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The Dynamic Earth
Department of Earth System SciencE
University of California, Irvine
WINTER | 2015
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Images
Cover: Joshua Tree National Park | Mariah Carbone
Chair’s Welcome: Joshua Tree National Park | Mariah Carbone
Front Page News: President Obama at Commencement | UCI Communications
Jay Famiglietti on 60 Minutes | CBS
Intern Profile: Photos by Thanushka Fernando
Graduate Student Stories: Photos by Ashley Payne and Mindy Nicewonger
Back Cover: Croul Hall | Hrishi Chandanpurkar
Content & Design: Callie Brazil
Chair’s welcome
a message from the department
Chair, Gudrun Magnusdottir
Awards & Honors
selected highlights of awards earned
by ESS students and faculty
front page News
selected news coverage and
highlights
events
details of the 2015 Faculty Networking
Luncheon and 2014 Reeburgh Lecture
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Undergraduate spotlight
an undergraduate student discusses
her research and plans for the furture
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Intern profile
the internship experience of an
undergraduate student
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graduate student stories
graduate students discuss their
unique research experiences
Alumni,
Cicerone Chair
how to connect or re-connect with ESS
hi-res image of desert
awards & honors
alLison moreno, a graduate student in the Department of Earth System Science, has
been awarded a National Science Foundation fellowship. The NSF Graduate Research
Fellowship Program (GRFP) recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students
in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who
are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States
institutions.
w e l c o m e
In the Department of Earth System
Science (ESS) at the University of
California, Irvine we focus on the
science of the Earth as a system and
how the atmosphere, land and oceans
interact and manifest variability
and change approximately over the
human lifetime. We envision a society
that understands both the impact
of human activities on the global
environment and the interactions
within the Earth system that preserve
the habitability of the planet.
ESS faculty, students and researchers
continue groundbreaking work in
key areas of climate science as
acknowledged by President Obama
in his June 2014 Commencement
Address to UC Irvine.
In this issue of The Dynamic Earth,
we share news and stories of our
department’s latest research and
achievements.
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Dawn Woodard, a graduate student in ESS, was awarded the Fall 2014 Cicerone
Fellowship. The Ralph J. & Carol M. Cicerone Fellowship is awarded to one exceptional
incoming graduate student each year. The candidate is selected based on academic
record as well as potential to influence the field of Earth system science.
The Department of Earth System Science congratulates the Fall 2014 Jenkins Fellows:
Yara Mohajerani, Daun Jeong, Anna Lopresti, Christopher Wood,
Morgan Gorris, and Gregory Britten. Jenkins Fellows are selected based on
academic record and compelling research interest. Fellows are supported for one quarter
thanks to the generous support of the Jenkins family.
Professor mike pritchard received an Early Career Research Program award from the
Department of Energy for his outstanding work with next generation climate simulation.
The Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Program recognizes exceptional
researchers and provides support during their crucial first years.
Read on to learn more about how
ESS students applied classroom
learning to real-world situations
through undergraduate student
internships,
field-work,
and
research.
Gudrun Magnusdottir
Chair & Professor of Earth System Science
Professors Jim Randerson and Eric Rignot have been named among the world’s
most influential researchers by Thomas Reuters. The 2014 Highly Cited Researchers list
includes preeminent researchers in 21 fields of the sciences and social sciences who have
demonstrated exceptional impact in their field as measured by citations to their work.
Congratulations to our graduates! The following Ph.D. students successfully defended
their dissertations in the Fall 2014 and Winter 2015 quarters:
George Azzari
Ann Bardin
Colene Haffke
Collin Lawrence
Seneca Lindsey
Zhao Liu
Staryl McCabe-Glynn
Alexandra Noronha
Alys Thomas
Kristal Verhulst
Yuhao ZoU
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front page news
ESS in the headlines
In his commencement speech at UC Irvine in June 2014,
President Obama highlighted the achievements and
impact of the Department of Earth System Science,
acknowledging groundbreaking research efforts in key areas
of climate science, atmospheric chemistry, water science,
weather patterns and fire season severity prediction.
