Reducing Disaster Risks

The frequency and intensity of hazards such as flooding, drought, heatwaves, wildfires, and storms are projected to increase in a warming climate, even as the number of people and value of infrastructure and assets exposed to these events also rise. Scientists in ESS are developing models and tools to better project how such extreme events will change in the future, and also scaling up engineering approaches to evaluate the effectiveness of different responses in mitigating the risks

Research Groups
Climate and Extreme Events Risk Group
Faculty
Jane Baldwin

Studies how atmosphere and ocean dynamics influence regional climate and climate extremes, with an eye to climate change and policy applications

Sustainable Systems Analysis Lab
Faculty
Steve Davis

Uses a wide range of environmental and economic data and multidisciplinary approaches to analyze the impacts from and on food, water, and energy systems. Research projects are problem-driven and solutions-oriented

AghaKouchak Group
Faculty
Amir AghaKouchak

Bridge between the disciplines of hydrology, climatology, and remote sensing to address critical global water resource issues

Ice Sheet Modeling Group
Faculty
Mathieu Morlighem

Combines modeling techniques and remote sensing to improve our understanding of ice dynamics and how they affect the climate system.

Sea Level and Gravimetry
Faculty
Isabella Velicogna

Employs advanced multi-sensor geophysical techniques, including satellite time-variable gravity (GRACE), to study the mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets and glaciers worldwide

Ice Remote Sensing Group
Faculty
Eric Rignot

Uses satellite remote sensing techniques (imaging radar, laser altimetry, radio echo sounding), airborne geophysical surveys (icebridge), field surveys (radar, GPS, bathymetry, CTD), and numerical modeling

Computational Clouds and Climate Lab
Faculty
Michael Pritchard

Uses high-resolution and multi-scale atmospheric models to study interactions between cloud physics, large-scale dynamics, and the regional water cycle. Exploits high-performance computing and machine learning for turbulent process emulation and neural-network assisted dynamical inquiry

Goulden Group
Faculty
Michael Goulden

How terrestrial ecosystems work, with an emphasis on what controls the exchanges of gases and energy between land surfaces and the atmosphere

Randerson Group
Faculty
Jim Randerson

Global change in terrestrial ecosystems

Faculty & Researchers
Jane Baldwin
Assistant Professor of Earth System Science
jane.baldwin@uci.edu
Steve Davis
Professor of Earth System Science
sjdavis@uci.edu
Amir AghaKouchak
Associate Director - Center for Hydrometeorology & Remote Sensing
amir.a@uci.edu
Mathieu Morlighem
Associate Professor of Earth System Science
mathieu.morlighem@uci.edu
Isabella Velicogna
Professor of Earth System Science
isabella@uci.edu
Eric Rignot
Professor of Earth System Science
erignot@uci.edu
Michael Pritchard
Associate Professor of Earth System Science
mspritch@uci.edu
Michael Goulden
Professor of Earth System Science
mgoulden@uci.edu
Jim Randerson
Professor of Earth System Science
jranders@uci.edu

News

Qualified recipients will receive $90,000 over three years at UC Irvine School of Law. 
The fellows are studying everything from quantum science to climate change.
Initiative benefits underserved California students in STEM fields.

The Department of Earth System Science acknowledges our presence on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Acjachemen and Tongva peoples, who still hold strong cultural, spiritual and physical ties to this region.