Adam Sobel
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adamsobel.bsky.social
Adam Sobel
@adamsobel.bsky.social

Atmospheric scientist

Adam H. Sobel is a Professor of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics and of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University. He directs its Initiative on Extreme Weather and Climate. His research area is meteorology with a focus on atmospheric and climate dynamics, tropical meteorology, and extreme weather. .. more

Environmental science 48%
Geology 23%

It feels a little wrong to post about art at this time. But it's what's keeping me sane. So, here's the weekly Sumner Files, on a major #sumnercrane masterwork, dated 1989: The Shopping Centaurs.
deepconvection.substack.com/p/the-sumner...
The Sumner Files: Shopping Centaurs, 1989
A major Sumner masterwork
open.substack.com
There aren't a lot of resources for what people can do to prevent the destruction of NCAR, so I made this:

#NCAR #climate #climatescience #weather #meteorology #activism #myresources
Our paper exploring the drivers of the November 2023 “Taylor Swift” heatwave in Rio de Janeiro is officially out in WCD! Take a read to learn more about the causes of this record-breaking heatwave and Rio’s emerging risk for extreme heat:

wcd.copernicus.org/articles/6/1...
Physical drivers of the November 2023 heatwave in Rio de Janeiro
Abstract. Because extreme heat has not historically been a major hazard for the city of Rio de Janeiro, the November 2023 Heatwave magnitude and timing were staggering. Here we conduct a case study of...
wcd.copernicus.org
Some reflections after returning back from a conference at which I and 20,000 colleagues learned that the Trump administration intends to dismantle #NCAR. This outrage should not happen. deepconvection.substack.com/p/save-ncar
Save NCAR
Field notes from New Orleans, where I and 20,000 colleagues learned that Trump intends to destroy the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
deepconvection.substack.com
From wildfire warnings to flood forecasts, NCAR's research impacts everyone in America.

President Trump's attempt to dismantle it for political vengeance is beyond reckless.

We will fight against this dangerous scheme every step of the way.

Reposted by Adam H. Sobel

Please write to your congressional reps about the NCAR budget cuts

Reposted by Adam H. Sobel

For those at #agu25 #saveNCAR

12:15pm - Group Photo/Video at the "science strong" wall across from the Plenary Hall at the entrance to the convention center

1:30-5:30pm - drop in interviews at PJs Coffee in front of Hall C - look for the person with the "We ❤️ NCAR" sign.

More info:
The Weather & Climate Livestream
Join us starting May 28th, as meteorologists and climate scientists from across the US share their research and answer your questions.
wclivestream.com
Attacking NCAR is enormously self-destructive for America. NCAR is the leading centre in weather and climate research in the world. We Europeans often travel to NCAR to collaborate, discuss and learn. Hurting the centre will cause damage that is irreversible for years to decades with global impact.
eos.org Eos @eos.org · 25d
To help #SaveNCAR, read our update below and visit this @aguscipolicy.bsky.social page, where you can find email text and a call script to share with your representatives. agu.quorum.us/campaign/151...
Some perspectives from our community on what NCAR means to weather and climate researchers:

"NCAR is quite literally our global mothership" @katharinehayhoe.com

"I came to the US over 10 years ago for a postdoc at NCAR. It changed my life..." @climateflavors.bsky.social

#SaveNCAR
Threatening to dismantle NCAR, our premier weather and climate research institute (apparently) because Colorado refuses to pardon someone accused of tampering with voting machines is a sad example of our current kakistocracy in action… www.nytimes.com/2025...
The administration dismantling NCAR is scientific vandalism, much like the Taliban demolishing cultural artifacts.
www.theguardian.com/world/2001/m...

Reposted by Adam H. Sobel

Climate is simply a longer-term average of... weather.

Climate change research is simply the study of changing weather patterns.

NCAR has been at the forefront of weather / climate research and providing essential datasets for decades. It is one of the world's best training grounds for scientists.
NCAR is a unique & valuable asset - far more than a climate model, or observations, or technology, or training ground, or gathering space. It covers weather, space weather, data, climate, paleo-climate, and everything in-between. It's building is an icon, but it's iconic status goes far beyond that.

