News

August 31 2017
Neighboring Exoplanets May Hold Water, Study Finds
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Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office Observations and modeling suggest TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets may have held onto water, billions of years after their formation.
August 28 2017
Strength of Global Stratospheric Circulation Measured for First Time
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Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office Estimate will help gauge hang time of greenhouse gases, water vapor, and ozone in upper atmosphere.
August 24 2017
Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli to Give Rachel Carson Lecture at AGU's Fall 2017 Meeting
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Lauren Hinkel

The chosen female scientist exemplifies Rachel Carson’s work with cutting-edge ocean science, especially science relevant to societal concerns.

August 24 2017
For the Love of Ice: Journeys to the Remote and Inhospitable
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Kate Repantis | MIT Alumni Association

Alison Criscitiello PhD '14 seeks ice cores in inhospitable locations, sometimes camping on ice sheets and sleeping with a shotgun in case of bear attacks.

August 24 2017
Saving Venice, MIT-style
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Lily Keyes | MISTI MISTI interns and MIT faculty tackle rising sea level challenges at Italian research camp this summer
August 14 2017
Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate Summer Round Up
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Lauren Hinkel

Before the summer ends and we start in on our next year of exciting research and events, catch up on some stories you may have missed from last year. Features from the previous academic year include exciting climate research, new planetary findings, faculty awards and events. 

August 14 2017
New Faculty
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Helen Hill | EAPS NEWS

EAPS is delighted to introduce three new members of faculty: Brent Minchew will join EAPS as an Assistant Professor with PAOC and Geophysics in January 2018, Julien de Wit as an Assistant Professor in July 2018, and Katherine de Kleer as an Assistant Professor in July 2019.

August 4 2017
Phytoplankton & Chips
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Helen Hill | EAPS News

Microbes mediate the global marine cycles of elements, modulating atmospheric CO2 and helping to maintain the oxygen we all breath yet there is much about them scientists still don’t understand. Now, an award from the Simons Foundation will give researchers from the Darwin Project access to bigger, better computing resources to model these communities and probe how they work.

July 24 2017
The Sticky Intertropical Convergence Zone
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Lauren Hinkel

Ocean circulation coupled to changes in trade winds efficiently damps ITCZ movement to transport heat across the equator.

July 24 2017
Indian Monsoons Have Strengthened Over Past 15 Years
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Jennifer Chu | MIT News

A 50-year dry spell has reversed, with more rain to come.

July 21 2017
Understanding Climate Change’s Ground Zero
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Mark Dwortzan | MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change

Study highlights need to improve modeling of carbon-rich Northern Eurasia

July 18 2017
Susan Solomon Honored for her Contributions to Atmospheric Science
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Helen Hill | EAPS News

Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies Susan Solomon to receive the Royal Society's 2018 Bakerian Medal and give the Bakerian Lecture.

July 11 2017
Climate Change to Deplete Some US Water Basins, Reduce Irrigated Crop Yields
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Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office

By 2050, the Southwest will produce significantly less cotton and forage, researchers report.

July 6 2017
Rising Temperatures are Curbing Ocean’s Capacity to Store Carbon
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Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office

Study finds large amounts of carbon dioxide, equivalent to yearly U.K. emissions, remain in surface waters.

July 5 2017
de Wit Named Innovators Under 35 -- 2017 Innovator of the Year, Belgium
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Helen Hill | EAPS News

Innovators Under 35, also known as TR35, is an annual list published by MIT Technology Review magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35.

June 26 2017
Costa Christopoulos Wins the Christopher Goetze Prize for Undergraduate Research
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Lauren Hinkel

The award is given for innovative experimental design, care in data collection, and sensitive application of results to research problems.

June 23 2017
Pauline Morrow Austin: Radar & Weather Maven
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MIT Video Productions

 Pauline Morrow Austin (PhD '42) joined MIT's Weather Radar Research Project at its inception in 1946 and went on to direct the project from 1956-1979. Her pioneering work to interpret weather radar echoes laid the foundation for modern radar meteorology.

June 22 2017
Recognizing a Legacy of Citizenship and Devotion to MIT
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Lauren Hinkel

Michael McClellan Receives the 2017 Karl Taylor Compton Prize.

June 9 2017
MIT-NASA Study Evaluates Efficiency of Oceans as Heat Sink, Atmospheric Gases Sponge
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Ellen Gray | NASA's Earth Science News Team

New MIT-NASA research using models of Atlantic circulation finds that the ocean absorbs atmospheric gases more easily than heat energy, and the slowing circulation that results, reduces its ability to absorb both.

June 9 2017
2017 Senior Thesis Presentations
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Helen Hill | EAPS News

Each year, graduating seniors majoring in EAPS present a thesis in completion of their Bachelor of Science Degree. This year, EAPS had a class of 8 students specializing in areas across the earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences, 5 of whom were advised by PAOC members.

