Arlene Fiore

Research Interests

I study the two-way interactions between air pollutants and the climate system, at scales of space and time ranging from urban to global, and from daily to decades-long.

My group, TEAMPACCC (Trends in Earth’s Atmospheric Makeup: Pollution of the Air – Chemistry – Climate Connections), applies chemistry-transport and chemistry-climate models that generate hundreds of terabytes of data, and we analyze them alongside observations from ground, airborne, and satellite platforms. We aim to advance the understanding of how anthropogenic and natural pollutant emissions influence atmospheric chemistry, climate, and air pollution—and the processes that govern their interactions. We also collaborate with air quality and public health managers to develop applications for satellite data to address their emerging needs.

Topics I investigate:

• Air pollution and climate responses to natural versus human-caused emissions
• Trends in atmospheric composition
• Factors controlling the atmospheric oxidizing (self-cleansing) capacity
• Global dimensions to local air pollution, including intercontinental pollutant transport
• Interactions between vegetation and atmospheric chemistry, climate, and air pollution.
• Imprints of climate variability and change on atmospheric chemistry

Biographic Sketch

Arlene Fiore joined the EAPS faculty in 2021 as the Peter H. Stone and Paola Malanotte Stone Professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. She attended Harvard University, earning an AB in environmental geoscience in 1997 and completing her PhD studies in Earth and planetary sciences in 2003. Fiore spent seven years as a research scientist in the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory before being appointed to the faculty at Columbia University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in 2011.

Fiore has a long history of professional service, including serving on the National Academy of Sciences Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, multiple NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) advisory panels and committees, and has authored or co-authored numerous reports on issues of air quality and climate for policymakers and government agencies. As a principal investigator and member of the NASA Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team, she partners with air and health management groups to address emerging needs with applications of satellite and other Earth science datasets. Among other honors, Fiore has been recognized by the American Geophysical Union with the James R. Holton Junior Scientist Award in 2005 and the James B. Macelwane Medal in 2011.