CAREER: Aerosols as Drivers of Multivariate Climate Hazard

NSF Award Search · 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT · $945,558 · view on nsf.gov ↗

Abstract

This project examines aerosol impacts on multivariate climate hazards that have great significance to society, including the concurrent extreme events of fire weather, humid-heat, and drought events. Aerosols have a larger impact on univariate extreme temperature and moisture events per unit global mean temperature change than greenhouse gases. However, their role in multivariate climate hazards is unknown and a framework on how to consider aerosols when attributing and planning for these hazards is also lacking. At the same time, aerosols are increasing because of increases in both anthropogenic and natural sources, accelerating the need to understand their role in climate hazards. This study addresses this need by 1) developing methodologies to uncover the influence of aerosols on multivariate climate extremes using state-of-the-art climate models; and 2) educating the next generation climate workforce with greater awareness of the factors contributing to multivariate climate extremes and the tools to enable robust societal planning for climate risk, taking into account these impacts. A key hypothesis of this work is that aerosols can have a greater impact than greenhouse gases on temperature and moisture and, thus, multivariate climate hazards in certain regions and for specific events. The project will examine this hypothesis using existing and emerging model output from the multi-model single forcing large ensemble (SFLE) aerosol intercomparison project and the Region

Key facts

NSF award ID
2441810
Awardee
University of Texas at Austin (TX)
SAM.gov UEI
V6AFQPN18437
PI
Geeta G Persad
Primary program
01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
All programs
CAREER-Faculty Erly Career Dev
Estimated total
$945,558
Funds obligated
$945,558
Transaction type
Continuing Grant
Period
06/01/2025 → 05/31/2030