astronomy

Ronald J. Stouffer

Ronald J. Stouffer is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ronald J. Stouffer rather than just read about it. In short: Ronald J. Stouffer is a meteorologist and adjunct professor at the University of Arizona, formerly Senior Research Climatologist and head of the Climate and Ecosystems Group at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), part of NOAA.

Key takeaways

Ronald J. Stouffer belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ronald J. Stouffer to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ronald J. Stouffer from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Ronald J. Stouffer is a meteorologist and adjunct professor at the University of Arizona, formerly Senior Research Climatologist and head of the Climate and Ecosystems Group at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), part of NOAA. He has also served on the faculty of Princeton University. Stouffer is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union, to which he was elected “for his path-breaking development of coupled atmosphere-ocean climate models and their use in research on the oceans’ role in climate change”. With 2021 Nobel laureate Syukuro Manabe, Stouffer developed the first models to couple the atmosphere and ocean to create global climate warming projections. He is recognized for the accuracy of his models. He has published at least 220 papers on climate change, and has been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics for multiple years. He serves on the editorial board of Climate Dynamics. Stouffer has been both a member and chair of the Working Group on Climate Modeling of the World Climate Research Program (1993-), developing the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). Stouffer has been a contributing author to multiple Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports (1995, 2001, 2007), for which the IPCC won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Early life and education Stouffer earned his BS (1976) and MS (1977) in Meteorology from Pennsylvania State University.

Career Stouffer joined the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in 1977, remaining there until 2016. From 2009 to 2012 he served as Group Head of the Climate and Ecosystems Group. From 2012 to 2016 Stouffer served as Senior Scientist of Earth System Modeling and Science. As of 2016, Stouffer became an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona.

Research Stouffer collaborated with Syukuro Manabe, who created the first climate models to show the effects of carbon dioxide building up in the atmosphere. In the 1980s, Manabe and Stouffer tested a theory proposed by Wally Broecker, that Lake Agassiz, a giant meltwater lake, could have caused abrupt cooling by flooding into the Atlantic. They used ocean-coupled general circulation models (GCMs) to simulate the role of ocean flows in ice ages. In one of the first climate modeling studies to investigate the stability of thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic. Manabe and Stouffer (1988) presented a fully coupled ocean-atmosphere model, and demonstrated that it was possible for the model to reach more than one equilibrium state. One state was similar to the current climate, while the second state showed the effects of warming flows of meltwater. This Paleoclimate modelling associated changes in the circulation of the Atlantic Ocean over glacial–interglacial time periods with abrupt transitions in climate in the North Atlantic region. Further work by Manabe and Stouffer (1995) showed that meltwater could also result in a series of sharp temperature rises and falls. This research raised concerns about the stability of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and its potential to change abruptly and to dramatically impact climate. Manabe and Stouffer (1994)'s use of a coupled atmosphere-ocean climate model suggested that anthropogenic-driven climate change could have significant impacts, an issue addressed in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Third Assessment. Stouffer and Manabe showed remarkable accuracy in predicting future world-wide global patterns of warming that match patterns of warming since observed. Both "the projected surface pattern of warming, and the vertical structure of temperature change in both the atmosphere and ocean, were realistic." The first large model that demonstrated polar sensitivity in temperature effects was Manabe and Stouffer (1980). There is now high confidence that the Arctic surface will continue to warm at a higher rate than the global average during the 21st century. As early as 1988 Manabe and Stouffer's models showed pronounced impacts on tropical rainfall, but the significance of that feature of the simulations was not focused on at the time. Stouffer has been a lead author, contributing author, and review editor on multiple reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, beginning with the IPCC First Assessment Report in 1990. He has been a chapter author for Working Group 1 assessment reports in 1995, 2001, and 2007 and was an expert reviewer in 2013. He has also worked on the Summary for Policymakers for Working Group I and the Summary for Policymakers for the Synthesis Report of the IPCC reports. To write the IPCC reports, over 250 scientists and experts worldwide evaluate, synthesize, and comment on the published literature about climate change, summarizing the state of what is known from peer-reviewed studies. Their goal is to first determine consensus and then clearly identify places of disagreement and open questions. The IPCC reports clearly describe the scientific consensus that climate change is real, that it is caused by human activity, and that it urgently needs addressing. Reports go through an extensive reviewing process to create the final scientific assessment. The scientific assessment then becomes the basis for an accompanying Summary for Policymakers, approved by both contributing scientists and representatives from IPCC countries after intense scrutiny of the science and debate over what to do about the science. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for its work, to which Stouffer contributed. Stouffer has been both a member and chair of the Working Group on Climate Modeling of the World Climate Research Program (1993-) and its subcommittee, the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP). As part of his work with CMIP, he designs experiments and systems to better understand and compare different climate models. This is useful for scientists who are developing models and understanding the science, and for the IPCC, which uses the information as part of its assessment process and as a consistent way of showing the results of different models.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ronald J. Stouffer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ronald J. Stouffer claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ronald J. Stouffer before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ronald J. Stouffer ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ronald J. Stouffer

In research: Ronald J. Stouffer appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ronald J. Stouffer in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ronald J. Stouffer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American climatologists, American meteorologists, Fellows of the American Geophysical Union, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ronald J. Stouffer outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Ronald J. Stouffer in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ronald J. Stouffer means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ronald J. Stouffer out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ronald J. Stouffer in simple terms?

Why does Ronald J. Stouffer matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ronald J. Stouffer?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ronald J. Stouffer.