Gordon Bonan, Senior Scientist
Education
Ph.D., Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, 1988
M.S., Forest Resources, University of Georgia, 1984
B.A., Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, 1982
Appointments
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Climate and Global Dynamics
Scientist I (1991-1994); Scientist II (1994-1997); Scientist III (1997-2002);
Head, Terrestrial Sciences Section (2002-2019);
Senior Scientist (2002-)
Advanced Study Program
Postdoctoral Fellow (1989-1991)
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
National Research Council Research Associate (1988-1989)
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria
Young Scientists Summer Program (1987); Associate Research Scholar (1988)
Research Interests
My research examines the interactions of terrestrial ecosystems with climate. This research integrates ecological, biogeochemical, hydrological, and atmospheric sciences to study terrestrial ecosystems, their responses to climate change, feedbacks that amplify or mitigate climate change, and human perturbations in land cover, land use, and ecosystem functions that alter climate. I specialize in the development of and experimentation with coupled models of Earth's biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere system.
Honors
Fellow, American Geophysical Union (2013)
Fellow, American Meteorological Society (2018)
Fellow, Ecological Society of America (2019)
American Geophysical Union, Tyndall History of Global Environmental Change Lecture (2020)
Clarivate Web of Science highly cited researcher (2014-2021)
American Geophysical Union, 2023 editor's citation for excellence in refereering (J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst.), 18 June 2024
Publications and Citations
Clarivate Web of Science (October 2024)
- Publications: 163
- Total citations: 46,414
- Citing articles: 34,357
- h-index: 83
NCAR Service
co-chair, Community Earth System Model land model working Group, 1997-2006
head, Terrestrial Sciences Section, 2002-2019
Community Earth System Model scientific steering committee, 2003-2009
co-chair, Community Earth System Model biogeochemistry working group, 2007-2014
Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS) steering committee, 2016-2021
Community Service
co-chair, Arctic System Science (ARCSS) Advisory Committee modeling working group (National Science Foundation), 1995-1996
Editor, Journal of Climate, 1998-2003
Climate Research Committee (Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, National Research Council), 2001-2003
Integrated Land Ecosystem-Atmosphere Processes Study (iLEAPS) scientific steering committee (International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme), 2010-2014
Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment (NGEE) Tropics scientific advisory board (Department of Energy), 2014-2023
Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (Jena) scientific advisory board (2017-2025); chair (2017-2022)
Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Forests, Climate Change, and Our Future (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
For centuries, people have understood that forests, and our utilisation of
them, influence the climate. With modern environmental concerns, there is
now scientific, governmental, and popular interest in planting trees for
climate protection. This book examines the historical origins of the idea
that forests influence climate, the bitter controversy that ended the science,
and its modern rebirth. Spanning the 1500s to the present, it provides a
broad perspective across the physical and biological sciences, as well as the
humanities, to explain the many ways forests influence climate. It describes
their use in climate-smart forestry and as a natural climate solution, and
demonstrates that in the forest–climate question, human and sylvan fates
are linked. Accessibly written with minimal mathematics, it is ideal for
students in environmental and related sciences, as well as anyone with an
interest in understanding the environmental workings of forests and their
interactions with climate.
Part I: Historical Perspective: 1. The Forest-Climate Question; 2. Tempering the Climate, c. 1600–1840; 3. Destroying the Rains, c. 1500–1830; 4. Planting Trees for Rain, c. 1840– 1900; 5. Making a Science: Forest Meteorology, c. 1850–1880; 6. American Meteorologists Speak Out, c. 1850–1910; 7. Views of Forests.
Part II: The Scientific Basis: 8. Global Physical Climatology; 9. Forest Biometeorology; 10. Scientific Tools; 11. Forest Microclimates; 12. Water Yield; 13. Carbon Sequestration; 14. Forest Macroclimates; 15. Case Studies; 16. Climate-Smart Forests; 17. Forests of the Future; 18. The Forests Before Us; Notes; References; Index.
