PNNL

Laura Fierce is an Earth scientist with the Earth System Modeling group. Her research focuses on simulating atmospheric aerosol particles and their interactions with clouds and radiation. Fierce specializes in particle-based methods for simulating complex particle size-composition distributions, including quadrature-based and Monte Carlo approaches. In addition to simulating atmospheric aerosol, Fierce is the lead developer of the Quadrature-based model of Respiratory Aerosol and Droplets for simulating short-range and long-range transmission of airborne pathogens.

• Aerosol Science
• Atmospheric Aerosol Chemistry
• Atmospheric Modeling
• Atmospheric Science

• Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2025

• Beeler P.A., J. Corbin, T. Sipkens, and L.M. Fierce. 2025. "A framework for quantifying the size and fractal dimension of compacting soot particles." Journal of Environmental Science and Technology 59, no. 12:5994-6003. PNNL-SA-204066. doi:10.1021/acs.est.4c11100
• Fierce L.M., Y. Li, Y. Feng, N. Riemer, N.A. Schutgens, A.C. Aiken, and M.K. Dubey, et al. 2025. "Constraining Black Carbon Aging in Global Models to Reflect Timescales for Internal Mixing." Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems 17, no. 6:e2024MS004471. PNNL-SA-193229. doi:10.1029/2024MS004471

2024

• Beeler P.A., J. Kumar, J.P. Schwarz, K. Adachi, L.M. Fierce, A.E. Perring, and J.M. Katich, et al. 2024. "Light Absorption Enhancement of Black Carbon in a Pyrocumulonimbus Cloud." Nature Communications 15, no. _:Art. No. 6243. PNNL-SA-195821. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-50070-0
• Ferracina F., P.A. Beeler, M. Halappanavar, B. Krishnamoorthy, M. Minutoli, and L.M. Fierce. 2024. Expanding the representation of aerosol, cloud, and precipitation processes with graph network-based simulators. PNNL-36805. Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Expanding the representation of aerosol, cloud, and precipitation processes with graph network-based simulators
• Fierce L.M., Y. Yao, R.C. Easter, P. Ma, J. Sun, H. Wan, and K. Zhang. 2024. "Quantifying structural errors in cloud condensation nuclei activity from reduced representation of aerosol size distributions." Journal of Aerosol Science 181, no. _:Art. No. 106388. PNNL-SA-193630. doi:10.1016/j.jaerosci.2024.106388
• McGraw R., F. Yang, and L.M. Fierce. 2024. "Preserving Tracer Correlations in Moment-Based Atmospheric Transport Models." Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems 16, no. 5:Art. No. e2023MS003621. PNNL-SA-180970. doi:10.1029/2023MS003621

2023

• Anderson J.C., P. Beeler, M. Ovchinnikov, W. Cantrell, S.K. Krueger, R.A. Shaw, and F. Yang, et al. 2023. "Enhancements in cloud condensation nuclei activity from turbulent fluctuations in supersaturation." Geophysical Research Letters 50, no. 17:Art. No. e2022GL102635. PNNL-SA-177901. doi:10.1029/2022GL102635
• Hodzic A., N.M. Mahowald, M.L. Dawson, J.A. Johnson, L. Bernardet, P.A. Bosler, and J.D. Fast, et al. 2023. "GeneralIzed Aerosol/chemistry iNTerface (GIANT): A community effort to advance collaborative science across weather and climate models." Bulletin of American Meteorological Society 104, no. 11:E2065-E2080. PNNL-SA-190787. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0013.1