News

December 10 2019
Historical Climate Models Accurately Projected Global Warming
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Henri Drake | EAPS News New research from MIT EAPS scientists explores the accuracy of models’ climate physics and their relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and temperature rise.
December 4 2019
Whales May Owe Their Efficient Digestion to Millions of Tiny Microbes
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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution MIT-WHOI Joint Program graduate student Henry Holm coauthors study showing how whales are able to break down high-energy molecules in their food that other animals have difficulty with.
November 25 2019
Red Sea ‘Hotspot’ Study Reveals Behaviors of Whale Sharks
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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution MIT-WHOI JP graduate student Camrin D. Braun PhD '19 coauthors study tracks aggregation behaviors of whale sharks, an endangered species, in the Red Sea.
November 25 2019
Relating Marine Picoplankton Cell Size and Metabolism
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Helen Hill | CBIOMES CBIOMES and EAPS postdoctoral fellow John Casey is a microbial oceanographer, who combines observations, experimental approaches, and computational methods to better understand the diversity of metabolic and physiological designs that influence biogeochemical cycles.
November 22 2019
Oceanographic Instrument Development, a First Step to Exploring the Unexplored
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Kalina C. Grabb | WHOI Broader Impacts Group MIT-WHOI graduate student Kalina Grabb describes what it's like to design and test the first submersible instrument able to measure superoxide within shallow water aquatic environments affecting coral reefs, algal blooms, and deep-sea processes.
November 22 2019
Renewable Energy and Carbon Pricing Policies
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Nancy W. Stauffer | MIT Energy Initiative State-level adoption saves money and lives.
November 19 2019
A Focus on Fronts
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Christopher Follett | CBIOMES Chris Follett, MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) Postdoctoral Fellow and CBIOMES member, is working closely with other project investigators as he seeks to unify data and models through biogeography.
November 19 2019
Ring by Carbon Ring
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Fatima Husain | EAPS News A collaboration of current and former EAPS researchers reveals the genes and proteins controlling the chemical structure of paleoclimate biomarker (GDGT), enabling it to cyclize in response to temperature changes.
November 18 2019
Continuing a Legacy of Antarctic Exploration
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Fatima Husain | EAPS News EAPS Summons Lab examines lipids from Antarctic microbial communities to understand the evolution of complex life on Earth and life that existed during "snowball Earth."
November 14 2019
EAPS Features at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2019
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Lauren Hinkel | EAPS News This year, from December 9-13th, roughly 24,000 members are set to attend and experience nearly 2,000 oral and poster sessions in San Francisco, CA.
November 4 2019
A Century of Progress in Atmospheric and Related Sciences: Celebrating the American Meteorological Society Centennial
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American Meteorological Society EAPS scientists and MIT alumni add to AMS meteorological monograph tribute to the past century of innovation within our community and a source of inspiration for the scientists and researchers still to come.
November 1 2019
In the Blue Holes of the Bahamas, Secrets of Hurricanes Past
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Katherine Kornei | New York Times Science Scientists assembled a 1,500-year history of big storm activity by retrieving sediment from the island country’s submarine caverns.
October 28 2019
Fall 2019 MESO-SCOPE Meeting
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Helen Hill | MIT Darwin Project Members of the MIT Darwin project hosted Benedetto Barone (U Hawaii) and Kate Evans (U Montana) for a week of face-to-face collaboration focused on advancing theory and modeling efforts geared towards exploring mesoscale and submesoscale marine ecological structure in the Subtropical North Pacific.
October 24 2019
The discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole
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Susan Solomon | Nature The unexpected discovery of a hole in the atmospheric ozone layer over the Antarctic revolutionized science — and helped to establish one of the most successful global environmental policies of the twentieth century.
October 22 2019
A Workshop on Atmospheric Dynamics and Transport
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Darius Collazo | MIT On Monday, June 10th, the EAPS department held a workshop on Atmospheric Dynamics and Transport in honor of Prof. Emertius R. Alan Plumb
October 21 2019
Antarctic ice cliffs may not contribute to sea-level rise as much as predicted
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Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office Study finds even the tallest ice cliffs should support their own weight rather than collapsing catastrophically.
