Wikipedia

Noah Diffenbaugh

Noah S. Diffenbaugh (born (1974-07-23)July 23, 1974) is an American climate scientist at Stanford University, where he is the Kara J Foundation Professor of Earth System Science and Kimmelman Family Senior Fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, and an affiliate at the Precourt Institute for Energy.[1] From 2015-2018, he served as editor-in-chief of the peer-review journal Geophysical Research Letters (published by American Geophysical Union). He is known for his research on the climate system,[2][1] including the effects of global warming on extreme weather and climate events such as the 2011-2017 California drought.[3][4]

Noah Diffenbaugh
Diffenbaugh in 2014
Born
Noah S. Diffenbaugh

(1974-07-23) July 23, 1974 (age 49)
Santa Cruz County, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materB.S. Stanford University (Earth Systems, 1997), M.S. Stanford University (Earth Systems, 1997), Ph.D. University of California, Santa Cruz (Earth Sciences, 2003)
Known forclimate change, science communication
AwardsJames R. Holton Award from the American Geophysical Union, CAREER award from the National Science Foundation
Scientific career
FieldsEarth sciences, climatology
InstitutionsStanford University, Purdue University, University of California, Santa Cruz
ThesisGlobal and regional controls on Holocene environments (2003)
Doctoral advisorLisa C. Sloan
Other academic advisorsPaul Koch, Patrick J. Bartlein
Doctoral studentsDaniel Swain
WebsiteStanford Profile page

Scientific research edit

Diffenbaugh received his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2003. His dissertation was entitled “Global and regional controls on Holocene environments”.[5] His dissertation focused on understanding regional climate change in paleoclimate periods and in modern periods. His dissertation introduced the hypothesis that as vegetation responds to changes in climate, those changes could impact coastal ocean systems by altering the atmospheric pressure patterns that drive coastal winds.[6]

In 2004, Diffenbaugh began a faculty position at Purdue University.[1] While at Purdue, he published first results of high-resolution regional climate simulations for large continental areas, including the United States, Europe and India, which enabled analysis of the role of fine-scale climate processes in extreme events.[7][8][9][10] These high-resolution climate model simulations also enabled analyses of potential impacts of climate change on a suite of systems, including premium winegrapes, corn pests, and snowmelt runoff.[11][12][13]

In 2009, Diffenbaugh moved to a faculty position at Stanford University.[1] He continued his work on the dynamics and impacts of fine-scale climate change,[14] and also began working in the emerging area of “extreme event attribution”.[15] This work culminated in the publication of a new, generalized framework for testing the influence of global warming on individual extreme weather and climate events.[4][16]

The extreme event for which Diffenbaugh is most well known is the 2011-2017 California drought.[3] From 2014-2016, Diffenbaugh's research group published three widely cited papers analyzing the drought and the role of global warming.[17][18][19] These studies analyzed the role of high temperature in amplifying the effects of low precipitation, as well as the role of the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge, a term coined by Diffenbaugh's then-Ph.D. student Daniel Swain to describe the large area of persistently high atmospheric pressure that blocked many storms from reaching California for much of the drought.[20]

At Stanford, Diffenbaugh also began collaborations to quantify the economic impacts of climate change. This work has included quantifying the economic damages associated with different levels of global warming (including the levels identified in the UN Paris Agreement),[21] as well as the role that global warming has played in shaping economic inequality between countries.[22]

Science communication edit

Diffenbaugh is active in science communication.[23] He has served on a number of government science panels, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,[24] the United States Climate Change Science Program,[1] and the California Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working Group.[25] He has provided testimony to the United States Congress[26][27] and the California State Assembly.[28] He was also a member of the What We Know panel of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[29]

Diffenbaugh has written a number of opinion articles. These include op-eds in The New York Times about extreme climate events such as the 2011-2017 California drought[30] and Hurricane Harvey,[31] and the process of climate science.[32] He has also written for the public on the importance of peer review, including a Top 10 list of reviewer comments that Diffenbaugh stated came from papers on which he was the first author.[33]

Diffenbaugh frequently speaks to the public about climate change.[1] In 2011, he was a Google Science Communication Fellow.[34] He was an early adopter of Hangouts On Air, through which he conducted open discussions about climate change with the public.[35][36]

