The Climate Sciences Department has core competency in operating field observatories and undertaking observations and ecosystem manipulation experiments to study soil biogeochemistry, vegetation dynamics, and tropical, boreal, and sub-Arctic ecology. Department members are experienced in the collection and interpretation of eddy covariance measurements, tower and aircraft observations, and isotopic measurements of CO2, CH4, CO, 13C,…
Climate Sciences
Overview
The Climate Sciences Department is the newest Earth and Environmental Sciences Area’s Department, founded in April 2007, and now has more than 100 scientific staff members. Through the Department’s ongoing contributions toward DOE’s strategic mission, and its success in attracting top talent pursuing tightly focused research goals, Berkeley Lab is recognized as one of the U.S. DOE’s National Laboratories (see FY2015 DOE Strategic Plan) with core competency in Climate Change Science.
The Department’s research capabilities lie in three primary areas:
- Modeling climate change and climate change solutions
- Simulating clouds, rain, and the water cycle
- Measuring and modeling the terrestrial carbon cycle.
Core Capabilities

Modeling Climate Change and Climate Change Solutions
Scientists in the Climate Sciences Department are experts in developing predictive models that reveal the complex processes shaping and controlling the planet. Their scientific modeling expertise includes the ability to perform multiscale simulations of abrupt and extreme climate change through development, deployment, and diagnosis of new model frameworks. The Department is actively developing the first…

Simulating Clouds, Rain, and the Water Cycle
Departmental scientists have expertise in cloud and convective dynamics and the ability to incorporate that knowledge into DOE’s Earth System Models. Work includes studies of the energy available for triggering convection, the coupling between convection and its large-scale environment, and the transport of mass, momentum, aerosols, water vapor, and other chemical species in convection.

Mohit Dubey
Graduate Student Research Assistant
Phone:
mldubey@lbl.gov

David Ackerly
Faculty Scientist
Phone:
dackerly@lbl.gov

Emily Bercos-Hickey
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Phone:
ebercoshickey@lbl.gov

Sébastien Biraud
Staff Scientist
Climate Sciences Department Head
Phone:
scbiraud@lbl.gov

James K. Bishop
Senior Faculty Scientist
Phone:
Fax:
jkbishop@lbl.gov

Niklas Blanadet
Research Associate
Phone:
nblanadet@lbl.gov

Barbara Bomfim
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Phone:
bbomfim@lbl.gov

William Ronald Boos
Faculty Scientist
Phone:
wrboos@lbl.gov

Hanna Breunig
Research Scientist
Phone:
hannabreunig@lbl.gov

Cristina Castanha
Principal Research Associate
Phone:
ccastanha@lbl.gov

Oriana Elizabeth Holtz Chafe
Research Associate
Phone:
oechafe@lbl.gov

Jeffrey Chambers
Faculty Scientist
Phone:
jchambers@lbl.gov

Wai-Yin Stephen Chan
Senior Scientific Engineering Associate
Phone:
swchan@lbl.gov

Kuang-Yu Chang
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Phone:
ckychang@lbl.gov

John Chun Hong Chiang
Faculty Scientist

Housen Chu
Research Scientist
Phone:
hchu@lbl.gov

Fabio Ciulla
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Phone:
fciulla@lbl.gov

William D. (Bill) Collins
Associate Laboratory Director, Earth and Environmental Sciences Area
Phone:
Fax:
wdcollins@lbl.gov

Sigrid Dengel
Scientific Engineering Associate
Phone:
Fax:
sdengel@lbl.gov

Alan V. Di Vittorio
Research Scientist

Nicola Falco
Research Scientist

Daniel Feldman
Staff Scientist
Phone:
Fax:
drfeldman@lbl.gov

Inez Fung
Faculty Scientist
Phone:
ifung@lbl.gov

Xiulin Gao
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Phone:
xiulingao@lbl.gov

Cynthia Gerlein-Safdi
Faculty Scientist
Phone:
cgerleinsafdi@lbl.gov

Andrew S. Graus
Associate Software Developer
Phone:
agraus@lbl.gov

Jennifer A. Holm
Research Scientist
Phone:
Fax:
jaholm@lbl.gov

Kripa Akila Jagannathan
Research Scientist
Phone:
kajagannathan@lbl.gov

Andrew D. Jones
Staff Scientist
Program Domain Lead for Earth Systems and Society
Phone:
adjones@lbl.gov

Noel Keen
Software Developer
Phone:
ndkeen@lbl.gov

Trevor Keenan
Faculty Scientist
Phone:
Fax:
trevorkeenan@lbl.gov

Ryan G. Knox
Software Developer
Phone:
rgknox@lbl.gov

Charles Dunbar Koven
Staff Scientist
Phone:
cdkoven@lbl.gov

Lara Kueppers
Faculty Scientist
Phone:
Fax:
lmkueppers@lbl.gov

Gregory Lemieux
Software Developer
Phone:
glemieux@lbl.gov

Marcos Longo
Research Scientist
Phone:
mlongo@lbl.gov

Zelalem A. Mekonnen
Research Scientist
Phone:
zmekonnen@lbl.gov

Midhun (Mikey) Mohan
Graduate Student Research Assistant
Phone:
mid_mohan@lbl.gov

Andrew Moyes
Senior Scientific Engineering Associate
Phone:
abmoyes@lbl.gov

Jessica Needham
Research Scientist
Phone:
jfneedham@lbl.gov

Robinson I. Negron-Juarez
Staff Scientist
Phone:
Fax:
robinson.inj@lbl.gov

Travis A. O’Brien
Visiting Faculty
Phone:
Fax:
taobrien@lbl.gov

Elaine Pegoraro
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Phone:
elainepegoraro@lbl.gov

Rachel C. Porras
Senior Research Associate
Phone:
rcporras@lbl.gov

Satyarth Praveen
Data Scientist

Ken Reichl
Senior Scientific Engineering Associate
Phone:
kreichl@lbl.gov

Alan Rhoades
Hydroclimate Research Scientist
Phone:
arhoades@lbl.gov

William J. Riley
Director (Acting), Climate & Ecosystem Sciences Division;
Senior Scientist
Phone:
Fax:
wjriley@lbl.gov

Mark Risser
Research Scientist
Phone:
mdrisser@lbl.gov

David Romps
Faculty Scientist
Phone:
Fax:
dromps@lbl.gov

André Santos
Research Associate
Phone:
aldsantos@lbl.gov

Shijie Shu
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Phone:
sshu@lbl.gov

Anna Spiers
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Julia Szinai
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Jinyun Tang
Staff Scientist
Phone:
Fax:
jinyuntang@lbl.gov

Jing Tao
Research Scientist

Haiyan Teng
Climate & Atmosphere Processes Program Domain Lead
Staff Scientist
Phone:
hteng@lbl.gov

Margaret S. Torn
Ecologist & Biogeochemist
Senior Scientist
Phone:
Fax:
mstorn@lbl.gov

Pouya Vahmani
Research Scientist
Phone:
pvahmani@lbl.gov

Zexuan Xu
Research Scientist
Phone:
zexuanxu@lbl.gov

Da Yang
Faculty Scientist
Phone:
dayang@lbl.gov

Koong Yi
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Yang Zhou
Research Scientist
Phone:
yzhou2@lbl.gov

Qing Zhu
Research Scientist
Phone:
Fax:
qzhu@lbl.gov