Environmental Research Letters
published a study by a team of
researchers including ESS professor
Steve Davis and graduate student
Anna LoPresti. The paper, “CH4
and N2O emissions embodied
in international trade of meat,”
discusses the non-CO2 greenhouse
gas emissions embodied in meat
production.
An ESS-led study found the
declines of Greenland’s glaciers
could be more significant than
previously thought due to neverbefore-seen valleys. The study,
published in Nature Geoscience,
includes the most detailed map to
date of Greenland’s toothy rim, or
the mountains and canyons under
the ice. “Greenland is much more
vulnerable than we thought, but we
can’t say by how much,” said lead
author and ESS Assistant Professor
Mathieu Morlighem.
ESS graduate student Tyler Sutterly’s research
on the rapid decline of West Antarctic Ice Sheets
caught the attention of the Washington Post, making
it to the front page of the Dec. 5th issue in the article
“Pace of Antarctic melt sets off alarm.”
Nature Geoscience published research on marine
nutrient cycling by ESS Professors Francois
Primeau, Adam Martiny and Keith Moore.
The study, “Global-scale variations in the carbon to
phosphorus ratio of exported marine organic matter,”
provides new insight into the link between carbon
and nutrient cycles. It will likely serve as reference for
many regional to global modeling studies and impact
understanding of how both the oceans and the global
carbon cycles respond to climate change.
events
ess club presents
Faculty networking luncheon
The Earth System Science Club kicked off the winter quarter with their third annual
Faculty Networking Luncheon on Friday, January 23, 2015. The event, sponsored
by the Department of Earth System Science, provided undergraduate students
the opportunity to meet and speak with faculty and graduate students outside the
classroom. The ESS Club works to support the education and career development
of Earth System Science and Environmental Science students through a variety of
meetings, workshops and events. Student registration for the club’s spring event,
the Industry Networking Night on Thursday, May 7 opens in April. Learn more about
ESS at http://www.ess.uci.edu. Please visit the ESS Club website at http://ess-club.
wix.com/essc to learn more about club events and activities.
second annual reeburgh lecture
On Wednesday, December 10, 2014, Dr. David Victor of UC San Diego spoke as the 2014
Reeburgh Earth System Science Lecturer – a lecture series endowed by Carelyn Y. and
William S. Reeburgh. A committee of ESS faculty, students and researchers chose Dr.
Victor, Professor of International Relations and Director of the Laboratory on International
Law and Regulation at UC San Diego, as the speaker for the second annual Reeburgh
Lecture. In his presentation, “Getting Serious About International Cooperation on
Climate Change,” Dr. Victor spoke about the discrepancy between the international
community’s commitment to climate discussions and actual emissions reduction. Video
of the lecture can be found at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc_O2DusM9U.
The Department of Earth System Science thanks Dr. and Mrs. Reeburgh for their
continued generosity, making this special event possible. We thank the speakers who
have participated in this lecture series to date: Dr. James White, 2013; Dr. David Victor,
2014.
ESS Professor Jay Famiglietti appeared on 60 Minutes
on CBS in November 2014 to discuss evidence of
groundwater depletion in California as detected through
his work with Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment
(GRACE) satellites and the policy and environmental
implications of water storage.
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Undergraduate
Spotlight
Julia Shates
Julia Shates is a fourth year undergraduate
student in the Earth System Science program
with an infectious passion for research and
learning.
Last year, as an intern for the Center for
Multiscale Modeling of Atmospheric Processes
(CMMAP), Julia worked on a research project
under the supervision of Dr. Elizabeth Barnes,
Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry
at Colorado State University. For ten weeks,
she explored the Baroclinic Annular Mode
(BAM)—a 20-30 day storm cycle in the
southern hemisphere and mid-latitudes. For
her project, she analyzed the turbulence in
the upper atmosphere during this storm cycle.
“Understanding the variability in the southern
hemisphere will be useful for future work
in prediction of weather and precipitation
events,” she explained.
