CURRICULUM VITAE

 

Benjamin S. Felzer

 

The Ecosystems Center

Marine Biological Laboratory

7 MBL St.

Woods Hole, MA 02543

(508) 289-7748

bfelzer@mbl.edu

www: http://www.mbl.edu/eco42/Personnel/bfelzer/benindex.html

 

Education and Degrees:

 

Ph.D. (Geology), 1995, Brown University

"Sensitivity of late Quaternary climates to changes in northern hemisphere ice sheets: Experiments with a general circulation model" - Thesis advisor: Thompson Webb III

 

M.S. (Geology), 1990, University of Colorado

"Quantitative reflectance spectroscopy of buddingtonite from the Cuprite mining district, Nevada" - Thesis advisor: Alexander F.H. Goetz

 

B.A. with Honors (Physics major, Astronomy minor), 1987, Swarthmore College

 

Employment:

 

August 2001 – present, Research Associate at The Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory

 

July 2000  - July 2001, GAPP (GEWEX – Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment - Americas Prediction Project) Program Specialist for the Office of Global Programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

 

September 1998 – July 2000, Project Scientist (climate scenarios coordinator) for the National Assessment Working Group and the National Assessment Coordination Office, National Center for Atmospheric Research

 

October 1995 - September 1998, PALE (Paleoclimates of Arctic Lakes and Estuaries) Postdoctoral Fellow under Dr. Starley Thompson, National Center for Atmospheric Research

 

1991 - 1995, Graduate research assistant under Dr. Thompson Webb III, Brown University

 

Spring 1994, Teaching assistant in an Introductory Geology course of Dr. Bruno Giletti and a Meteorology course of T. Webb, Brown University

 

Spring 1993, Teaching assistant in a Sedimentology and Stratigraphy course of Dr. R. K. Matthews, Brown University

 

Spring 1992, Teaching assistant in a Meteorology course of T. Webb, Brown University

 

1989 - 1990, Graduate research assistant under Dr. Alexander Goetz, University of Colorado - Boulder

 

1987 - 1988, Associate technical specialist, Computer Sciences Corporation, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD

 

1983 - 1985, Student technician under Dr. Wolff Heintz, Sproul Observatory, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA

 

Other Professional Experience

 

Technical review committee of global change and wildlife for The Wildlife Society, April 2002-2004.

 

Mentor for Swarthmore extern, January, 2004.

 

Judge at Falmouth Academy Science Fair, 2002, 2004 and tutoring science fair projects at Lawrence School, Falmouth, 2001-2004.

 

Develop world wide web page for PALE, 1995 - September, 1998 and for the U.S. National Assessment (currently maintained at http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/nacc/background/scenarios)

 

Alumni interviewer for Brown and Swarthmore, 1997 - present

 

Hydrogeology and groundwater modeling courses at University of Colorado-Boulder, 97/98

 

CAPE (Circumarctic paleoenvironments) planning meeting, London, England, Aug. 30 - Sept. 1, 1996 and CAPE meeting, Lammi, Finland, April 4 - 7, 1997

 

Mentor for SOARS (Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science) protégé (program to bring undergraduate minority students to conduct research at NCAR), NCAR, Boulder, CO, Summer, 1996, 1997, 1999

 

Taught in Providence Science Outreach (program to teach hands-on science lessons to inner-city elementary school students), Spring, 1995

 

Fourth Workshop on the Community Climate Model, NCAR, Boulder, CO June 21 - July 1, 1993

 

Supervised undergraduate student, Brown University, 1993-1994

 

Studied atmospheric dynamics in the Department of Meteorology (under J. Kutzbach), University of Wisconsin - Madison, Fall 1992

 

 

Service to Professional Societies and Organizations

 

Society Memberships:

American Geophysical Union

American Meteorological Society

Ecological Society of America

Sigma Xi (including award for outstanding research work)

Conference Coordination:

 

National Environmental Careers Conference, October, 1999 (chair session on ‘Environmental Research Careers’)

Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, October, 1996 (co-chairing symposium "Earth System Processes at the Last Glacial Maximum")

 

Research Interests

 

My most recent work focuses on using biogeochemical models to determine how disturbances such as CO2 fertilization, climate variability and change, air pollution, and land use and land cover change affect vegetation productivity and carbon sequestration.  My previous research focused on using climate model projections of the future to develop coping strategies for dealing with the consequences of global warming. I was most interested in understanding the climate processes responsible for regional anomalies within global warming scenarios. I also developed simulations of paleoclimates for data-model comparisons and understanding the sensitivity of the climate system to different forcing mechanisms. I was interested in both the physical processes responsible for paleoclimates and the application of the paleoclimatic data and boundary conditions toward understanding the present and future climates. I consider myself a climatologist with training in geology, ecology, and meteorology. I interact with other ecologists, atmospheric scientists, geologists, oceanographers, and biologists in studying the global carbon cycle, how the ecological system interacts with the atmosphere, how climate has changed, and the processes responsible for climate change.

