PAOC Spotlights

The Seafaring Scientist

In his 20s, Janni Yuval sailed across the Pacific. Today, his research focuses on using data-driven approaches to build better, ‘smarter’ climate models.

Podcast: Dan Cziczo on the complexity of cloud formation

Dan Cziczo talks to #TILClimate on how humans have changed clouds, from where they form to how much precipitation they produce.

MIT Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Historic Moon Landing

The Apollo 50+50 symposium, featuring former astronauts and current PAOC members, examined a historic program’s legacy.

Remembering Wallace Broecker

Associate Professor David McGee recounts his time with Wally Broecker, a climate science giant who passed away in February.

Machine Learning Identifies Links Between World’s Oceans

Postdoc Maike Sonnewald adapted a method that identifies areas of the global ocean with similar physics, revealing global dynamical regimes.

Nautical Day at the MIT Museum

PAOC members illustrated the sweeter side of ocean modeling at the MIT Museum's 2019 Nautical Day.

Remembering Walter Munk

Carl Wunsch and Paola Malanotte-Rizzoli recount their time with Walter Munk, one of the most respected oceanographers of the 21st century, who passed away this month at the age of 101.

Climate Change Makes Summer Weather Stormier Yet More Stagnant

Study finds rising temperatures feed more energy to thunderstorms, less to general circulation.

Tuning the Model

Meghana Ranganathan uses math and machine learning to improve how climate predictions are made.

Radiation Beneath Our Feet

MIT-WHOI Joint Program graduate student Jessica Dabrowski uses naturally-occurring radioactive isotopes to study climate change in the Arctic.

Study: Much of the Surface Ocean Will Shift in Color by End of 21st Century

Climate-driven changes in phytoplankton communities will intensify the blue and green regions of the world’s oceans.

From the Marines to MIT

EAPS Assistant Professor Brent Minchew has flown presidents and foreign dignitaries on Marine One. Today, he leads Glaciers at MIT, where he searches for clues on how ice sheets evolve and respond to changing climate.

Paul O’Gorman on the Promise of Machine Learning in Climate Modeling

As machine learning expands into climate modeling, EAPS Professor Paul O’Gorman answers what that looks like and why now.

A Labor of Love

Ali Ramadhan recently launched “Project Lovelace,” a website that helps scientists hone their programming skills with interactive problem sets.

Medusa Instrument Launched for the Rwanda Global Climate Observatory

In collaboration with MIT, Rwanda launches first African Air Quality and Climate Laboratory equipped to measure more than 50 gases that degrade the ozone layer and affect climate change.

A “Pacemaker” for North African Climate

Study shows the Sahara swung between lush and desert conditions every 20,000 years, in sync with monsoon activity.

In Case You Missed It

The top 10 stories to come out of the Program of Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate in 2018!

New Climate Model to be Built from the Ground Up

Professors Raffaele Ferrari and John Marshall, along with colleagues from Caltech, NASA's JPL, and the Naval Postgraduate School, envision a revolution in climate modeling using data assimilation and machine learning.

Charney Library Re-Opens Doors

The recently renovated library, named for late MIT Professor Jule Charney, now offers a welcoming space for students to interact both socially and academically.

Greenland Ice Sheet Melt 'Off the Charts' Compared With Past Four Centuries

Surface melting across Greenland’s mile-thick ice sheet has ramped up dramatically in the early 21st century, showing no signs of abating, according to new research published Dec. 5, 2018, in the journal Nature.

Studying Oil and Water

Maryam Rashed Alshehhi, a visiting assistant professor from the United Arab Emirates, examines the Gulf region's most pressing environmental dilemmas.

PAOC Heads to AGU

This December, PAOC members will present a wide range of research at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, the largest Earth and space science meeting in the world.

Mars 2020 Landing Site Announced

PAOC faculty members Professors Summons, Bosak, and Weiss provide insight and advise on landing site potential.

Building the best record of the ocean

An update on efforts led by Prof. Carl Wunsch to build a foundational framework for understanding the behavior of the entire ocean.

Clearing clouds of uncertainty

Studies show cloud variability during El Niño events could help better predict long-term climate change.