Intern profile
Thanushka Fernando
Environmental Compliance
Written By: Thanushka Fernando
For the past year, I have been interning for the World Oil Corporation at a company called
Demenno/Kerdoon. Demenno/Kerdoon is the largest waste oil, antifreeze, and wastewater
recycling organization in the Western United States. We recycle hazardous wastes into quality
products through processing systems and units - used oil and antifreeze become new products
such as Marine Diesel Oil (used for ships) and antifreeze for cars. Since we handle hazardous
wastes, we are required to constantly monitor waste from start to finish – from the time it
arrives in railcars and trucks, to the time it is sent out to the refinery. We also recycle and treat
wastewater and send it into cities for commercial use. As an environmental compliance intern,
I work with agencies such as the Department of Toxic and Substance Control (DTSC) and the
Air Quality Management District (AQMD) to continuously monitor and report our emissions.
This ensures the company is abiding by permit conditions and meeting air quality standards.
Julia’s interest in natural sciences began in
high school, when she was first exposed to
environmental science. However, it was the Atmospheric Science class in ESS that really captured
her attention for atmosphere dynamics and encouraged her to pursue atmospheric research.
“Without a doubt, ESS has played a huge role in preparing me for more advanced study of the
earth system,” Julia said of her ESS coursework.
I started interning at the refinery of Demenno/
Kerdoon in Compton, CA in the summer of
2014. This facility houses the wastewater unit,
ethylene glycol unit, and the units for recycled oil.
Before diving in to my internship in compliance,
I worked alongside the operators of each unit to
familiarize myself with the various processes. The
environmental compliance department showed
me how all regulations are handled throughout
the facility. The most interesting unit that I studied
was the SOX (sulfur oxides) scrubber unit, which
collects noxious vapors and gases throughout the
facility – an important procedure for monitoring air
emissions.
Currently, Julia is continuing this line of study while working as an undergraduate researcher
with Professor Gudrun Magnusdottir in the Department of Earth System Science. “This project
continues the work I started at CMMAP and seeks to identify some relationship between a tropical
atmospheric circulation pattern (the Madden-Julian Oscillation) and the mid-latitudinal BAM.”
This undergraduate research experience has been especially helpful in preparing Julia to reach
her future research and career goals. “Ultimately, I want to be a research professor” – a goal
she’ll be prepared to meet head-on with the skills and knowledge she has developed in ESS.
Currently, I am working at D/K Environmental, a railcar and storage facility for Demenno/
Kerdoon. Some of my responsibilities include reporting to AQMD, checking the concentrations
of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), monitoring the incinerator and vapor combustor unit
and monitoring the carbon absorbers. The knowledge I’ve gained from my Earth System
Science coursework combined with my real-world experience, like monitoring air emissions at
my internship, help me understand how crucial environmental compliance and regulation are
for protecting the environment.
“ESS has played a huge
role in preparing me for
more advanced study of
the earth system.”
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graduate student stories
Ashley Payne
GFD Summer Fellowship
Written By: Ashley Payne
This past summer, I attended the 2014 Geophysical
Fluid Dynamics Summer Study Program at Woods
Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI). For ten
weeks, myself and nine other graduate student
fellows attended lectures and seminars at Walsh
Cottage – home to the GDF Summer Fellowship
program since its founding in 1959. The program’s
mission is to foster an environment of scientific
inquiry on different themes within geophysical
fluid dynamics for researchers and students from
diverse backgrounds. For 2014, the main focus
was climate physics and dynamics, with principal
lectures given by MIT Professor of Mathematics
Kerry Emmanuel, and Geoffery Vallis, Senior
Scientist and Professor of Atmosphere and Ocean
Sciences at Princeton University. During the first
two weeks, we learned about the introductory
concepts of radiative equilibrium and atmospheric
and oceanic dynamics. After the second week, the
focus for student fellows transitioned to individual
research projects in collaboration with more senior
researchers attending the program.
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For my research project, I worked primarily with
Malte Jansen, Assistant Professor of Geophysical
Sciences at the University of Chicago, studying
the role of the lapse rate feedback in polar
amplification of surface temperatures. While
current polar amplification occurs primarily in the
Arctic, evidence of polar amplification at both
poles is apparent in climate data records and
in idealized models. This implies an important
mechanism for amplification operating in addition
to the well-known surface albedo feedback. With
this in mind, we sought out to investigate the
role of the direct effect of temperature change
on terrestrial longwave radiation (known as
the longwave temperature feedback) on polar
amplification using a hierarchy of idealized models.