 

My major research interests are:

 

1.      Ecosystem modeling:  I am currently using a biogeochemical model (Terrestrial Ecosystems Model, TEM) of the carbon, nitrogen and water cycles to determine how disturbances such as ozone pollution affect net primary production and carbon sequestration.  I have developed an improved hydrological model to incorporate a canopy conductance Penman Monteith approach to more realistically model ozone uptake by vegetation.  I have also developed a biogeographical model that allows vegetation to migrate with changing climate.  Working with the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, the biogeochemical model is coupled to an integrated systems model (Integrated Global System Model, IGSM) that allows economic projections of the future to drive future atmospheric emissions and climate change, thereby driving the biogeochemical model.  I have therefore studied the economic consequences of pollution and climate policy for different future scenarios, particularly regarding crop yield and the effect of carbon sequestration on meeting specific emissions targets.

 

2.      Climate diagnostics and intermodel comparisons: Regional and hydrological modelers often use output from GCMs to force their models with little understanding of the GCM output itself. I have been analyzing the climate processes (fluxes and circulation) responsible for the future anomaly patterns of the GCMs used in the national assessment. More work is required to understand the science within existing climate models and to compare the reasons for similarities and differences in patterns between different models.

 

3.      Integrated assessment: I am interested in using my knowledge of climate modeling to pursue future scenarios of climate change. Integrated assessment involves the use of economics models to predict future emissions scenarios, climate models to predict the climatic change induced by these emissions, and climate impact models to assess the impact of this climate change on future resources. I would like to enhance these studies with the use of more physically realistic GCMs to more accurately predict the climate change resulting from future emissions of greenhouse gases and sulfate aerosols.

 

4.      Regional modeling: A regional model is required to predict sub-GCM grid scale climate processes, such as precipitation and storm patterns that depend upon the detailed topography and coastlines of a region. A regional model incorporates the same fundamental physics as a GCM over a smaller region of the globe, with a much higher resolution over that region. These models are nested within a GCM, such that the GCM provides boundary conditions that drive the regional model. I have used a regional model to study the Holocene climatology of the north Atlantic region, where storm paths are highly dependent upon the topography of Greenland, Baffin and Ellesmere Islands. I am currently analyzing output from VEMAP (Vegetation/Ecosystem Modeling and Analysis Project), which has used empirical methods to downscale GCM data for the U.S.

 

5.      Paleoclimatic simulations: I am interested in pursuing more realistic simulations of Quaternary climates, by incorporating the effects of ocean circulation, dust, and vegetation into the model simulations. We now have the potential to apply solar and volcanic forcing to simulate the climate of the last millennium. Though my own research has focused on the climates since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), I have also been interested in using models to simulate the climates of other geologic times. I have been especially interested in the global cooling hypothesis of mountain uplift during the Tertiary and in the global warming hypothesis of higher CO2 and land/sea variations during the Cretaceous.

 

6.      Sensitivity of the climate to changes in boundary conditions: Sensitivity experiments involve changing a single boundary condition while holding all others constants, to determine the effects of that boundary condition. Ice sheets, orbital insolation, and CO2 are the major boundary conditions that have varied during the Quaternary. Topography and continental position, as well as solar variability changes, are major boundary conditions which are of importance on longer time scales. Volcanic eruptions and solar variability changes are crucial towards distinguishing anthropogenic climate change from natural climate variability over the last few centuries. I am most interested in studying the effects of vegetation, greenhouse gas, and aerosol changes, because these are important for understanding the course of future climates.

 

7.      Sensitivity of boundary conditions to changes in climate: Coupled models of certain boundary conditions may be used with GCMs to show how the boundary conditions change with changing climate. I have run GCM simulations coupled with a vegetation model to simulate the paleovegetation patterns during the LGM and Holocene, to determine the vegetation feedbacks and allow for more direct data model comparisons with the pollen data. I have been interested in asynchronously coupling an ice sheet model with a climate model to determine if the glacial climates I have modeled will permit the growth or decay of the ice sheets.

