Person with short white hair wearing a black blazer and white collared shirt. View of a planet Earth hurricane from space. Two scientists standing next to a monitor displaying earth climate modeling. Scientist Margaret Torn collecting soil samples in a field. A flux tower in a brown field with clouds above. A tropical forest with a mountain in the background. View of atmospheric measurement instruments in front of a Colorado mountain. Three scientists taking carbon soil measurements in a forest. Small green plant growing in a burned landscape. A colorful kite flying over a scientific field site. Palm trees blowing in extreme wind. View of a planet Earth hurricane from space. Dark-haired scientist in a polo and jeans kneeling in a field with various instrumentation Smiling person in a blue, gingham patterned shirt

Charles Koven is a staff scientist in the Climate Sciences Department and modeling lead in the NGEE-Tropics project. His research focuses on the relationship between climate change and Earth’s carbon cycle.

 Jennifer Holm, a brown-haired person wearing a white collared shirt, smiles for a headshot against a gray background.

Jennifer Holm is a research scientist in the Climate and Ecosystem Science Division and a collaborator in the NGEE-Tropics project. Her research focuses on modeling terrestrial ecosystems, with an emphasis on tropical forests.

 Smiling person with short gray hair wearing a black suit, navy tie, and a striped collared shirt photographed against climate models in the background.

Michael F. Wehner is a senior scientist in the Computational Research Division researching the behavior of extreme weather events in a changing climate, especially heat waves, intense precipitation, drought, and tropical cyclones.

 Illustration of snowcapped mountains in the rain, with gray clouds above. Mohammed Ombadi, a person with short black hair wearing a gray turtleneck and a black coat poses against a yellow backdrop.

As the world warms, extreme weather events grow – and they also change. Berkeley Lab researchers found that climate change is shifting snowfall to rainfall on mountains across the Northern Hemisphere. Those surges of liquid water bring a distinct set of dangers, including floods, landslides, and soil erosion.

As another atmospheric river impacts California on January 4th and 5th — with more rain forecast after that — Michael Wehner, a senior scientist in the Computational Research Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, discusses how climate change is increasing the rainfall from these drenching storms and how people can better prepare. Wehner uses observational data and advanced computer modeling to understand the behavior of extreme weather events in a changing climate, especially heat waves, intense precipitation, drought, and tropical cyclones.

We hear about climate models all the time, but how many of us know how they actually work? In this episode, we peel back the curtain, discussing where these models came from, what they can do amazingly well, and their current limitations. And our guests talk about what it’s like for them, personally, when their work is doubted, minimized, or politicized. After all, climate scientists find themselves in the hot seat a lot more often than other scientists. Today’s guests are experts not only in the science itself, but with staying cool under pressure, communicating their science with the public, and laughing off the negativity.

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