October 11 2019
Experts urge “full speed ahead” on climate action
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David L. Chandler | MIT News Office Panelists at MIT climate change symposium describe the state of knowledge in climate science and stress the urgent need for action.
October 9 2019
The 2019 PAOC Retreat: Jiminy Peak
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Daisy M Cabán & Martín Velez Pardo | MIT This year’s annual PAOC retreat had students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty and staff from MIT’s Program in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences escape to Jiminy Peak in Hancock, MA for a weekend event of science and socializing.
October 3 2019
President Reif speaks at MIT Climate Symposium
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MIT News Office President L. Rafael Reif delivered the below introductory remarks at today’s “Progress in Climate Science” symposium.
September 30 2019
DEAPS: Understanding Extreme Weather and Climate, from Top to Bottom
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Lauren Hinkel | EAPS News The Discovering EAPS (DEAPS) Pre-orientation Program (FPOP) Extreme Weather and Climate immerses 2019 first year students in the geosciences at all scales.
September 25 2019
In the 1980s, the World Acted to Save the Ozone Layer. Here's Why the Fight Against Climate Change Is Different
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Olivia B. Waxman | TIME Magazine In 1986 and ’87, Susan Solomon, Lee and Geraldine Martin Professor of Environmental Studies in MIT's EAPS, led expeditions to Antarctica to determine the cause of the ozone hole: CFCs.
September 11 2019
Computing in Earth Science: a Non-linear Path
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Laura Carter | School of Science UROP student Sonia Reilly studies the math of machine learning to better predict natural disasters.
September 5 2019
How a Volcanic Eruption Set Off a Phytoplankton Bloom
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Robin George Andrews | The New York Times Science Lava from Kilauea in Hawaii flowed into the Pacific last year and pushed nutrients to the surface. The result was a banquet for light-loving microbes.
August 29 2019
Bacteria Feeding on Arctic Algae Blooms can Seed Clouds
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Abigail Eisenstadt | AGU A new study co-authored by EAPS graduate student Astrid Pacini finds that bacteria normally found near the sea floor was present in the air above the ocean surface, suggesting ocean currents and turmoil help make the bacteria airborne.
August 2 2019
A Tunnel to the Twilight Zone
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Evan Lubofsky | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Blue sharks ride deep-swirling currents to the ocean’s midwater at mealtime
May 22 2018
Susan Solomon: At the Frontline of Research on the Ozone Layer and Its Role in Earth’s Climate Dawn Stover | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists MIT professor of atmospheric chemistry Susan Solomon receives the 2018 Crafoord Prize in Geosciences from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. She speaks with Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists about her work the ozone hole, its affect on climate and policy.
May 21 2018
2018 EAPS Student Awards EAPS Education Office A roll-call of this year’s award recipients presented at the May 18th Student Recognition Dinner. PAOC graduate student Margaret Duffy receives the Award for Excellence in Teaching.
May 18 2018
TESS Takes Initial Test Image School of Science | MIT News Exoplanet-seeking satellite developed by MIT swings by moon toward final orbit. Prof. Sara Seager is the deputy science director of TESS.
May 3 2018
Macron's call to 'Make our Planet Great Again' attracts six more US-based scientists Sophie Tatum | CNN PAOC and Joint Program Senior Research Scientist Chien Wang awarded grant focused on the role of aerosols in the climate.
April 26 2018
TESS Successfully Launched Lauren Hinkel NASA’s new planet-hunting TESS satellite was successfully launched into space from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 6.51pm EST Wednesday April 18. The satellite rode into Earth orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, beginning its two-year mission to study nearby star systems to look for alien worlds that might harbor life.
April 23 2018
Urban Planning for a Changing Climate Science in the News | Harvard University Harvard's Science in the News speaks with John Bolduc, the Environmental Planner for the City of Cambridge, and Professor Kerry Emanuel about what local communities are doing to address the challenges climate change is creating for urban infrastructure.
April 6 2018
TESS Counting Down to Take-Off EAPS News Pre-launch media coverage of the MIT-led mission.
April 3 2018
School of Engineering First Quarter 2018 Awards School of Engineering Faculty members recognized for excellence via a diverse array of honors, grants, and prizes over the last quarter, including PAOC member Noelle Selin.