I approached the project first with a simple energy
balance model and later with a more complex
column model, developed within a Python
modeling toolkit. With these very simple models,
I looked at the relative effect of atmospheric heat
transport on the lapse rate feedback in a polar
and a tropical column. We found that the different
response of the lapse rate feedback at high- and
low-latitudes contributes to polar amplification,
but only when the role of water vapor is excluded.
Initially, I felt intimidated by the unfamiliarity of the
material and fast pace of the program. However,
I soon realized that my fellow students were just
as unfamiliar with the course material and equally
eager to learn it. It was a unique experience to
be completely immersed in research. And while
learning new skills (such as Python programming,
and even softball!) within such a short period of
time was slightly stressful, the takeaway experience
was amazing – WHOI left me with invaluable
research experience and lasting friendships.
Mindy Nicewonger
My job here at the SPICE Core drilling site is an
ice core handler. Each time the drill goes down
into the ice sheet, it brings back to the surface
a two-meter long ice core. Once removed from
the core barrel, the two-meter long ice core is laid
out on the core processing table where I measure
Written By: Mindy Nicewonger
it’s overall length, make notes about any breaks in
As a graduate student studying Earth System the core or abnormalities, and cut the two meter
Science, I have the unique opportunity to use the core into one meter long pieces.
Earth as my laboratory – one of the seemingly
countless reasons why I’ve chosen this field of
study. As an ice core scientist, my research takes
me to the far edge of the world – literally. While I
write this, I’m sitting at the Amundsen-Scott South
Pole Station waiting for brunch to start. For the
past ten weeks I’ve been living at the South Pole
Station as part of the science team for the newest
NSF funded ice core project, the South Pole Ice
(SPICE) Core.
SPICE Core
The scientific objective of the SPICE Core is to
recover the first deep ice core from the South
Pole for atmospheric trace gas research – the
main focus of my research in the Saltzman/Aydin
lab. South Pole is home to the cleanest air on the
planet and has an ideal yearly snowfall rate that
will provide a detailed atmospheric gas record
dating back thousands of years to before the
most recent glacial period. When complete, the
SPICE Core will reach a depth of 1,500 meters
and provide us with 40,000 years of atmospheric
trace gas and climate records. This drilling season,
which lasts only a few short months (November
to the beginning of February) we are striving to
reach a depth of 700 meters. At 700 meters, the
ice is over 10,000 years old!
I then pack each meter long ice core into tubes
that are subsequently packed in insulated boxes.
These boxes are shipped back to the National Ice
Core Laboratory (NICL) in Denver, Colorado. All
of this takes place in a drill trench that is colder
than -20°C…B-R-R! Once at NICL, the cores will
be processed and cut into samples for various
labs across the United States. By August 2015,
we should be receiving our sample allocation
of the SPICE Core and will immediately begin
conducting our own trace gas research in our lab
in Croul Hall.
8
3200 Croul Hall
Irvine, CA 92697-3200
(949) 824-8794
ess.uci.edu | essinfo@ess.uci.edu
Contributing to the scientific understanding of the Earth as a coupled system, through research and education
alumni
We want to know what you’re up to these days!
Whether you were in our first graduating class or our fifteenth, now is the perfect
time to reconnect with the Department of Earth System Science. Tell us what you’ve
been up to so we can highlight your work and achievements on our website and
in our newsletter. Want more hands-on experience? Spend some time on campus
and help us better prepare the next generation of Earth system science students
to work in industry jobs, earn higher degrees and make an impact.
Learn more! Give us a call at (949) 824-8794 or email essinfo@ess.uci.edu.
Ralph J. and Carol M. Cicerone Endowed Chair
and Fellowship Fund in Earth System Science
The primary funding priority for the Department of Earth System Science is
to raise funds for an Endowed Chair and graduate student fellowship fund.
With generous donations from Ralph J. and Carol M. Cicerone, Kingsley
and John V. Croul and the Jenkins family, we are half way to our $2 million
fundraising goal to create this Endowed Chair for our department’s founder.
Please join us in creating this enduring legacy, visit
http://www.ess.uci.edu/about-give to contribute.
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