About the Center for Climatic Research

Mission

The mission of the Center for Climatic Research (CCR) is to advance understanding of the climate system through interdisciplinary investigations of past, present, and future climates, and to use this knowledge for societally relevant purposes.

CCR accomplishes this mission by:

  • Excelling in disciplinary and interdisciplinary research using observations and earth-system models.
  • Integrating knowledge of past, present, and future climates to create a more holistic understanding of the climate system.
  • Researching the physical, ecological, and societal impacts of climatic variations and climate change.
  • Collaborating with university, state, national, and international researchers to study topical climate-related problems.
  • Promoting public understanding of climate-related issues, including global change.

History

CCR Through the Years (Slideshow)

CCR was founded by Professor Reid A. Bryson in 1962, as a research center within the Department of Meteorology (now Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences). Climate research activities included field climatology and ecology studies in Canada, India, and Peru, and field archaeology studies at various locations in North America. The center included laboratories for radiocarbon dating, paleoecology, and field support. Initial funding was provided by the National Science Foundation through a grant entitled "Interdisciplinary Research Program in Climatology".

In 1970, Professor Bryson was appointed the first Director of the UW's newly-formed Institute for Environmental Studies, and John Kutzbach was appointed director of CCR. Professor Zhengyu Liu became director in 2002. In 1987, the Bryson Interdisciplinary Climate, People and Environment Program (BICPEP) was established thanks to an anonymous gift to the University. The Bryson Professor, supported by the BICPEP endowment, is a member of CCR.

The Center for Climatic Research (CCR) focuses on studies of present, future, and past climates, the links between ecosystems and climate and between civilizations and climate, and assessment of the impacts of climate variability on water, food, and energy resources. The center develops and uses coupled earth system models (atmosphere, ocean, land, biosphere) and observations to address regional, continental, and global-scale problems that are linked to important environmental, societal, and policy issues. The work of the center is organized around three laboratories: earth-system modeling, paleoecology, and archaeoclimatology.

CCR is administratively located in the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, with most faculty having primary appointments in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department. The center has research connections with other UW-Madison departments (Anthropology, Botany, Geography, Geology, Statistics, and Zoology), joint research grants with faculty at other universities (Brown, Chicago, Colorado, Oregon, Penn State, Virginia), other research institutes both in the United States (NCAR) and abroad (Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Germany, and the Earth Environment Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, China). The center has received research funding from NSF, DOE, NASA, NOAA and the Department of the Interior. CCR supports graduate students as research assistants and project assistants.

Since 1963, 54 Master's theses and 60 Ph.D. theses have been produced by CCR supported students.

Group photo