Research Spotlight

Monsoon

Can Anthropogenic Absorbing Aerosols Affect the Indian Summer Monsoon?

The Asian monsoons affect the livelihood of billions of people. Rapid economic development over the region in the past decades unfortunately has also created abundance of air pollutants such as black carbon aerosols. The Wang group has studied the potential impacts of these particulate pollutants on the monsoonal circulation and precipitation pattern. Using an interactive aerosol-climate model combining with surface rainfall data, they have found that the anthropogenic absorbing aerosols could cause the Indian summer monsoon to come earlier and also a shift in monsoonal rainfall pattern, all in a coincidence with past observed trend.

Learn more about the Wang group’s research here.

Research Spotlight

Rwanda Observatory

Rwanda Climate Change Observatory

The Center for Global Change Science (Professor Ronald Prinn, Director) is collaborating with the Ministry of Education of Rwanda to establish a major Climate Change Observatory and develop educational and research programs in climate science that use the Observatory measurements. This involves: preparation and construction of sites for both a permanent observatory on Mt. Karisimbi, and for an interim observatory on Mt. Mugogo for testing and training; acquisition and installation of meteorological and atmospheric gas analyzing instruments; and training of technicians to operate and maintain the instruments and their data output. Dr. Kat Potter is the initial resident PI. The Rwandan Observatory is intended to become part of the international global AGAGE network (sponsored by NASA and several foreign governments’ agencies).

Learn more about the Center for Global Change Science here.

Research Spotlight

JPwheel

The MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change

The Greenhouse Gamble™ wheels were developed by the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change to better convey uncertainty in climate change prediction. The roulette-style spinning wheels depict the estimated probability, or likelihood, of potential temperature change (global average surface temperature) over the next 100 years. The face of each wheel is divided into colored slices, with the size of each slice representing the estimated probability of the temperature change in the year 2100 falling within that range.

Learn more about how to interpret the Greenhouse Gamble™ wheels here

Learn more about the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change here.

Research Spotlight:

global_aircraft_emissions

Global Aircraft Emissions

The Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment at MIT has developed an open source emissions inventory for global civil aviation based on flight schedules and modeling of aircraft performance and emissions. This emission inventory is now being used in atmospheric modeling work to improve our understanding of how aviation impacts the atmosphere. For example, recent work has shown that some flights create many times more tropospheric ozone than others. This implies that the environmental impact of a flight depends strongly on where (and when) it occurs – as well as its length.

Learn more about the Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment’s research.

Research Spotlight

Hg negotiation

Mercury in the Atmosphere

Research in the Selin group addresses the challenge of atmospheric mercury, which is emitted from anthropogenic sources and travels globally to affect ecosystems as toxic methylmercury far from its release. Mercury is the subject of a global treaty, the Minamata Convention, which was finalized in 2013. We use a variety of tools, such as global chemical transport modeling, integrated assessment modeling, and policy analysis, to inform decision-making strategies. A key finding is that mercury deposition results from a combination of local and global sources, meaning that regulation on multiple political scales is necessary to fully address the problem. We engage with decision-makers at local, regional, and global scale to translate our research results.

Learn more about the Selin group’s research here.

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