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Jonathan T. Overpeck, Ph.D.

jonathan overpeck
Samuel A. Graham Dean; William B. Stapp Collegiate Professor of Environmental Education; Professor, Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering; Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Ecosystem Science and Management
Climate + Energy
seas-dean@umich.edu
Office
Dana 2046

About

Professor Overpeck is an interdisciplinary climate scientist and the Samuel A. Graham Dean of the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan.

Overpeck has written over 220 published works on climate and the environmental sciences, served as a Working Group 1 Coordinating Lead Author for the Nobel Prize winning IPCC 4th Assessment (2007), and also as a Working Group 2 Lead Author for the IPCC 5th Assessment (2014). Other awards include the US Dept. of Commerce Gold and Bronze Medals, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Walter Orr Roberts award of the American Meteorological Society, and the Quivira Coalition’s Radical Center Award for his work with rural ranchers and land managers.

He has led active climate research programs on five continents. His research is focused on understanding drought and megadrought dynamics (and risk) the world over, and has also served as the lead investigator of Climate Assessment for the Southwest and the SW Climate Science Center – two major programs focused on regional climate adaptation. Overpeck also works more broadly on climate and paleoclimate dynamics, ice sheets and sea level, climate-vegetation interaction, conservation biology, legal issues related to climate change, environmental communication and environmental education. He has appeared and testified before Congress multiple times, is a Fellow of AGU and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and tweets about climate-related issues @GreatLakesPeck .

Publications

Loope, G., D. Thompson, J. Cole and  J.Overpeck, (2020). Is there a low-frequency bias in multiproxy reconstructions of tropical pacific SST variability? Quaternary Science Reviews 246, 106530

Loope, G. D. Thompson, and J. Overpeck, J. (2020). The spectrum of Asian Monsoon variability: A proxy system model approach to the hydroclimate scaling mismatch. Quaternary Science Reviews 240, 106362.

Overpeck, J.T. and B. Udall(2020). Climate change and the aridification of North America.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117 (22), 11856-11858.169.

Pendergrass, A.G., G.A. Meehl, R. Pulwarty, M. Hobbins, M. Hoell, A. AghaKouchak, C.J.W. Bonfils, A.J.E. Gallant, M. Hoerling, D. Hoffmann, L. Kaatz, F. Lehner, D. Llewellyn, P. Mote, R.B. Neale, J.T. Overpeck, A. Sheffield, K. Stahl, M. Svoboda, M.C. Wheeler, A.W. Wood, C.A. Woodhouse, C.A. (2020). Flash droughts present a new challenge for subseasonal-to-seasonal prediction. Nature Climate Change 10 (3), 191-199.

Routson, C.C., S.H.Arcusa, N.P. McKay and J.T. Overpeck. (2019). A 4,500‐Year‐Long Record of Southern Rocky Mountain Dust Deposition. Geophys. Res. Lett. 46: 8281-8288. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083255

Barr, C., J. Tibby, M.J. Leng, J. J. Tyler, A.C.G. Henderson, J.T. Overpeck, G.L. Simpson, J.E. Cole, S.J. Phipps, J.C. Marshall, G.B. McGregor, Q. Hua, and F.H. McRobie (2019). Holocene El Niño–Southern Oscillation variability reflected in subtropical Australian precipitation. Scientific Reports 9:1627-1636 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-38626-3

Cook, B.R. and J.T.Overpeck (2018). Relationship-building between climate scientists and publics as an alternative to information transfer. WIREs Climate Change 2018;e570, https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.570

Garner, A.J., J.L. Weiss, A. Parris, R.E. Kopp, R.M. Horton, J.T. Overpeck, and B.P. Horton (2018) Evolution of 21st Century Sea-level Rise Projections. Earth’s Future 6: 1603–1615. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EF000991

Overpeck, J.T. and S.A. Bonar (2018). Southwestern fish and aquatic systems: the climate challenge. In: Standing between life and extinction: ethics and ecology of conserving aquatic species in the American Southwest (D.L. Propst, J. E. Williams, K.R. Bestgen, and C.W. Hoagstrom, eds.) University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL (Invited, in press).

Nolan, C., J.T. Overpeck, and 33 others (2018). Past and future global transformation of terrestrial ecosystems under climate change. Science (in press).

Yin, J, J.T. Overpeck, C. Peyser and R. Stouffer. (2018). Big Jump of Record Warm Global Mean Surface Temperature in 2014-2016 Related to Unusually Large Oceanic Heat Releases. Geophys. Res. Lett 10.1002/2017GL076500.

Stevenson, S., J.T. Overpeck, J. Fasullo, S. Coats, L. Parsons, T. Ault, B. Otto-Bliesner, G. Loope and J. Cole (2018). Climate Variability, Volcanic Forcing, and Last Millennium Hydroclimate Extremes. Journal of Climate 31: 4309-4327.

Parsons, L.A. S. Coats and J. T. Overpeck (2018. The continuum of drought in Southwestern North America. Journal of Climate (in press).

Parsons, L.A. S. LeRoy, J. T. Overpeck, M. Bush, G. M. Cárdenes-Sandí, and Scott Saleska (2018). The Threat of Multi-Year Drought in Amazonia. Water Resources Research (in press).

