From weather to carbon cycling, better understanding of atmospheric processes and their impact on climate can help inform climate change projections, and help us understand how the atmosphere interacts with the climate to affect natural resources and ecosystems. CESD scientists have been at the forefront of developing and applying climate models that leverage the computational power of Exascale computing systems to simulate key atmospheric processes at the high resolution needed to produce region-specific guidance for mitigation strategies. They have also developed innovative ways to measure and understand atmospheric dynamics at the scales of individual clouds, and have led major campaigns to observe the integrated mountainous hydrological cycle. 

Our scientists apply this expertise to predicting the intensity and frequency of phenomena such as atmospheric rivers, tropical cyclones, and seasonal snow dynamics months, years, and decades into the future. We also have experts who conduct research on cloud dynamics, microphysics, and the interaction of clouds with Earth’s climate.