Reposted by Adam H. Sobel

This is an intellectual war crime.
NCAR is one of the nation's, and the world's, pre-eminent research institutions.

www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
www.usatoday.com

This week on the Sumner Files: the first new audio podcast episode in some months. I spoke to Arto Lindsay again, now in person, after we'd looked through the #sumnercrane archive (in which Arto is well represented, incl. drawings he did for Jack Texas) for a couple hours. tinyurl.com/4tt3f2wv
The Sumner Files, Episode Nine: Arto Lindsay, Again
tinyurl.com

To finish up the series on #sumnercrane and childhood, a few stories on adult Sumner's interactions with the children in his life via art. tinyurl.com/3jwv3ajt
The Sumner Files: Juvenilia, Part 3
On adult Sumner connecting with children through art.
tinyurl.com

In which I show drawings of musicians by child and teenage Sumner, and consider the confluences of music and visual art in his early life. bit.ly/48dE9yB #sumnercrane
The Sumner Files: Juvenilia, Part 2
Drawings of musicians, and the confluences between music and visual art in young Sumner's consciousness.
bit.ly

In which I show some of Sumner's childhood drawings. I consider the influence of comics on his work, and the way youth and age met in it, figuratively and sometimes literally. #sumnercrane tinyurl.com/4vdaacmc
The Sumner Files: Juvenilia, Part 1
On comics, and artistic links between childhood and adulthood
tinyurl.com

In the early 80s, Sumner formed a trio with Rudolph Grey and Arto Lindsay to do paintings & drawings and show them together under one name, Jack Texas. Here I ask: who does this - i.e., form a band, but for visual art - and why? And I document their show, at Danceteria, in 1983. bit.ly/4pf20Dp
The Sumner Files: Jack Texas and the Danceteria show
On collaboration, careerism or its absence, and doing art with one's friends
bit.ly

In the early 80s, #sumnercrane, Rudolph Grey and Arto Lindsay all signed the name Jack Texas to their visual art. Sumner and Rudolph did works based on comic book panels by Sumner's hero, artist Bob Powell, including a couple of Powell's "Cave Girl" character. More here bit.ly/49d6hTq
The Sumner Files: Jack Texas, Bob Powell, and Cave Girl, early 1980s
This week I’m jumping to the early 1980s.
bit.ly
"But perhaps the most consequential long-term loss for federal science is that of institutional knowledge and expertise — and the downstream effects on the training of early-career researchers."

"We lost people with decades of experience and everyone who was very early career, ...”
Dismantling of US federal agencies will ‘destroy science’
From NASA to the National Institutes of Health, federal agencies conduct research that universities cannot. Agency scientists speak out about the irreplaceable facilities, institutional knowledge and ...
www.nature.com

In which I introduce Sumner's art, starting with what I think may be the first paintings I ever saw in my life. In these, Sumner was strongly influenced by his teacher Milton Resnick. He also put in found objects, at least one of which has great personal meaning for me. bit.ly/4hQAGcj
The Sumner Files: Large abstract expressionist paintings, 1960s
This is the first post in which I am presenting any of Sumner’s visual art.
bit.ly
🚨The Moore Lab at UC Davis is hiring!🚨
Post-doc for a project with @adamsobel.bsky.social on the valuation of climate information for adaptation
Could be a good fit for an environmental economist or a climate scientist - flexible start date and location
Apply by Dec 1st: recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07346
Postdoctoral Scholar - Environmental Science & Policy
University of California, Davis is hiring. Apply now!
recruit.ucdavis.edu
BREAKING: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is illegally closing 13 campus buildings (including ~100 laboratories).

Report coming from GESTA, the Goddard employee union

Reposted by Adam H. Sobel

October 26 5pm ET: #Melissa, unfortunately, has never looked better on satellite. The NHC indicates Melissa is now up to 145 mph winds (Category 4). We'll see if this goes Category 5 in the next 24-48 hours.

High potential for catastrophic impacts in Jamaica, Cuba, and Hispaniola. Heartbreaking.

Reposted by Adam H. Sobel

Reposted by Adam H. Sobel

"Damaging winds and heavy rainfall... will cause catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding and numerous landslides before potentially devastating winds arrive... Extensive infrastructural damage, long-duration power and communication outages, and isolation of communities are expected." 💔😔

My late uncle Sumner had 15 minutes of fame in the 1970s as a member of the band Mars. But there was much more to him. I wrote a little biographical essay. Though only a few pages, I believe this is the most substantial written document of his life and work that yet exists. bit.ly/3L63zFb
The Sumner Files: A short biography of Sumner Crane
Photo by Catherine Lehman
bit.ly

Yes indeed!

It was a pleasure to talk with Matt Goldklang at the Man Group about climate risk, for his nice article on the subject in their newsletter, "Lets get geophysical." I hate looking at myself on video though... maybe just listen with picture off😑 letsgetgeophysical.substack.com/p/decoding-c...
Decoding Climate Uncertainty
Quick Take: Don’t let uncertainty in science deter you.
letsgetgeophysical.substack.com