Regional Climate Modeling 

Dr. Nathan Moore's research interests lie within: Regional climate modeling and climate variability; measuring and modeling impacts of human activity on the hydrologic cycle and surface-atmosphere interactions; regional and global land use/land cover change.

His research activities center on understanding land surface processes and their impacts on atmospheric dynamics. He also has a strong commitment to translating research results to the next generation of students. The two elements are reflected in several aspects of his work over the past years. As a Peace Corps volunteer, Dr. Moore frequently used discovery-learning techniques to help his secondary school students practice the basics of the scientific method.

"As a scientist I have focused on examining land-atmosphere interactions, beginning with a study of the effects of irrigation on enhancing rainfall in the Texas Plains," Moore shares with us, "More recently I have studied the effects of land use change on East African climate using innovative interdisciplinary techniques for incorporating/refining socioeconomic data in the atmospheric model."

A NASA-funded project for Amazon basin research also examines the socioeconomic impacts on land cover and its consequent effects on rainfall, where he is attempting to determine the range of uncertainty in precipitation associated with Amazon deforestation rates.

These examples illustrate different aspects of an overall approach to integrated problem solving. By incorporating land use/land cover change data and remote sensing with regional climate dynamics, and by communicating our methods to a broader audience, Dr. Moore hopes to form the groundwork for better interdisciplinary cooperation between the social and natural sciences.