Garfin G., D. A. Falk, C. D. O’Connor, K. Jacobs, R. D. Sagarin, A. C. Haverland, A. Haworth, A. Baglee, J. Weiss, J. Overpeck, A. A. Zuñiga-Terán. (2018). A new mission: climate adaptation challenges and opportunities in the Department of Defense. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment (in press).

Parsons, L.A., G R. Loope, J. T. Overpeck, T. R. Ault, R, Stouffer and J. E. Cole (2017). Temperature and precipitation variance in CMIP5 simulations and paleoclimate records of the last millennium. Journal of Climate 30: 8885-8912.

Routson, C.C, T. M. Shanahan, J. T. Overpeck, and C. A. Woodhouse. (2017). The megadrought environment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (in revision).

Dee, S.G., L.A. Parsons, G. Loope, T.R. Ault, J. Emile-Geay, and J.T. Overpeck. (2017). Improved spectral comparisons of paleoclimate models and observations via proxy system modeling: implications for multi-decadal variability. Earth and Planetary Science Letters: 476: 34-46.

Conroy, J.L, A.F. Collins, J.T. Overpeck, M.B. Bush, J.E. Cole, and D.J. Anderson (2015). A 400-year isotopic record of seabird response to eastern tropical Pacific productivity. Geo Geography and Environment 2, 137–147 doi: 10.1002/geo2.11

LaKind, J., J. Overpeck and 13 others. (2016). Exposure science in an age of rapidly changing climate: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology advance online publication 3 August 2016; doi: 10.1038/jes.2016.35

Routson, C.C., C.A. Woodhouse, J.T. Overpeck, J.L. Betancourt, N.P. McKay. (2016). Teleconnected Ocean Forcing of Western North American Droughts and Pluvials During the Last Millennium. Quaternary Science Reviews 146: 238-250.

Conroy, J.L., A.M. Hudson, J.T. Overpeck, K-b Liu, L. Wang and J.E. Cole. (2017). The primacy of multidecadal to centennial variability over late-Holocene forced change of the Asian Monsoon on the southern Tibetan Plateau. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 458: 337-348.

Routson CC, Overpeck JT, Woodhouse CA, Kenney WF (2016) Three Millennia of Southwestern North American Dustiness and Future Implications. PLoS ONE 11(2): e0149573. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0149573.

Udall, B. and J. Overpeck (2017). The 21st Century Colorado River hot drought and implications for the future. Water Resources Research 10.1002/2016WR019638

Bush, M.B., Y.A. Correa-Metrio, C.H. McMichael, S. Sully, C.R. Shadik, T. Guilderson, M. Steinitz-Kannan, and J.T. Overpeck (2016). A 6900-year history of landscape modification by humans in lowland Amazonia. Quaternary Science Reviews 141: 52-64.

Research

2017-2020 – NSF “The flavors of Southwest Hydroclimatic Extemes” $559,474 (PI with 3 others)
2013-2018 – NOAA/USAID “Integrating Climate Information and Decision Processes for Regional Resilience” $3,173,026 Senior personnel with several others – this is a new partnership with the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia – focused on international climate adaptation)
2014-2018 – NSF “Collaborative Research: Understanding the Full Range of Amazon Drought and Impacts.” 4 years - $331,900 (PI with one other)
2013-2018 – NSF “EaSM 2 Collaborative Research on Quantifying and Conveying the Risk of Prolonged Drought in Coming Decades.”5 years - $1,362,189 (PI with 3 others).

Education

PHD in Geological Sciences, Brown University, Rhode Island
MSc in Geological Sciences, Brown University
BA in Geology (Honors), Hamilton College, New York

Affiliations

2014 – 2020 – Member, U.S. National Research Council, U.S. National Academy of Science, Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate

2014 – present – Founding Member, Colorado River Research Group (CRRG), an independent, scientific voice for the future of the Colorado River (http://www.coloradoriverresearchgroup.org)

2012- 2020 - Member, U.S. National Research Council, U.S. National Academy of Science, Board on Environmental Change and Society

2011- present – Science Advisor, Climate Communication (climatecommunication.org)

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In the Media
01/13/2021
Drought-stricken Colorado River Basin could see additional 20% drop in water flow by 2050 (Yale Climate Connections)
01/12/2021
How Climate Change is Driving Wildfire Trends (Climatrends)
09/22/2020
Climate Disruption Is Now Locked In. The Next Moves Will Be Crucial (The New York Times)
09/09/2020
Think 2020's disasters are wild? Experts see worse in future (Associated Press)
06/24/2020
The Arctic is on fire: Siberian heat wave alarms scientists (The Washington Post)
09/01/2019
Dean Overpeck for the AP: Fact-checking politicians on climate change
03/01/2019
Dr. Jonathan Overpeck on ways to help solve climate change and how local students taking part in citizen science can make a difference
12/01/2018
The Southwest Might Be in One of the Worst Mega-Droughts in History, Experts Say
11/01/2018
Scientists: Wind, drought worsen fires, not bad management
09/01/2018
Major transformation' ahead for Earth's ecosystems: study
06/01/2018
Minnesota's renewable energy revolution
America’s longest river was recently drier than during the Dust Bowl. And it’s bound to happen again
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