Contact Information
1301 West Green Street
Urbana, IL 61801
Biography
Dr. Atul Jain’s research focuses on climate interactions with the land physical (hydrology and energy), biological processes (carbon and nitrogen), and the land use/cover changes (LULCC), including agricultural intensification, and how these interactions affect surface processes that exchange energy, water, and major GHGs between surface and the atmosphere, and contribute to climate change and variability. To conduct this research, Dr. Jain and his students and other lab members have developed and applied a global model-data integration framework, ISAM, in combination with satellite and ground-based observation data at regional and global scales.
Dr. Jain has won numerous awards and honors, including the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Award. He has served as a lead and contributing author for major assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He is the author of over 175 scientific articles, including highly cited articles in Nature and Science. Clarivate Analytics (formerly Thomson Reuters) has listed Dr Jain as one of the "Most Highly Cited” Researchers, and Reuters has listed him as one of the “World’s Top Climate Scientists”.
Research Interests
- Climate-carbon cycle interactions
- Impacts of changes in land cover and land management on climate
- Climate impact on agriculture and food supply
- Climate change in arctic and boreal ecosystems
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N2O and CH4 emissions from terrestrial ecosystems
Research Description
Some recent research challenges on which my research lab members have focused on include (1) the impact of LULCC on biogeophysics (water, energy) and biogeochemistry (carbon and nitrogen), (2) climatic effect on permafrost soil carbon storage, (3) CH4 and N2O emissions from wetland and dryland, (4) synergistic effects of environmental ([CO2] and climate), management (irrigation and nitrogen input), and extreme climate events on agricultural crop production, and (5) spatially explicit production- and consumption-based GHG emissions worldwide from the plant- and animal-based human food.
Education
Ph.D. Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology
Courses Taught
- ATMS140: Climate and Global Change
- ENVS 301: Environmental Issues Today
- ATMS 307: Climate Processes
- ATMS 323/ENSU 302: Air Pollution to Global Change
- ATMS/CEE 445: Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling
- ATMS 491: Integrated Assessment of Climate Change
- ATMS 447: Climate Change Assessment
- ATMS 449: Biogeochemical Cycles
- ATMS 571: Professional Development
- ATMS 591: Atmospheric Sciences Seminars
- ATMS 599 Thesis Research
Additional Campus Affiliations
- Faculty Affiliate, Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
- Faculty Affiliate, Illinois Informatics – Program Area: Spatial Informatics
External Links
News and Research Highlights
– Can A Change In Diet Counter Climate Change? by Roger Highfield, Science Director, Science Museum Group
– Tackle Climate Change to Bring Down Food Prices, Expert Says . by Chloe Aiello, Senior Cheddar Reporter
– Atul Jain is among the six Illinois scientists that rank among the world's most influential
– The annual Carbon Budget Project 2021 report found that global fossil carbon dioxide emissions in 2021 are set to rebound close to their pre-COVID-19 levels, says Illinois atmospheric sciences professor and report co-author Atul Jain. The report is published in the journal Earth System Science Data.
– A team led by University of Illinois professor Atul Jain has created a new data-modeling framework that provides researchers and policymakers with a database to estimate location-specific emissions for all greenhouse gases related to the plant- and animal-based human food industries. The study findings are published in the journal Nature Food One can follow all the news coverage of the article at the Alttmetric site
– Atul Jain and his graduate student Tzu-Shun Lin co-authored a paper published in the journal Nature Food that shows that climate change may affect the production of maize (corn) and wheat as early as 2030. NASA developed an excellent video highlighting this work
Access all other news and research highlights at professor Atul Jain's Research Group Website
Recent Publications
O’Sullivan M, P Friedlingstein… A Jain et al. (2022). Process-oriented analysis of dominant sources of uncertainty in the land carbon sink, Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32416-8
Yu Z, P Ciais, ..AK Jain et al. (2022), Forest expansion dominates China’s land carbon sink since 1980, Nature Communication, 13:5374, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32961-2
Ciais, P et al. (Coauthor: AK Jain) (2022), Definitions and methods to estimate regional land carbon fluxes for the second phase of the REgional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes Project (RECCAP-2), Geoscientific Model Development, 15, 1289–1316, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1289-2022
Deng Z et al. (Coauthor: AK Jain) (2022), Comparing national greenhouse gas budgets reported in UNFCCC inventories against atmospheric inversions, Earth System Science Data, 14, 1639–1675, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1639-2022
Friedlingstein, P. et al. (Coauthor: AK Jain) (2022), Global Carbon Budget 2021, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1917–2005, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1917-2022
Kondo, M., S Sitch, P Ciais, F Achard, E Kato, E., J Pongratz, .. AK Jain et al. (2022), Are land-use change emissions in Southeast Asia decreasing or increasing? Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 36, e2020GB006909. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GB006909
Liao, C., Chen, Y., Wang, J. AK Jain.. et al. (2022). Disentangling land model uncertainty via Matrix-based Ensemble Model Inter-comparison Platform (MEMIP). Ecological Processes, 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-021-00356-8
Lin TS and AK Jain (2022), Assessment of Climate Change Impact on Rice Production Over South and Southeast Asia Under CMIP6 Climate Scenarios, In: Remote Sensing of Agriculture and Land Cover/Land Use Changes in South and Southeast Asian Countries, K P Vadrevu, TL Toan, SS Ray, C Justice (eds.), Springer Book Switzerland, ISBN-978-3-030-92364-5. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92365-5
Murray-Tortarolo G et al. (Co-Author: AK Jain ) (2022), A process-model perspective on recent changes in the carbon cycle of North America, JGR – Biogeosciences , https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG006904
Seiler C, JR Melton, ..AK Jain et al., (2022). Are terrestrial biosphere models fit for simulating the global land carbon sink? Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 14, e2021MS002946. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021MS002946
Yang, R., Wang, J., AK Jain et al. (2022): Divergent historical GPP trends among state-of-the-art multi-model simulations and satellite-based products, Earth System Dynamics, 13, 833–849, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-833-2022
View all publications on Google Scholar and on Web of Science
Download publications from professor Atul Jain's Research Group Website