March 26 2018
Meet Tess, Seeker of Alien Worlds Dennis Overbye | New York Times Science NASA’s new spacecraft, to be launched next month, will give scientists a much clearer view of the planets orbiting stars near to us. Sara Seager, a member of the Tess team, shares her hopes and expectations.
March 19 2018
Alumnae unite at MIT Women's unConference Julie Barr | MIT Alumni Association Gathering brings alumni to campus to celebrate women and create connections to further societal changes. Opening keynote speaker Sara Seager shared her latest research on exoplanets and stories from her own personal triumphs and challenges in motherhood, marriage, and friendship.
March 7 2018
Storied Women of MIT: Eugenia Kalnay MIT Video Productions Eugenia Kalnay (PhD ‘71) is a world-renowned meteorologist and the first woman to earn a PhD in Meteorology from MIT. Storied Women of MIT is a series of 60-second historical profiles of MIT faculty, students, researchers, and staff highlighting the role of women at the Institute from its founding to today.
February 22 2018
At the Intersection Mayara Felix | MIT Spectrum Five grad students, including PAOC's Daniel Gilford, on finding their own routes into the policy sphere
February 20 2018
How Close Are We To Finding Life On Another Planet? TED Radio Hour In our galaxy alone there are hundreds of billions of planets, and the past few years have ushered in an explosion of new discoveries about our universe. MIT's Sara Seager speaks with TED Radio Hour about looking for the perfect planet in the "Goldilocks" zone — neither too hot nor too cold — that could support life.
February 20 2018
GlobalFood+ Speed Talks Advance More Sustainable Food Systems Mark Dwortzan | MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change Joint Program-affiliated researchers share findings at nexus of food, agriculture, environment and health
January 25 2018
Flood Risk Under an Uncertain Future Climate Mark Dwortzan | MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change Joint Program researcher assesses the threat and how Cambridge can prepare
January 11 2018
Clouds, Chemistry, and Climate Change: Why Our Current Climate Is What It Is Science for the Public Lecture Series Dan Cziczo, Assoc. Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry, speaks at the Science for the Public Lecture Series as an expert on the crucial role of clouds in the dynamics of climate. He explains the vital relationship between clouds and climate, and the present options for reducing atmospheric CO2.
January 4 2018
This researcher helped coin the term ‘bomb cyclone.’ He did it to keep people safe. Matthew Cappucci | Washington Post Understanding bombogenesis and how the term originated at MIT.
January 3 2018
Scientists Find Surprising Evidence of Rapid Changes in the Arctic Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution MIT-WHOI graduate student Lauren Kipp and scientists have found surprising evidence of rapid climate change in the Arctic: In the middle of the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole, they discovered that the levels of radium-228 have almost doubled over the last decade.
December 29 2017
How We Know It Was Climate Change Noah S. Diffenbaugh | New York Times Sunday Review New York Times Sunday Review examines connections between climate change and extreme weather events, siting a paper from Kerry Emanuel showing that heavy rainfall during storms like Hurricane Harvey are becoming increasingly common.
December 8 2017
This Year's Hurricane Season Was Intense. Is It A Taste Of The Future? Christopher Joyce | NPR With the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season finally over, scientists are taking stock of what they say was a monumental year.
November 6 2017
EAPS Announces New Postdoctoral Fellowship Program Helen Hill | EAPS News The recently launched Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences (EAPS) seeks to support exceptional early-career scientists with interests across the broad range of disciplines represented in the department.
November 3 2017
“Mummies” Tummies to Reveal Digestive Evolution Anthony King | Horizon Magazine Dr. Ainara Sistiaga from the Summons Lab was recently interviewed by Horizon Magazine on the evolution of human diets.
October 31 2017
On the Fifth Anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, a Look at 2017 Heather Goldstone & Elsa Partan | Living Lab Radio Professor Kerry Emanuel speaks with Living Lab Radio/WGBH about Superstorm Sandy and how the 2017 hurricane season warrants action.
October 27 2017
What Planets Beyond our Solar System may Harbor Life? Steve Nadis | MIT Spectrum The TESS mission will scan our cosmic neighborhood to identify 50 top candidates
October 16 2017
Environmental Successes: How We Can Make Them Happen Again Living Lab Radio/ WGBH Atmospheric scientist Susan Solomon speaks with Living Lab Radio/WGBH about our track record of environmental success stories that deserve more attention.