Ecological Climatology, 3rd edition (Cambridge University Press, 2016)
Ecological Climatology introduces an interdisciplinary framework to understand the interaction between terrestrial ecosystems and climate change. Written for advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying ecology, environmental science, atmospheric science and geography, the textbook reviews basic meteorological, hydrological and ecological concepts to examine the physical, chemical and biological processes by which terrestrial ecosystems affect and are affected by climate. The 3rd edition has expanded the scope beyond its initial focus on energy, water, and carbon to include reactive gases and aerosols in the atmosphere. This new edition emphasizes Earth as a system, recognizing interconnections among the planet's physical, chemical, biological, and socioeconomic components, and emphasizing global environmental sustainability. New chapters include: nitrogen, chemistry, and climate; aerosols, chemistry, and climate; climate intervention and geoengineering; and coevolution of climate and life.
Climate Change and Terrestrial Ecosystem Modeling (Cambridge University Press, 2019)
Climate Change and Terrestrial Ecosystem Modeling
describes the modeling of terrestrial ecosystems in Earth system models. This companion book to
Ecological Climatology
builds on the concepts introduced there, and provides the mathematical foundation upon which to develop and understand ecosystem models
and their relevance for Earth system models.
Ecological Climatology describes why the biosphere matters for understanding climate and climate change.
Climate Change and Terrestrial Ecosystem Modeling decscibes how to model the biosphere.
Using theory and practice, the comprehensive text covers the fundamentals of environmental biophysics, biometeorology, biogeochemical cycles,
and vegetation dynamics, and integrates those principles into a complete model.
The book bridges the disciplinary gap among land surface models developed by atmospheric scientists;
biogeochemical models, dynamic global vegetation models, and ecosystem demography models developed by ecologists; and ecohydrology models developed by
hydrologists. It shows the commonality across disciplines and provides a foundation for exchange of knowledge among ecologists, hydrologists, and
atmospheric scientists.
Forests and Climate Change
In a review paper appearing in the 13 June 2008 special issue of Science on "Forests in Flux," Gordon Bonan presents the current state of understanding for how forests impact global climate. "As politicians and the general public become more aware of climate change, there will be greater interest in legislative policies to mitigate global warming," said Bonan. "Forests have been proposed as a possible solution, so it is imperative that we understand fully how forests influence climate."
In 2016, Gordon revisted the forest-climate question in a review article that also examined the historical context of the science:
Bonan, G.B. 2016. Forests, climate, and public policy: A 500-year interdisciplinary odyssey. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 47:97-121.
The manuscript reviews how forests regulate climate at local, regional, and global scales through exchanges of momentum, energy, moisture, and chemicals with the atmosphere. The notion that forests affect climate is not new. A vigorous debate about deforestation, land use, and climate change occurred during the colonial settlement of North America and continued through the 1800s, but the arguments of conservationists and foresters for forest-climate influences were dismissed by meteorologists. Modern climate science shows that forests warm climate annually by decreasing surface albedo, cool climate through surface roughness and evapotranspiration and by storing carbon, and have additional effects through atmospheric chemistry. Land use is a key aspect of climate policy, but we lack comprehensive policy recommendations. Like our predecessors, we are seeking a deeper understanding of Earth's climate, its ecosystems, and our uses of ecosystems, and just as importantly we are still searching for the right interdisciplinary framework in which to find those answers. Read the manuscript.
In two recent publications, Gordon further examined the multicentury history of the forest-climate debate, which from the 1500s into the 1900s considered whether deforestation was changing climate and whether reforestation was needed to stabilize rainfall.
Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Forests, Climate Change, and Our Future (Cambridge University Press, 2023) reviews the historical debate and reinterprets the controversy in light of modern science.
"Reimagining earth in the Earth system" (J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 16, e2023MS004017, 2024) shows how the forest-climate controversy prevented the development of an intersdisciplinary Earth system science in the 1800s and how modern Earth system science still reflects disciplinary biases that limit the representation of ecology in Eath system models.
CGD People
Gordon Bonan, Senior Scientist