PCC Summer Institute
An annual event where faculty, scientists, graduate students, and invited speakers focus on how climate and our physical and human world interact. Each year a new topic, showcasing emerging knowledge and ways in which disciplines intersect, is examined. Always an opportunity for team building and for full discussion of the alternative ways that research can be brought to focus on the pressing questions of today.
2025: Paleoclimate Constraints on Future Climate
The 2025 PCC Summer Institute will be held at Friday Harbor Laboratories Wednesday September 10th to Friday September 12th.
(Updated September 1, 2025)
Registration closed July 16th.
Themes: Proxies and reconstructions; Climate sensitivity and global climate change; Hydrologic cycle; Carbon cycle; Ocean circulation; Ecosystems; Cryosphere and sea level
This years organizers are Kyle Armour (UW ATMS/OCEAN) and Eric Steig (UW ESS).
Agenda
Sessions 1-6 in FHL Commons
Meals in the Dining Hall:
- 7:45 – 8:15 AM Breakfast Served
- 12:00 – 12:30 PM Lunch Served
- 6:00 – 6:30 PM Dinner Served
Day 1 (Wed, Sept. 10)
Meet carpools near UW Campus (more information will be sent to registrants by carpool drivers)
Noon Ferry departs Anacortes for FHL (arrives at Friday Harbor at 1:05 PM; reservations strongly advised, arrive 45 min before ferry scheduled to depart)
1:30 – 3:30 PM Check-in/Housing Assignments (FHL Dining)
2:30 PM Row boat training *only one required if you want to use the rowboats* (Dock)
4:00 – 6:00 PM Poster Session and Opening Reception (Dining Hall and patio)
Session 1 (7-9pm): Paleoclimate proxies and reconstructions. Moderator: Zilu Meng
Greg Hakim (UW Atmos), “Paleoclimate data assimilation in 20 minutes”
Kevin Anchukaitis (U Arizona), “The challenge of multiple proxies”
Day 2 (Thurs, Sept. 11)
Session 2 (8:30am-10:15am): Hydroclimate. Moderator: Becca Cleveland Stout
Mo Walczak (UW Ocean) “How will warming change Pacific Northwest hydroclimate? Lessons from the past for the future”
Natalie Burls (George Mason) “Hydroclimate insights from the warm Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene”
David Battisti (UW Atmos) “A cautionary tale”
10:15 – 10:45 AM Coffee break and group photo
Session 3 (10:45am-noon): Ecosystems. Moderator: Ben Lloyd
Justin Penn (Princeton) “Modeling marine extinctions under climate change: ancient lessons for the future”
Caroline Strömberg (UW Biology) “Can the fossil record of plants constrain future climate?”
1:00 PM Row boat training *only one required if you want to use the rowboats* (Dock)
Session 4 (7pm-9pm): Climate sensitivity. Moderator: Michelle Dvorak
Vince Cooper (MIT) “Paleoclimate pattern effects help constrain climate sensitivity and 21st-century warming”
Jiang Zhu (NCAR) “Using past climates to assess and understand climate sensitivity: opportunities and challenges”
Becky Alexander (UW Atmos) “The role of natural aerosols in climate sensitivity and feedbacks”
Day 3 (Fri, Sept. 12)
Check out of rooms: Friday DORM A move out before 9 am. All others before 11 am.
Session 5 (8:30am-10:15am): Cryosphere. Moderator: Tara Kalia
Frankie Pavia (UW Ocean) “Arctic sea ice and nutrient dynamics over the last glacial cycle”
Mira Berdahl (UW ESS) “The role(s) of paleoclimate in modern ice sheet modeling”
Gemma O’Connor (UW Ocean) “How proxy data changed the story of Antarctic ice loss”
10:15 – 10:45 AM Coffee break
Session 6 (10:45am-noon): Timescales and seeing red. Moderator: Eric Mei
Gerard Roe (UW ESS) “Bridging preindustrial and modern climates with mountain glaciers”
Alex Turner (UW Atmos) “Drivers of variations in methane over the Quaternary”
1:55 PM Ferry from Friday Harbor to Anacortes. Please plan on a quick lunch in the dining hall before heading to the terminal. Ferry reservations are strongly encouraged.
Three Paper Discussions
We strongly encourage grad students, postdocs, and undergrads to attend, particularly if they’re attending the SI
Discussion #1 (Thursday Aug 21 at 10am in ATG 310)
Reading: Tierney et al. (2020) Past climates inform our future. Science, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay3701
Discussion #2 (Thursday August 28 at 2pm in OSB 425)
Reading: Anchukaitis and Smerdon (2022) Progress and uncertainties in global and hemispheric temperature reconstructions of the Common Era. Quaternary Science Reviews, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379122001688
Discussion #3 (Thursday September 4 at 2pm in ATG 310)
Reading: Penn and Deutsch (2022) Avoiding ocean mass extinction from climate warming. Science, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abe9039
A special thanks to William Calvin and Katherine Graubard for generously supporting the 2025 PCC Summer Institute.