The Department of Energy's Climate and Environmental Sciences Division (CESD) hosted two town hall meetings at the 93rd American Meteorological Society Meeting in Austin, Texas. Held January 6-10, 2013, the meeting attracted over 3300 scientists, professors, and students

Advancing robust predictive understanding of Earth’s climate and environmental systems, including the interactions of human and natural systems and the implications for energy systems, is the overarching mission of CESD. CESD's first town hall, DOE Priorities on Community Modeling and Long-Term Predictions of the Integrated Water Cycle, was well attended. Renu Joseph, the CESD Program Manager for Regional and Global Climate Modeling, and Gary Geernaert, the CESD Division director, shared the priorities of DOE’s modeling program and the overall division, respectively. Ruby Leung from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Bill Collins from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Adam Schlosser from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, shared the findings from the integrated water cycle workshop that was held on September 24-26, 2012. 

This town hall opened a dialogue with participating scientists about the rapidly growing area of research interest at DOE, the integrated regional water cycle encompassing both the natural—atmospheric, ground, and surface water—and the human component. The discussion generated valuable input to DOE’s research priorities on the regional integrated water cycle. The Challenges of Community Modeling and Long-Term Predictions of the Integrated Water Cycle fact sheet was shared at this town hall.

Gary Geernaert, Director of DOE’s Climate and Environmental Sciences Division, led the second town hall, Investment Strategy for Human and Societal Dimensions of Global Change, with support from Tony Janetos, Director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute, and Bill Collins from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Bob Vallario, manager of DOE’s Integrated Assessment Research Program, was unable to attend due to a family emergency, but helped oversee preparations in advance of the town hall.

During recent years, a major priority for DOE has been to develop the human component within an integrated Earth and Environmental System Modeling framework, one that combines economics, technology, land use, and climate change. During this town hall, Gary shared information on recent investments as well as some success stories related to this priority. The feedback received from this town hall will now be used by DOE in their future strategies and priorities. A Human-Earth Systems Dynamics and Global Change: Risks, Responses, and Opportunities fact sheet was shared at the town hall.

The AMS annual meeting is a chance to learn from and collaborate with other professionals. Within the main conference are several smaller annual conferences and symposia, based on specific themes such as extreme weather, climate modeling, ecological disasters, and advancements in environmental awareness and knowledge. Next year’s annual meeting will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, February 2-6. Additional AMS meeting dates are available on their website.