Meet PLOS Climate Section Editors Jason Evans and Olivia Romppainen-Martius

In this blog post, we speak to Jason Evans and Olivia Romppainen-Martius, PLOS Climate Section Editors for Atmosphere & Oceans.

Could you tell us a bit about how you ended up in your area of study?

Olivia: I studied earth sciences with a specialization in climate and hydrology. During my PhD I focussed on weather system dynamics and I still enjoy working on research questions related to atmospheric dynamics tremendously. In the past decade, my research focus has shifted more towards application-oriented research, in particular, applications for the insurance sector, including risk assessments and risk modeling, but also forecasting of extreme weather events.

Jason: My first research was in solid state physics. It was interesting but not the right fit for me. I decided to try something more mathematical and did some research in general relativity. This was also interesting but again, not the right fit for me. I decided to do research into something that would help people, and climate change is the biggest problem facing humanity over the next century, so I looked for opportunities in this direction. I was lucky enough to be offered a PhD position doing research in hydrology and climate change, and this was just right for me. I have been doing research into the climate system ever since, with a particular interest in the water cycle.

What’s the focus of your current work, and what questions or issues are you hoping to address?

Olivia: My current research is focused on extreme weather events and associated risks in the current and future climate with a strong focus on Central Europe. We aim to understand the relevant underlying processes, quantify and improve predictability, link extreme events to impacts, and communicate the results to users. We are currently focused mainly on two types of extremes: severe storms and floods. Severe storms regularly cause substantial damage in many areas around the world. However,  due to the small spatial scale, very little is known about future changes in the frequency and intensity of severe storms. For floods, we are working towards impact-based warnings using user-specific visualizations in combination with process-based and data driven models.

Jason: My current research is focused on regional climate processes, climate change, and its impact on human and natural systems. I have a range of projects underway in these broad topics. In terms of climate processes I am working on short duration rainfall extremes to understand the causes of the trends we see in recent decades and how climate change will impact these extremes in the future. I also have projects investigating the urban landscapes influence on temperature and precipitation, how this has changed as the urban landscape has changed, and what this might mean for a cities climate under global warming. In another project I am investigating mechanisms that lead to the development of fire-generated thunderstorms (PyroCumulonimbus). These extreme fire events have been happening much more often in recent years and we don’t yet fully understand their causes or what role climate change is playing in this increase. In terms of regional climate changes, I work with state and federal governments in Australia to help generate regional climate projections, and then use these projections to quantify future climate changes over Australia with a particular focus on climate hazards. I have also started a project to produce high resolution climate projections for Pacific islands which is an endorsed CORDEX Flagship Pilot Study. Some other examples of current research includes investigations of the climate change impact on renewable energy generation, coastal erosion, and dryland ecosystems.

Why do the principles of Open Access and Open Science matter to you?

Olivia: Climate adaptation is, in part, highly individual and/or local, and so are the data and information requirements of the local stakeholders and decision-makers.  Open Access to the relevant knowledge, data, code, and analysis tools is therefore imperative for a successful adaptation process. Open Access is also an important step for science to become more just. Finally, Open Access and Open Science are also important to maintain public trust in science.

Jason: I think Open Access and Open Science are an ethical approach to science. Certainly with climate change, being transparent about our methods and outcomes is needed to build trust in the science. Sharing data, methods, even code, helps to accelerate our scientific advances. In addition, having the science openly available for all means that people outside climate science, including decision makers, can find and read the science for themselves. The openness increases the chance that our science will have an impact beyond our immediate scientific community.

What kind of papers would you be particularly excited to see submitted to your section of PLOS Climate?

Olivia: I would love to see papers that address the potential and limitations of deep learning methods for climate science in general and for local climate risk assessment in particular. I would be further highly interested in papers focussing on observations, including new data sources but also much-needed information on land-atmosphere interactions.  Finally, would highly appreciate papers proposing progress in theory and new conceptual models.  

Jason: I’d love to see papers that address a broad range of regional climate issues. From process understanding, to regional climate modelling and projections, to climate change impacts on a wide variety of systems. The Coordinated Regional climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) has been doing this kind of modelling for many years and the Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) project has also been doing process level studies and observational analysis relevant to regional climates. It would be great to see some of this work published in PLOS Climate.

Ready to submit your work to PLOS Climate‘s Atmosphere & Oceans section? Follow our step-by-step guide to the submission process!