PAOC Spotlights

Neighboring Exoplanets May Hold Water, Study Finds

Observations and modeling suggest TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets may have held onto water, billions of years after their formation.

Strength of Global Stratospheric Circulation Measured for First Time

Estimate will help gauge hang time of greenhouse gases, water vapor, and ozone in upper atmosphere.

Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli to Give Rachel Carson Lecture at AGU's Fall 2017 Meeting

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

For the Love of Ice: Journeys to the Remote and Inhospitable

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.

Saving Venice, MIT-style

MISTI interns and MIT faculty tackle rising sea level challenges at Italian research camp this summer

Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate Summer Round Up

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 finding...

New Faculty

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 Assist...

Phytoplankton & Chips

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 ...

The Sticky Intertropical Convergence Zone

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

Indian Monsoons Have Strengthened Over Past 15 Years

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

Understanding Climate Change’s Ground Zero

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

Susan Solomon Honored for her Contributions to Atmospheric Science

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

Climate Change to Deplete Some US Water Basins, Reduce Irrigated Crop Yields

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

Rising Temperatures are Curbing Ocean’s Capacity to Store Carbon

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

de Wit Named Innovators Under 35 -- 2017 Innovator of the Year, Belgium

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.

Pauline Morrow Austin: Radar & Weather Maven

 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...

MIT-NASA Study Evaluates Efficiency of Oceans as Heat Sink, Atmospheric Gases Sponge

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.

2017 Senior Thesis Presentations

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...

Measuring Biological Dust in the Wind

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.

MIT issues statement regarding research on Paris Agreement

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

An Ocean of Curiosity

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

Happy 100th Birthday to the Father of Chaos

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.

Kepler Telescope Spies Details of TRAPPIST-1 System's Outermost Planet

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 confir...