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July 30, 2026 – Dr. Venkatachalam “Ram” Ramaswamy was a respected scientist, leader, mentor, and colleague who made a lasting impact on GFDL and the broader climate science community. He first joined GFDL as a visiting scientist in 1985 and later served in several leadership roles, including group leader, senior scientist, Acting Director, and Director of the Lab.
Research Highlight
July 15, 2026 – Hydroxyl radicals (OH) are highly reactive molecules that remove many air pollutants and greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Because OH helps control methane’s lifetime, changes in OH concentrations can affect how long methane remains in the atmosphere and influences climate.
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March 18, 2025 – GFDL has a rich legacy of excellence and innovation, which is reflected in the exceptional achievements of our scientists and the recognition they have received. The lab has been creating opportunities for exploration and collaboration for more than 65 years and our scientists are among the most influential and decorated in climate science. We are proud to be home to dozens of recipients of prestigious awards, including the Nobel Prize and the Crafoord Prize, as well as members of the National Academy of Sciences. Scientists listed here performed their award-winning work at GFDL.
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June 29, 2026 – Fishermen, fisheries managers, and scientists have observed changes in our oceans that are impacting the location and growth of fish stocks. Until recently, there was no reliable way to predict these changes. This year, the 2026 Mid-Atlantic and New England State of the Ecosystem reports contain the first operational seasonal and decadal ocean forecasts for U.S. coastal fisheries regions.
Research Highlight
June 18, 2026 – Surface ozone is an important air pollutant that affects air quality and human health. It forms through chemical reactions involving sunlight, temperature, and precursor gases in the atmosphere. Interactions with atmospheric particles and vegetation can also influence how ozone forms and accumulates.
Award
June 8, 2026 – A study led by Vimal Koul, a postdoctoral scholar in NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System with Princeton University, was recognized as one of the Top 10% Most-Viewed Papers published in Geophysical Research Letters in 2024. The paper, “A Predicted Pause in the Rapid Warming of the Northwest Atlantic Shelf in the Coming Decade,” was co-authored by Andrew C. Ross, Charles Stock, Thomas Delworth, Andrew Wittenberg, and Liping Zhang (UCAR).
Research Highlight
June 1, 2026 – The Arctic Ocean exchanges heat and salt with the North Atlantic through ocean currents that pass through Arctic–Atlantic gateway regions. These exchanges may contribute to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a large-scale ocean circulation that transports heat northward across the Atlantic basin. However, the impacts of the Arctic Eurasian Basin water mass properties on the AMOC and the Atlantic Water layer in the Canadian Basin and Beaufort Sea remain unclear and less explored.
Research Highlight
May 13, 2026 – Clouds affect Earth’s climate by influencing how sunlight and heat move through the atmosphere, as well as by producing precipitation. Because many cloud processes occur at scales smaller than the resolution of climate models, these processes are represented using simplified descriptions of cloud formation and evolution, and precipitation development. In this study, the authors examine how different representations of cloud microphysics affect simulated cloud properties in the GFDL atmospheric model AM4.0.
Research Highlight
April 14, 2026 – Equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) measures the long-term global surface temperature response to a doubling of preindustrial carbon dioxide. While greenhouse gases are the primary driver of warming, atmospheric aerosols and chemical processes also influence how the climate system responds. In this study, GFDL scientists used simplified but closely related configurations of two GFDL models to isolate the role of atmospheric chemistry and composition.
Research Highlight
March 31, 2026 – The Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic and the Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension in the North Pacific are western boundary current systems that transport heat and shape regional ocean conditions. Variations in sea surface temperature in these regions can interact with atmospheric circulation and affect climate variability across the Northern Hemisphere. The authors examine observations and climate model simulations to investigate how variability in these two ocean regions is connected.
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March 18, 2026 – GFDL partnered with NOAA’s Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC) to help modernize how modeling containers are built and shared across the Unified Forecast System community. A new two-stage architecture improves portability, performance, and accessibility—making it easier for researchers to develop and run models across diverse computing environments.