 

8.      Data-model comparisons: In addition to working solely with models, I have been concerned with ensuring proper comparisons with the geologic (and modern) data. I have learned the theory and methods for converting either fossil pollen data into temperature and precipitation values or fossil planktonic data into sea surface temperatures. I have also been interested in analyzing the biases of the GCM scenarios used for the national assessment to determine how these biases will affect the regional sensitivity to global warming.

 

Teaching Interests

 

ecosystem modeling

climate modeling

paleoclimatology

meteorology

sedimentation and stratigraphy

general geology

 

Publications

 

Felzer, B., P. Hauff and A. F. H. Goetz (1994). "Quantitative reflectance spectroscopy of buddingtonite from the Cuprite mining district, Nevada." Journal of Geophysical Research 99(B2): 2887-2895.

 

Felzer, B., R. J. Oglesby, H. Shao, T. Webb III, D. Hyman, W. L. Prell and J. E. Kutzbach (1995). "A systematic study of GCM sensitivity to latitudinal changes in solar radiation." Journal of Climate 8: 877-887.

 

Felzer, B., R.J. Oglesby, T. Webb III, and D. Hyman (1996). "Sensitivity of a general circulation model to changes in northern hemisphere ice sheets", Journal of Geophysical Research 101(D14): 19077-19092.

 

Felzer, B.,T. Webb III, and R.J. Oglesby (1998). "The impact of ice sheets, CO2, and orbital insolation on late Quaternary climates: Sensitivity experiments with a general circulation model", Quaternary Science Reviews, 17: 507-534.

 

Pollard, D., Bergengren, J. C., Stillwell-Soller, L. M., Felzer, B., and S. L. Thompson (1998). "Climate simulations for 10000 and 6000 years BP using the GENESIS global climate model", Paleoclimates: Data and Modelling, 2(2-3): 183-218.

 

Felzer, B., T. Webb III, and R. J. Oglesby (1999). "Climate model sensitivity to changes in boundary conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum", Paleoclimates: Data and Modeling, 3(4): 257-278 .

 

Felzer, B. and P. S. Heard (1999). "Precipitation differences amongst GCMs used for the U.S. National Assessment", Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 35(6): 1327-1339.

 

National Assessment Synthesis Team. (2000). “Climate change impacts on the United States: the potential consequences of climate variability and change”, prepared as part of the USGCRP for the NSTC and the U.S. Congress, Overview and Climate Foundation chapter.

Felzer, B., Thompson, S. L., Pollard, D., and J. C. Bergengren. (2000). "GCM-simulated hydrology in the Arctic during the past 21,000 years", Journal of Paleolimnology, 24: 15-28.

 

MacDonald, G. M., Felzer, B., Finney, B. P., and S. L. Forman. (2000). "Holocene lake sediment records of Arctic hydrology”, Journal of Paleolimnology, 24: 1-14.

 

Felzer, B. (2001). "Climate impacts of an ice sheet in East Siberia during the Last Glacial Maximum", Quaternary Science Reviews, 20: 437-447.

 

Felzer, B. and S. L. Thompson. (2001). “Climate simulation of the North Atlantic region using a mesoscale model”, Journal of Geophysical Research, 106(D21): 27407-27424.

 

Felzer, B. S., Reilly, J. M., Kicklighter, D. W., Wang, C., Prinn, R. G., Sarofim, M., and Q. Zhuang. (2003). “Past and future effects of ozone on net primary production and carbon sequestration using a global biochemistry model”, MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Report no. 103 (also in review at Climatic Change).

 

MacCracken, M. C., Barron, E. J., Easterling, D. R., Felzer, B. S., and Karl, T. R. (2003). “Climate change scenarios for the U.S. National Assessment”, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, DOI: 10.1175/BAMS-84-12-1711.

 

Endreny, T., Felzer, B., Shuttleworth, J. W., and Bonell, M. (2003). “Policy to coordinate watershed hydrological, social, and ecological needs: the HELP initiative”, Water Resources Monograph 16, 10.1029/016WM22.

 

Felzer, B., Kicklighter, D., Melillo, J., Wang, C., Zhuang, Q., and R. Prinn. (2004). “Effects of ozone on net primary production and carbon sequestration in the conterminous United States using a biogeochemistry model”, Tellus, 56B: 230-248.

 

Zhuang Q, Melillo JM, Kicklighter DW, Prinn RG, McGuire AD, Steudler PA, Felzer BS, Hu S. (2004) Methane Fluxes Between Terrestrial Ecosystems And the Atmosphere at Northern High Latitudes During the Past Century: A Retrospective Analysis with a Process-based Biogeochemistry Model. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 18, GB3010, doi:10.1029/2004GB002239.

