Understanding the environment and climate change is complex task which has many limitations.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently reported that the limitations in understanding the environment and the ability to predict climate change is restricted by measurement, analysis, and modeling;  all of which are areas in which the Physical Sciences excel.  Another limitation to advancing environmental science is the decrease in students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. 

Yet the Environmental Systems Program, an interdisciplinary environmental science based program created by the Division of Physical Sciences, is one of the fastest growing majors on campus.  The Division of Physical Sciences with its core group of stellar environmental scientists which includes a Nobel Prize winner and a member of the National Academy of Science, combined with the emphasis in environmental education, is a focal point for environmental leadership and advancement.  

Of the myriad global environmental issues confronting society, those of long-range transport of gas and particulate pollution from fossil fuel combustion, biomass burning, oceanic shipping and the impact of aerosols on the air-sea interface are potentially the most significant. These issues have significant consequences ranging from climate to changes in the hydrological cycle, and degradation of human health, especially cardiovascular disease.  Characterizing the potential impact of gas and particle phase (aerosols) emissions – near and downwind from their sources – will require a concerted and sustained effort of observation, modeling, and instrument development. 

The combined research community at UCSD and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography is the most capable in existence and, because of their geographic location, is poised to approach these critical issues in environmental sciences in a collaborative, cross-disciplinary fashion. UCSD has unparalleled strengths in environmental research and is uniquely equipped to address large-scale questions about the environment in an integrated fashion.