Welcome to the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science. The Department, part of the Earth Sciences Program that includes the collocated Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in atmospheric and oceanic sciences, and climate earth sciences.
The department's research strengths are reinforced by strong collaborations leading to joint research topics with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland Departments of the Environment and of Natural Resources, the National Centers for Environmental Prediction of the National Weather Service, the NOAA Satellite and Air Research Laboratories, all of which are located near the campus.
Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm, Professor and Chairman
Drawing momentum from the historic Paris Climate Treaty Agreement that took place in December 2015, Dr. Ross Salawitch and AOSC colleagues Dr. Tim Canty, Brian Bennett, Walt Tribett and Austin Hope recently published, “Paris Climate Agreement: Beacon of Hope,” a book which analyzes the greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions necessary to limit global warming to 1.5-2 degrees Celsius. “Paris Climate Agreement: Beacon of Hope,” illustrates this rise in global mean surface temperature is attainable as long as intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) of emissions are adhered to and propagated forward to the year 2060. The authors show that the Paris goals are possible through their development of a global climate model (EM-GC), which concluded GHGs must only follow the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP)-4.5 for the target warming to occur. This pathway is more optimistic and realistically attainable than what previous global climate models (GCMS) had prescribed countries must follow. The book concluded that current GCMS likely represented climate feedback in a manner that amplified the radiative forcing due to GHGs too strongly. Still, to achieve RCP 4.5 half of the world’s global energy must come from renewable sources by the year 2060. “This will require a large-scale transfer of technology and capital from the developed to the developing world,” said Salawitch. Video Announcement
Paris Beacon of Hope
Water Resources Research is a top AGU journal.
A set of future water sector assumptions have been developed for the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) and implemented in the Integrated Assessment Model GCAM. Assumptions are made for infrastructure and efficiency changes across the agricultural, electricity, manufacturing, and municipal sectors. These assumptions follow the storylines of each of the SSP scenarios and are added to GCAM to analyze global water demands through the end of the century. This study represents the first comprehensive set of water sector assumptions that have been applied to the SSP scenarios and have been run with an Integrated Assessment Model while including constraints on the availability of water. The study has found that while water constraints act to decrease water demands, future infrastructure changes in the water sector can increase water savings by up to 32% in 2100, resulting in large potential changes in regional and global water scarcity. Second, in SSP1, the focus on sustainability and the ability to invest in future water-efficiency improvements has the potential to lead to end-of-century water demands lower than present day demands despite a higher standard of living and similar global population. Finally, future water-demand changes in the SSPs depend strongly on adoption and implementation of water saving technologies in low-income regions.
4/23/2018 Meeting of AOSC and the Director General of Resources for
Science, Technology and Higher Education, the Ministry for Research,
Technology and Higher Education, Indonesia to explore a new graduate
educational exchange program. This was arranged by AOSC faculty
member Dwi Susanto.
