Climate research collaboration grows with renewed support

A highly successful 50-year collaboration between Princeton’s Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS) Program and the nearby Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) has been renewed for another five years by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Over its history, the Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System (CIMES) has contributed to the development of oceanic and atmospheric models, produced research on climate and biogeochemical cycling, and educated several generations of postdoctoral researchers and graduate students, in addition to other scientific efforts. The 2021 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to Princeton AOS Senior Meteorologist Syukuro (Suki) Manabe for his work on “modeling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming.” CIMES was renewed for its highest dollar amount yet, totaling up to $85 million to support Earth system science research, education and outreach.

“The massive increase in funding for CIMES —roughly a fourfold increase in just one decade —reflects the significance and excellence of the fundamental climate and Earth system research of CIMES,” said CIMES Director Stephan Fueglistaler, professor of geosciences and the director of AOS. “I look forward to another five years of collaborations and progress with our colleagues at GFDL.”