In 2017, Diffenbaugh was the faculty moderator for Stanford University's Three Books Program, in which all incoming first-year undergraduate students are sent three books over the summer, and the authors come to campus for a panel discussion during New Student Orientation.[37] Diffenbaugh selected the theme of “Sustainability and Equity”, and assigned Salvage The Bones by Jesmyn Ward, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, and The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert.[38] About choosing the books, Diffenbaugh said, "Once you begin to examine the relationship between people and the environment, it becomes clear that the big global challenges for this generation lie at the intersection of sustainability and equity – the two are inextricably linked."[37] At Stanford, he teaches a course called "The Global Warming Paradox" that examines this challenge.[39]

Personal life edit

Diffenbaugh discussed his upbringing in a 2017 interview on the science podcast Forecast.[40] Diffenbaugh grew up at Mount Madonna Center, an intentional community in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California that was founded in 1978 by Diffenbaugh's parents and other students of Baba Hari Dass. He attended Mount Madonna School from kindergarten through high school, graduating in 1992.[40][41]

Diffenbaugh attended college at Stanford University, where he was a member of the varsity men's volleyball team.[42] After college, he returned to Mount Madonna Center for three years.[40] During that time, he taught high school science and coached volleyball at Mount Madonna School, before entering graduate school at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he describes struggling to find a sense of scientific confidence and direction.[40]

Diffenbaugh and his wife Polly Diffenbaugh live on the Stanford campus, and have three children.[3] He is the grandson of computer pioneer Erwin Tomash,[43] and brother-in-law of novelist Vanessa Diffenbaugh.

Selected publications edit

Journal articles edit

Book chapters edit

  • Field, C.B., N.R. Chiariello and N.S. Diffenbaugh, Climate-change impacts on California ecosystems, in E. Zavaletta and H. Mooney, (eds), Ecosystems of California, University of California Press, 1008 pp, 2016.
  • White, M.A., G.V. Jones and N.S. Diffenbaugh, Climate variability, climate change, and wine production in the western United States, in F.H. Wagner (ed.), Climate Change in Western North America: Evidence and Environmental Effects, University of Utah Press, 288 pp, 2009.

