MBL's Jerry Melillo is Appointed to Sustained National Climate Assessment Advisory Committee

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) today announced the appointment of 15 members, including MBL Distinguished Scientist Jerry Melillo, to the new Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment.

Jerry Melillo, MBL Distinguished Scientist and director emeritus of the Ecosystems Center

This committee will advise the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Global Change Research Program, through NOAA, on sustained climate assessment activities and products, including engagement of stakeholders.

"Recent extreme weather events (including drought, wildfire, storms and flooding) have elevated society’s concern about how to manage climate risks. As climate change makes many extremes more likely and severe, decision-makers across the nation are increasingly focused on anticipating, mitigating, and adapting to climate change," wrote the authors of the Third National Climate Assessment, which was chaired by Melillo, in stating the need for a sustained national climate assessment process.

This sustained assessment, to be implemented by the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), will supplement the periodic National Climate Assessments that USGCRP has been conducting since 1990.

A distinguished ecosystems ecologist, Melillo has dedicated decades of service to providing a scientific foundation for environmental policy. In 1990 and 1995, Melillo was a lead author in the earliest climate assessments prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and as an author he was a co-recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the IPCC and Al Gore, Jr. In 1996 and 1997, Melillo served as Associate Director for Environment in the U.S. President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. In addition to chairing the Third National Climate Assessment, published in 2014, Melillo co-led the first two National Climate Assessments, published in 2000 and 2009.