Associated Faculty

Prof. Ronald G. Prinn

Profile

Affiliation(s):

MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, Co-Director;
MIT Center for Global Change Science, Director;
MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences

Education:

B.Sc., Chemistry, Pure and Applied Mathematics, University of Auckland, New Zealand, 1967
M.Sc., Chemistry, University of Auckland, New Zealand, 1968
Sc.D., Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1971

Courses taught:

Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry
Global Climate Change: Economics, Science, and Policy
Experimental Atmospheric Chemistry
Atmospheric Radiation

Biographical Statement:

Dr. Prinn's research interests incorporate the chemistry, dynamics, and physics of the atmospheres of the Earth and other planets, and the chemical evolution of atmospheres. He has been a faculty member at MIT since 1971, and headed the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences from 1998 to 2003. He is currently involved in a wide range of projects in atmospheric chemistry and biogeochemistry, climate science, and integrated assessment of science and policy regarding climate change. He leads the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE), in which the rates of change of the concentrations of the trace gases involved in the greenhouse effect and ozone depletion have been measured continuously over the globe for the past three decades. He is pioneering the use of inverse methods, which use such measurements and three-dimensional models to determine trace gas emissions and understand atmospheric chemical processes, especially those processes involving the oxidation capacity of the atmosphere. He is also working extensively with social scientists to link the science, economics and policy aspects of global change. He has co-led the development of a unique integrated global system model coupling economics, climate physics and chemistry, and land and ocean ecosystems, which is used to estimate uncertainty in climate predictions and analyze proposed climate policies. He has made significant contributions to the development of national and international scientific research programs in global change. He served as one of the Lead Authors in the Fourth Assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published in 2007. He has served as Chairman for Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Sciences of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and has chaired the Steering Committees for the IGBP/IAMAP International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project, the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Earth Sciences, and the U.S. Global Tropospheric Chemistry Program. He has been a member of the Steering Committees of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP), and the NASA Network for Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change, and a member of the IAMAP International Commission on Atmospheric Chemistry and Global Pollution, the NRC Space Science Board, the NRC Committee for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program, the NASA Space Science and Applications Advisory Committee, and the NASA Earth System Sciences Committee. He has twice testified to the United States Congress on climate change science and its implications for policy. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical U nion (AGU), a recipient of AGU's Macelwane Medal, and a Fellow of the AAAS. He has published some 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers, co-authored Planets and their Atmospheres: Origin and Evolution (Academic Press), and edited or co-edited Global Atmospheric-Biospheric Chemistry (Plenum), Atmospheric Chemistry in a Changing World (Springer), and Inverse Methods in Global Biogeochemical Cycles (AGU).

Selected Publications:

Rigby, M., R. Prinn, P. Fraser, P. Simmonds, R. Langenfelds, J. Huang, D. Cunnold, P. Steele, P. Krummel, R. Weiss, S. O'Doherty, P. Salameh, H. Wang, C. Harth, J. Muhle, and L. Porter, 2008, Renewed growth of atmospheric methane. Geophysical Research Letters, 113, D17313

Prinn, R.G., J. Reilly, M. Sarofim, C. Wang, and B. Felzer, Effects of air pollution control on climate: results from an integrated global system model, in: Human-induced climate change: an interdisciplinary assessment, editors M. Schlesinger, H. Kheshgi, J. Smith, F. de la Chesnaye, J. Reilly, T. Wilson and C. Kolstad, Cambridge University Press, pgs. 93-102, 2007

Prinn, R.G., J. Huang, R.F. Weiss, D.M. Cunnold, P.J. Fraser, P.G. Simmonds, A. McCulloch, C. Harth, S. Reimann, P. Salameh, S. O'Doherty, R.H.J. Wang, L. Porter, B.R. Miller and P. Krummel, Evidence for variability of atmospheric hydroxyl radicals over the past quarter century. Geophysical Research Letters, 32, L07809, 2005

Prinn, R.G., Complexities in the Climate System and Uncertainties in Forecasts, in The State of the Planet: Frontiers and challenges in Geophysics, eds. S. Sparks and C. Hawksworth, Geophysical Monographs, 150, AGU, pgs. 297-305, 2004

Prinn, R.G., The Cleansing Capacity of the Atmosphere. Annual Reviews, Environment and Resources, 28, 29-57, 2003

Reilly, J., R.G. Prinn, J. Harnisch, J. Fitzmaurice, H.D. Jacoby, D. Kicklighter, J. Melillo, P.H. Stone, A.P. Sokolov, and C. Wang, Multi-gas assessment of the Kyoto Protocol. Nature, 401, 549-555, 1999

Prinn, R.G., H.D. Jacoby, A.P. Sokolov, C. Wang, X. Xiao, Z.L. Yang, R.S. Eckaus, P.H. Stone, A.D. Ellerman, J.M. Melillo, J. Fitzmaurice, D.W. Kicklighter, G.L. Holian, and Y. Liu, Integrated Global System Model for climate policy assessment: Feedbacks and sensitivity studies, Climatic Change, 41: 469–546, 1999

Projects:

Developing an Improved Framework for Analysis of Global Warming
An Integrated Framework for Climate Change Assessment
Integrated Assessment of Global Warming
Synthesis of Arctic System Carbon Cycle Research Through Model-Data Fusion
The Interface of Infrastructures, Markets, and Natural Cycles—Innovative modeling and control mechanisms for managing electricity, water and air quality in Texas
Analytic Support for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Renewable Electricity Futures Study