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Noah Diffenbaugh's Profile". profiles.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
  2. ^ kate.callahan (2012-08-22). "Noah Diffenbaugh". Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
  3. ^ a b c Fagan, Kevin (2015-04-18). "'New normal': Scientists predict less rain from here on out". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
  4. ^ Diffenbaugh, Noah Suresh (2003). "Global and regional controls on Holocene environments". Bibcode:2003PhDT........77D. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ Diffenbaugh, N. S.; Snyder, M. A.; Sloan, L. C. (2004). "Could CO2-induced land-cover feedbacks alter near-shore upwelling regimes?". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 101 (1): 27–32. Bibcode:2004PNAS..101...27D. doi:10.1073/pnas.0305746101. PMC 314132. PMID 14691256.
  6. ^ "Climate model forecasts dramatic changes in U.S." Purdue University News Service. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  7. ^ "Reduced greenhouse gas emissions required to avoid dangerous increases in heat stress, researchers say". Purdue University News Service. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  8. ^ "Purdue study projects weakened monsoon season in South Asia". Purdue University News Service. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  9. ^ "Research forecasts increased chances for stormy weather". Purdue News Service. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  10. ^ Kay, Jane (2006-07-11). "Now's the time to cellar wine". SF Chronicle. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Purdue study suggests warmer temperatures could lead to a boom in corn pests". Purdue University News Service. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  12. ^ "Study: Future snowmelt in West twice as early as expected; threatens ecosystems and water reserves". Purdue University News Service. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  13. ^ "CAREER: Dynamics and Impacts of Fine-Scale Climate Change". National Science Foundation. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  14. ^ "Explaining Extreme Events of 2012 from a Climate Perspective" (PDF). docs.house.gov. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  15. ^ Diffenbaugh, Noah S.; Singh, Deepti; Mankin, Justin S.; Horton, Daniel E.; Swain, Daniel L.; Touma, Danielle; Charland, Allison; Liu, Yunjie; Haugen, Matz; Tsiang, Michael; Rajaratnam, Bala (2017). "Quantifying the influence of global warming on unprecedented extreme climate events". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114 (19): 4881–4886. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114.4881D. doi:10.1073/pnas.1618082114. PMC 5441735. PMID 28439005.
  16. ^ "Causes of California drought linked to climate change, Stanford scientists say". Stanford News Service. 2014-09-30. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  17. ^ Diffenbaugh, Noah S.; Swain, Daniel L.; Touma, Danielle (2015). "Anthropogenic warming has increased drought risk in California". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (13): 3931–3936. Bibcode:2015PNAS..112.3931D. doi:10.1073/pnas.1422385112. PMC 4386330. PMID 25733875.
  18. ^ Swain, Daniel L.; Horton, Daniel E.; Singh, Deepti; Diffenbaugh, Noah S. (2016). "Trends in atmospheric patterns conducive to seasonal precipitation and temperature extremes in California". Science Advances. 2 (4): e1501344. Bibcode:2016SciA....2E1344S. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1501344. PMC 4820386. PMID 27051876.
  19. ^ "The extraordinary California dry spell continues: 2013 will probably be the driest year on record". Weather West: The California Weather Blog. 2013-12-13. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  20. ^ Burke, Marshall; Davis, W. Matthew; Diffenbaugh, Noah (2018). "Large potential reduction in economic damages under UN mitigation targets". Nature. 557 (7706): 549–553. Bibcode:2018Natur.557..549B. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0071-9. PMID 29795251. S2CID 43936274.
  21. ^ Diffenbaugh, Noah; Burke, Marshall (May 14, 2019). "Global warming has increased global economic inequality". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116 (20): 9808–9813. Bibcode:2019PNAS..116.9808D. doi:10.1073/pnas.1816020116. PMC 6525504. PMID 31010922.
  22. ^ "Communicating Science Seminar at 2015 AAAS Annual Meeting". 2015 AAAS Annual Meeting. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  23. ^ "Working Group II AR5 Author Teams". IPCC. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  24. ^ "Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working Group". California Natural Resources Agency. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  25. ^ "H5574 Congressional Record September 17, 2013" (PDF). Congressional Record. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  26. ^ "Hearing on Creating a Climate Resilient America May 23, 2019". House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. 23 May 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
  27. ^ "Assembly Select Committee on Water Consumption and Alternative Sources Hearing of 11-17-2015". California Digital Democracy. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  28. ^ "What We Know". AAAS. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  29. ^ Diffenbaugh, Noah S.; Field, Christopher B. (2015-09-18). "A Wet Winter Won't Save California". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  30. ^ Diffenbaugh, Noah S. (2017-08-28). "Hurricane Harvey Was No Surprise". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  31. ^ Diffenbaugh, Noah S. (2017-12-29). "How We Know It Was Climate Change". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  32. ^ Diffenbaugh, Noah (19 September 2016). "Stuff My Reviewers Say". eos.org. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  33. ^ "Making sense of science: introducing the Google Science Communication Fellows". google.org blog. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  34. ^ "A Climate Scientist Braves the Wilds of YouTube". New York Times Dot Earth Blog. 2012-11-29. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  35. ^ "Talking Climate, Online in Real Time". KQED Science. 29 June 2012. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  36. ^ a b Kubota, Taylor (2017-06-22). "Stanford's Three Books program prompts students to think about sustainability and equity". news.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  37. ^ "Need Some Smart Summer Reading? Grab the 3 Books Stanford Is Having All Freshmen Read". Inc.com. 2017-06-22. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
  38. ^ "The Global Warming Paradox". Introductory Seminars for First-Year Students. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  39. ^ a b c d "Noah Diffenbaugh". Forecast Pod. 2017-01-11. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  40. ^ "The Connection 2012-2013" (PDF). Mount Madonna School. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  41. ^ "Noah Diffenbaugh". Volleyball Worldwide. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  42. ^ "The Connection 2012-2013" (PDF). Mount Madonna School. Retrieved 2018-10-09.

External links edit

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