June 5 2017
Measuring Biological Dust in the Wind
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Lauren Hinkel

A new technique developed in the Cziczo Lab may be the most accurate way of identifying biological aerosols from mineral dust in the atmosphere, constraining their contribution to cloud formation and climate change.

June 2 2017
MIT issues statement regarding research on Paris Agreement
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MIT News Office

MIT issued the following statement on Thursday, June 1 2017.

May 30 2017
An Ocean of Curiosity
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Lauren Hinkel

MIT oceanographers explore Earth’s seas with the Boston community for the 2017 Cambridge Science Festival at the MIT Museum.

May 23 2017
Happy 100th Birthday to the Father of Chaos
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Kerry Emanuel

Today, May 23rd, Edward N. Lorenz, longtime professor of meteorology at MIT, would have turned 100. Widely recognized as the father of the modern theory of chaos, he profoundly altered the way we view the natural world.

May 22 2017
Kepler Telescope Spies Details of TRAPPIST-1 System's Outermost Planet
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Peter Kelley | University of Washington

A University of Washington-led international team of astronomers, among them Julien de Wit from PAOC in Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT, has used data gathered by the Kepler Space Telescope to observe and confirm details of the outermost of seven exoplanets orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1. 

 

April 26 2012
Congratulations Dr. Horwitz PAOC congratulates newest doctoral grauate Rachel Horwitz
April 24 2012
Talkback 360 Visualizing Science: The Changing Arctic Ice MIT Museum - TechTV If you missed the recent arctic ice event at the MIT Museum, it's on techTV
April 23 2012
Grad Student Award Helen Hill Dan Chavas wins prize for best student paper
April 19 2012
Facing the facts about our changing climate Vicki Ekstrom, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change Kerry Emanuel among participants in a Boston Globe panel in weighing climate risks and resolutions.
April 17 2012
Congratulations Dr. Lemkau PAOC congratulates newest doctoral grauate Karin Lemkau.
April 12 2012
Exploring Planets for Signs of Life P.R.I. Public Radio International & web.mit.edu/physics "Life metabolizes, life puts out gases, some of those gases are bio-signatures". Sara Seager on the search for extrasolar life.
April 10 2012
The Coldest March Heather Queyrouze, EAPS A review of last Friday's inaugural EAPS author night
April 10 2012
Teaching Award Helen Hill Lodovica Illari to receive Dean's Education and Advising Award
April 1 2012
New membership co-ordinator Ed Halligan takes over from Roberta Allard as PAOC program co-ordinator.
March 30 2012
Perpetual Ocean Goes Viral MITgcm News MITgcm at the heart of compelling new ocean visualizations
March 21 2012
Water World Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office Illari and Marshall's "Weather in a tank" demonstrations help students grasp fluid dynamics.
March 6 2012
Cureforcymophobia Joint Program chemical oceanograhy student Sarah Rosengard is currently blogging in the Indian Ocean
February 28 2012
PAOC goes to Ocean Sciences Helen Hill This year the oceanographically inclined amongst us headed to Salt Lake City
February 28 2012
A climate window in the Southern Ocean Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office John Marshall and an updated circulation model revealing the Southern Ocean as a powerful influence on climate change
February 23 2012
A PAOC Goodbye. A PAOC Hello. Helen Hill Roberta Allard takes over as interim program coordinator as Beth MacEachran moves to CSAIL.
February 16 2012
Raf Ferrari named new Director of PAOC Kerry Emanuel, steps down to focus on Lorenz Center
February 13 2012
China’s pollution puts a dent in its economy Vicki Ekstrom, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change New study co-authored by Noelle Selin says despite improvements in air quality, the economic impact of air pollution has increased dramatically.
February 13 2012
‘Storm of the Century?’ Try ‘Storm of the Decade’ Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office New study co-authored by Ning Lin and Kerry Emanuel says knowing the frequency of storm surges may help urban and coastal planners design seawalls and other protective structures.
February 6 2012
Tracking Toxic Chemicals in Oil Spills Karin Lemkau in WHOI's Oceanus Magazine MIT-WHOI Joint Program student Karin Lemkau asks if out of sight means into the air or into fish?
February 6 2012
Congratulations Prof. O'Gorman O'Gorman promoted to Associate Professor
February 1 2012
On the Trail of Mercury in the Ocean Kathleen Munson, MIT-WHOI Joint Program Grad student Kathleen Munson looks at where and how elemental mercury released from burning coal gets transformed into the toxic monomethylmercury that accumulates in fish?
January 31 2012
Congratulations Dr. Sepulveda Postdoc Julio Sepulveda earns School of Science award
January 23 2012
Mercury and the Environment Vicki Ekstrom, JPSPGC Noelle Selin speaks about the EPA's recent Mercury and Air Toxics Standards
January 17 2012
The Cost of Tropical Cyclones Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office A new paper, co-authored by Kerry Emanuel, finds climate change could expose North America, East Asia and the Caribbean to costly climate damage.
January 14 2012
Congratulations Dr. Gibbons PAOC congratulates newest doctoral graduate Fern Tolley Gibbons