Carrie Morrill, analysis of wet Last Glacial Maximum

Paleoclimatologist Carrie Morrill published a field-changing analysis last year, which dissected possible explanations for why it was so wet in the western United States during the Last Glacial Maximum. Her work showed that the accepted scientific explanation, which involved a southerly shifted jet stream, is likely incorrect. Rather, the primary driver was reduced humidity over land, caused by the strong cooling from the ice sheet, and subsequent dynamics. These factors, working in the opposite direction, are probably behind the observed and projected drying in western North America under increased greenhouse gas concentrations, Morrill and her co-author found. “This work represents one of the leading results in the past several decades for last 20,000-year paleoclimatology in North America,” her nominator wrote.

That nominator also highlighted Morrill’s extraordinary scientific accomplishments combining informatics and paleoclimate data. This aspect of her work involved working directly with stakeholders—mostly, scientists who need access to reliable, standardized paleoclimate data—to better understand their disparate needs. Morrill was a “quick study in the practice and theory of thesaurus and ontology construction,” one of her colleagues wrote in a letter supporting her nomination, and Morrill’s work improved access to and use of the NCEI-World Data Service for Paleoclimate.