Reeburgh Lecture: David Battisti
The perplexing trends in climate over the Pacific Ocean and why they are important
The planet is warming due to the burning of fossil fuels, but the geographical distribution (pattern) of the observed warming over the Pacific Ocean is profoundly different from our expectations based on all climate model results. In this talk Dr. Battisti will explore myriad possible reasons for this discrepancy and the implications for changes in climate in the future, globally and locally (e.g., in Southern California).
Speaker:
Tamaki Endowed Chair of Atmospheric Sciences
University of Washington
This event is hosted by the UCI Department of Earth Systems Science.
Dr. Battisti's research is focused on understanding the natural variability of the climate system on time scales from seasonal to decades that comes about due to interactions between the ocean, atmosphere, land and sea ice. Examples include the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon, abrupt climate change during the last glacial period, and heat waves and extreme summertime temperatures. He is also working on the impacts of climate variability and climate change on global food production in developing countries and on forest fires in the western US. He has received many awards for research and teaching, most recently the Sustainability Science Award from the Ecological Society of America and the Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal of the American Meteorological Society. He is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union, and was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.