchers at PNNL and their collaborators at UCLA and the University of Texas. They found the expansion of agriculture in the African Sahel region decreases summer rainfall through its impact on monsoon rains. The model simulations show a decrease in summer rainfall reaches 10 percent over the Sahel, a region that is already stressed by water demand for human and ecological use.
Riihimaki Recipient of Lab Director Honor, Fitzner-Eberhardt Award

Congratulations to Dr. Laura Riihimaki, atmospheric scientist Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, who was selected one of three winners of the 2014 PNNL Lab Director's Fitzner/Eberhardt Awards for Outstanding Contributions to Science and
Engineering Education. Her exceptional dedication to improving climate understanding is helping to shape the next-generation of scientists.
Bond-Lamberty Appointed to Global Change Biology Editorial Board

Congratulations to Dr. Ben Bond-Lamberty, a PNNL terrestrial scientist working out of the Joint Global Climate Research Institute (JGCRI), who was appointed to a three-year term on the Editorial Advisory Board of Global Change Biology. Bond-Lamberty has research expertise in climate change, carbon cycle, and ecosystem modeling. JGCRI is a partnership between Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Maryland.
Clarifying the Uncertain

To test the uncertainty characterization process applied with the PRIMA framework and develop a decision-focused sensitivity analysis to identify factors that most influence stakeholder decisions, PNNL scientists used a fractional-factorial analysis of building energy and climate policies under multiple uncertainty scenarios, which reduced the number of model runs needed to successfully identify and compare key sensitivities.
PNNL Research Plays Key Role in IPCC Conclusions

Ground-breaking research from PNNL provided science insight for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report's new lower bound estimate of the climate's sensitivity to increasing carbon dioxide concentrations. The report—the first of three working group contributions to the Fifth Assessment—prominently cited PNNL's work in several of its key conclusions on the causes and physical consequences of climate change.

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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 mission of the U.S. Department of Energy: ensuring that the nation's energy system is economically and environmentally sustainable. Because nearly all energy-related systems interact with the atmosphere and more broadly with the Earth's climate system, research on atmospheric processes and on the interconnections among energy, climate, and other human and natural systems is critical.

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. Charlette Geffen

Director, Atmospheric Sciences & Global Change Division

Agriculture's Growing Effects on Rain

Riihimaki Recipient of Lab Director Honor, Fitzner-Eberhardt Award

Bond-Lamberty Appointed to Global Change Biology Editorial Board

Clarifying the Uncertain

PNNL Research Plays Key Role in IPCC Conclusions

Atmospheric Sciences & Global Change

Seminar Series

Fundamental & Computational Sciences