 

Miller, G. H., Mangan, J., Pollard, D., Thompson, S. L., Felzer, B. S., and Magee, J. W. “Sensitivity of the Australian monsoon to insolation and vegetation: implications for human impact on continental moisture balance”, Geology, in press.

Zhuang, Q., J. M. Melillo, B. S. Felzer, D. W. Kicklighter, A. D. McGuire, A. Sokolov, R. G. Prinn, M. C. Sarofim, P. Steudler, and S. Hu, A greenhouse gas budget for northern high latitudes: net fluxes of carbon dioxide and methane over the 21st century, in review at Nature, 2004.

Zhuang, Q., J. M. Melillo, A. D. McGuire, D. W. Kicklighter, R. G. Prinn, P. A. Steudler, B. S. Felzer, and S. Hu, Natural methane emissions and the greenhouse gas budget for Alaska, in review at Ecological Applications.

 

 

 

Scientific Presentations and Abstracts

 

Scientific Presentations at Conferences and Workshops:

 

Felzer, B., P. Hauff and A. F. H. Goetz (1991). "Quantitative reflectance spectroscopy using NH4 absorption bands for buddingtonite and associated minerals at Cuprite, Nevada." Eighth Thematic Conference on Geological Remote Sensing: Exploration, Engineering, and Environment, Denver, CO, Environmental Research Institute of Michigan, pp. 549-562, April 29 - May 2 (extended abstract).

 

Felzer, B., R. Oglesby, D. Hyman and T. Webb III (1994). "Sensitivity of the global climate system to changes in northern hemisphere ice sheet size using the NCAR CCM1" (nonlinear sensitivity analysis based on perpetual season model runs). 6th Conference on Climate Variations, Nashville, TN., American Meteorological Society, pp. 202-206, January 23 -28 (extended abstract).

 

Felzer, B., R. Oglesby, D. Hyman and T. Webb III (1994). "Sensitivity of the global climate system to changes in northern hemisphere ice sheet size using the NCAR CCM1" (computed sea surface temperature model runs of flat and high ice sheets). 13th Biennial Meeting of the American Quaternary Association, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN., American Quaternary Association, p. 79, June 19 - 22.

 

Felzer, B., R. Oglesby, D. Hyman and T. Webb III (1994). "Role of the ice sheets in the COHMAP simulations of 21 and 11 ka, and comparisons with CO2 and solar insolation sensitivities." 94 COHMAP Workshop, University of Wisconsin - Madison, June 24 -28.

 

Felzer, B., T. Webb III, and R. Oglesby (1995). "Impact of northern hemisphere ice sheets on the Asian monsoon". American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, December 11-15.

 

Felzer, B., S. L. Thompson and D. Pollard (1996). "NCAR climate modeling in support of PALE". Third Annual PALE PI Abstract Volume, PALE conferences, Boulder, CO and Seattle, WA, October, 1995; Boulder, CO, February, 1996.

 

Felzer, B. and S. L. Thompson (1996). "Simulation of 6 ka BP in the north Atlantic region". 26 Arctic Workshop, INSTAAR, University of Colorado, Boulder, March 14-16.

 

Thompson, S. L., Felzer, B., and D. Pollard (1996). "PALE climate model simulations for 21 ka, 10 ka, 6 ka, and present using the NCAR GENESIS Version 2 climate model". Arctic System Science All-Hands Workshop, Snowbird, Utah, April 30 - May 3.

 

Felzer, B., Bergengren, J. C., Petersen, P., Thompson, S. L., and D. Pollard (1996). "Vegetational assemblages in Alaska since the Last Glacial Maximum". 47th Annual Arctic Science Conference, Girdwood, Alaska, September 19-21.

 

Felzer, B., Thompson, S. L., Pollard, D., and J. C. Bergengren (1996). "Vegetational assemblages during the Last Glacial Maximum", GSA Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, October 28-31.

 

Felzer, B., Thompson, S. L., Pollard, D., and J. C. Bergengren (1997). "GCM-Simulated Hydrology in the Arctic During the Past 21,000 Years". PALE Paleohydrology Workshop, UCLA, March 20-23, 1997 (submitted to Journal of Paleolimnology).

 

Felzer, B. and S. L. Thompson (1997). "PALE Modern Simulation of the North Atlantic Region Using the ARCSyM Mesoscale Model". American Geophysical Union Spring Meeting, Baltimore, May 27-30.

 

Felzer, B. (1997). "GCM simulations in the regions of Beringia since the LGM". Beringian Paleoenvironments Workshop, Florissant, CO, September 20-23 (invited).

