CIRA Carbon Research Group (O'Dell Lead) circa 2017
Back row from left: Heather Cronk, Chris O'Dell, Emily Bell, and Michael Cheeseman
Front row: David Baker, Tommy Taylor, Andrew Schuh, and Rob Nelson
The research in my group is driven primarily by a desire to increase our knowledge of anthropogenically-forced global climate change. In order to be able to accurately predict future climate for a given scenario of human emissions, it is important to understand currently-occurring changes in the earth system. In my group this is done primarily through global-scale satellite measurements of climatically important variables, such as longwave radiation, clouds, and greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide. One of our main projects is to better understand the earth's carbon cycle through precision measurements of carbon dioxide and methane, the two most important greenhouse gases. Precision measurements of these gases may one day lead to the ability to do "top-down" accounting of GHG emissions, which could help in verifying such emissions in a treaty-relevant manner.