ESSC: Earth System Science Center homepage

Welcome to the ESSC Web page...

Founded within the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences in 1986, the Earth System Science Center (ESSC) maintains a mission to describe, model, and understand the Earth's climate system.

The climate can be viewed as a complex interacting set of components including the oceans, atmosphere, cryosphere, and biosphere. Within the ESSC, we are engaged in studies that aim to understand both these individual components, and the interactions between them.

Our approach involves:

Employing a hierarchy of theoretical climate system models to perform long-term, high resolution climate model integration experiments aimed at understanding internal and forced changes in the climate system, including modern human or "anthropogenic" impacts on climate
Emphasis on "process" to bridge problems on multiple timescales: Examining the interactions in the North Atlantic coupled ocean-atmosphere-cryosphere system, the dynamics of the tropical Pacific coupled system, the role of the hydrologic cycle and freshwater in climate change, the relationship between climate variability and synoptic-scale dynamics, and the relationship between ocean biogeochemistry and climate change
A combination of modeling, empirical analysis, and exploration of fundamental processes to investigate the behavior of the climate system. This includes coupled ocean-atmosphere climate modeling, reconstruction of past climate using paleoclimate data, the comparison of models and observations, and the study of fundamental processes in the earth system
Development of new educational tools including interactive climate modeling tools tools to service both Penn State and the broader community

Highlights...

New book: Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming by Michael E. Mann and Lee R. Kump
Two ESSC scientists have authored a new book which distills the findings of the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report into a format that scientists and the general public can understand.
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Climate Ethics and Real Climate named one of the Top Green web sites by Time magazine
Climate change blogs Climate Ethics (created by Penn State's Rock Ethics Institute) and Real Climate (co-founded by ESSC director Dr. Michael Mann) were among the Top 15 Green web sites recognized by Time magazine in the April 28, 2008 special environmental issue.
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The article in Time >>

ESSC Scientists part of Nobel-winning IPCC panel
The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to former Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
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Response from the scientists >>
ESSC Scientists comment on the 2007 IPCC report
Dr. Richard Alley, one of the lead authors of this year's report, and Dr. Michael Mann, a contributor to past reports and reviewer of this year's report, both comment on the findings in the first part of the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.
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