College Park, MD 20740
Phil Rasch is an internationally recognized authority on the impact of aerosols on the climate system. For the past several years, Phil and colleagues have been conducting research to better understand the potential impact of “solar radiation management” options such as stratospheric aerosol injection and ocean cloud brightening. Please join us for an engaging overview of this “hot” topic.
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Philip Rasch serves as the Chief Scientist for Climate Science at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), a Department of Energy Office of Science research laboratory. Dr. Rasch received a Bachelor Degree in Atmospheric Science and another in Chemistry from the University of Washington in 1976. He then moved to Florida State University for a Master of Science in Meteorology. He went to the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado as an Advanced Study Program (ASP) Graduate Fellow to complete his PhD (which was also awarded from Florida State University). Following his PhD, Rasch remained at NCAR, first as ASP Postdoctoral Fellow, and then as a scientist where he worked in various positions. He joined PNNL in 2008. Rasch also holds an adjunct position at the University of Colorado and is an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Science at the University of Washington.
Dr. Rasch is internationally known for his work in general circulation, atmospheric chemistry, and climate modeling. He is particularly interested in the role of aerosols and clouds in the atmosphere, and has worked on the processes that describe these components of the atmosphere, the computational details that are needed to describe them in computer models, and on their impact on climate. For the last five years, he helped to lead the technical development team for the next generation of the atmospheric component of the Community Climate System Model Project, one of the major climate modeling activities in the United States. He also studies geoengineering, or the intentional manipulation of the atmosphere to counteract global warming.
Dr. Rasch was a chair of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Program (IGAC, 2004‐2008), and participates on the steering and scientific committees of a number of international scientific bodies. He was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, recognized for his contributions to climate modeling and connecting cloud formation, atmospheric chemistry and climate. He has contributed to scientific assessments for the World Meteorological Organization, NASA and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