 

Felzer, B. and S. L. Thompson (1997). "PALE Simulations of 0 and 6 ka BP of the North Atlantic Region Using the ARCSyM Mesoscale Model". American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, December 8-12.

 

Felzer, B. and S. L. Thompson (1998). "Modern simulation of the north Atlantic region using a mesoscale model." PALE PI Abstract Volume, PALE conference, Boulder, CO, February 3-5.

 

Felzer, B. and S. L. Thompson (1998). "PALE climate simulation of the north Atlantic region using a mesoscale model", 28 Arctic Workshop, INSTAAR, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, March 11-14.

 

Felzer, B. (1999). "Future climate: predictions based upon Hadley Centre and Canadian Climate models". Wetlands and Climate Change: Scientific Knowledge and Management Options workshop, Laurel, MD, February 3-4 1999.

 

Felzer, B. (1999). "Hydrological implications of GCM results for the U.S. national assessment". American Water Resources Association workshop, Atlanta, May 10-12 1999 (extended abstract).

 

Felzer, B. (1999). "U.S. National Assessment of the potential consequences of climate variability and change". Climate Scenarios for the Canadian Impacts Community workshop, Montreal, Canada, May 27-28 1999.

 

Felzer, B. (1999). "Use of the NCAR CSM within the U.S. National Assessment". NCAR Climate System Model workshop, Breckenridge, CO, June 22 1999.

 

Felzer, B. (1999). “Climate model projections of the 21st century for the U.S. National Assessment”. 11th Symposium on Global Change Studies, American Meteorological Society, Long Beach, CA, January 9-14, 2000.

 

Felzer, B. and R. Harriss (2000). “Developing scientific methods, tools, and prototype products for a North American assessment of vulnerability to climate variability and change”. Climate Change Communication Conference: Proceedings of an International Conference A4: 10-19, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, June 22-24, (extended abstract).

 

Felzer, B. (2000). “Regional hydrology from global climate models”, Quebec 2000: Millenium Wetland Event: Programs and Abstracts, Symposium on Wetlands and Climate Change: Scientific Knowledge and Management, p. 331, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, August 6-12, (abstract).

 

Felzer, B. S., Kicklighter, D. W., Melillo, J. M., Wang, C., and Q. Zhuang. (2002). “Surface ozone effects on productivity using a biogeochemistry model”, April AGU meeting, Washington D.C. (poster).

 

Felzer, B., Kicklighter, D. W., Zhuang, Q., and Melillo, J. (2002). “Ozone effects on global net primary production and carbon sequestration using a biogeochemistry model”, December AGU meeting, San Francisco, CA (poster).

 

Felzer, B., Reilly, J., Melillo, J., Kicklighter, D. W., Wang, C., Prinn, R., Sarofim, M, and Q. Zhuang (2003). “Implications of ozone on carbon sequestration and climate policy in the U.S. using the MIT integrated global systems model”, December AGU meeting, San Francisco, CA (talk).

 

Felzer, B., Kicklighter, D., Melillo, J., Wang, C., Zhuang, Q., and Prinn, R. (2004). “Ozone effects on net primary production and carbon sequestration in the conterminous United States using a biogeochemical model”, 36th Air Pollution Workshop, April 26-29, Rhinelander, WI (talk).

 

 

Talks at University Seminars and Colloquiums:

 

Brown University, Geology Department, Providence, RI, April 1992, 1993; January 1994; October 1994; March 1995

University of Wisconsin, Center for Climatic Research, Madison, WI, December 1992

Yale University, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics group, New Haven, CT, November 1994

National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Interdisciplinary Climate Systems Section, Boulder, CO, March 1995

Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton University/NOAA, Princeton, NJ, May 1995

Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, November 1996, 1997

NCAR, Climate and Global Dynamics Division Research Report, Boulder, CO, April 1998

U.S. National Assessment meetings for entire assessment, regions (Central Great Plains), sectors (water, agriculture), and National Assessment Synthesis Team, July 1998-present

UKMO Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, Bracknell, UK, February 1999

Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis (CCCma), Victoria, Canada, June 1999

NCAR Environmental and Societal Impacts Group (ESIG) seminar, Boulder, CO, October 1999

National Environmental Careers Conference, Hartford, CT, October 1999

US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) seminar, Washington DC, October 1999

Department of Energy (DOE) seminar, Washington DC, October 1999

NCAR Climate and Global Dynamics (CGD) seminar, Boulder, CO, November 1999

MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Cambridge, MA, September, November 2002, January 2003

Ecosystems Center, MBL, October, 2003.

Boston University Department of Geography seminar series, March 19, 2004.