Curriculum vitae

Peter Edmond Thornton

(last updated 13 December 2002)

 

Date/place of birth: 24 August 1968, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.

Contact information:

Address:           National Center for Atmospheric Research

                        1850 Table Mesa Dr.

                        Boulder, CO 80305

Phone:              (303) 497-1727

Fax:                  (303) 497-1695

E-mail:              thornton@ucar.edu

 

Education:

B.A., 1990. The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

            Major: Biomedical Engineering

            Focus: Mathematical modeling of physiological feedback systems

 

M.A., 1992. The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

            Advisor and Department: Grace S. Brush, Geography and Environmental Engineering

            Research Focus: Paleoecology, Paleoclimatology, and Plant Geography

 

Ph.D. 1998. The University of Montana, Missoula, MT

            Advisor and Department: Steven W. Running, School of Forestry

Research Focus: Terrestrial biogeochemistry, biometeorology, and visible, near-infrared, and thermal-infrared remote sensing.

Dissertation: Regional ecosystem simulation: combining surface- and satellite-based observations to study linkages between terrestrial energy and mass budgets.

 

Employment:

August 2001 – present: Scientist I, Climate and Global Dynamics Division, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO.

September 1999 – July 2001: Research Associate, The University of Montana, School of Forestry, Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group.

September 1997 – August 1999: Postdoctoral Fellow, The University of Montana, School of Forestry, Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group.

August 1992 - August 1997: Graduate research assistant, The University of Montana, School of Forestry, Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group

August 1990 - August 1992: Graduate research assistant, The Johns Hopkins University, Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering

August 1986 - August 1990: Undergraduate research assistant, The Johns Hopkins University, Department of Biomedical Engineering

 

Honors:

National Merit Scholar, 1986-1990. 

NASA Fellowship in Global Change Research, 1993-1997.

 

Peer-Reviewed Publications (principle authorship):

Thornton, P.E., B.E. Law, H.L. Gholz, K.L. Clark, E. Falge, D.S. Ellsworth, A.H. Goldstein, R.K. Monson, D. Hollinger, M. Falk, J. Chen, J.P. Sparks, 2002. Modeling and measuring the effects of disturbance history and climate on carbon and water budgets in evergreen needleleaf forests. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 113: 185-222.

Thornton, P.E., H. Hasenauer, and M.A. White, 2000. Simultaneous estimation of daily solar radiation and humidity from observed temperature and precipitation: an application over complex terrain in Austria. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 104: 255-271.

Thornton, P.E., and S.W. Running, 1999. An improved algorithm for estimating incident daily solar radiation from measurements of temperature, humidity, and precipitation. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 93: 211-228.

Thornton, P.E., S.W. Running, and M.A. White, 1997. Generating surfaces of daily meteorological variables over large regions of complex terrain. Journal of Hydrology, 190: 214-251.

Thornton, P.E., and S.W. Running, 1996. Generating daily surfaces of temperature and precipitation over complex topography. Pp. 93-98, in GIS and Environmental Modeling: Progress and Research Issues, M.F. Goodchild, L..T. Steyaert, B.O. Parks, C. Johnston, D. Maidment, M. Crane, and S. Glendinning, Eds. GIS World Books, Ft. Collins, CO.

 

Peer-Reviewed Publications (co-authorship):

Law, B.E., O.J. Sun, J. Campbell, S. VanTuyl, P.E. Thornton, submitted.  Changes in carbon storage and fluxes in a chronosequence of ponderosa pine. Global Change Biology (in review).

Hasenauer, H., K. Merganicova, R. Petritsch, S. Pietsch, P.E. Thornton, submitted. Validating daily climate interpolations of complex terrain in Austria. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (in review).

Churkina, G., J. Tenhunen, P.E. Thornton, J.A. Elbers, M. Erhard, E.M. Falge, T. Grünwald, A.S. Kowalski, and U. Rannik, in press.  Analyzing the ecosystem carbon dynamics of four European coniferous forests using a biogeochemistry model. Ecosystems (in press).

Fujita, D., M. Ishizawa, S. Maksyutov, P.E. Thornton, T. Saeki, T. Nakazawa, in press.  Inter-annual variability of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations as simulated with global terrestrial biosphere models and an atmospheric transport model. Tellus (in press).

Kittel, T.G.F., P.E. Thornton, J.A. Royle, and T.N. Chase.  2002.  Climates of the Rocky Mountains:  Historical and Future Patterns.  Pp. 59-82 (Chapter 4), in: J.S. Baron (ed.).  Rocky Mountain Futures: An Ecological Perspective.  Island Press, Covelo, CA.  325 p.

Nemani, R.R., M.A. White, P.E. Thornton, K. Nishida, S. Reddy, J. Jenkins, S.W. Running, 2002.  Recent trends in hydrologic balance have enhanced the terrestrial carbon sink in the United States. Geophysical Research Letters 2002GL014867.

White, M.A., R.R. Nemani, P.E. Thornton, S.W. Running,  2002. Satellite evidence of phenological differences between urbanized and rural areas of the eastern United States deciduous broadleaf forest. Ecosystems 5: 260-277.

Law, B.E., P.E. Thornton, J. Irvine, P.M. Anthoni, S. Van Tuyl, 2001. Carbon storage and fluxes in ponderosa pine forests at different developmental stages. Global Change Biology, 7: 755-777.

Schimel, D., J. Melillo, H. Tian, A.D. McGuire, D. Kicklighter, T. Kittel, N. Rosenbloom, S. Running, P.Thornton, D. Ojima, W. Parton, R. Kelly, M. Sykes, R. Neilson, and B. Rizzo, 2000.  The contribution of increasing CO₂ and climate to carbon storage by natural and agricultural ecosystems of the US 1980-1993. Science, 287: 2004-2006.

White, M.A., P.E. Thornton, and S.W. Running, 2000. Parameterization and sensitivity analysis of the Biome-BGC terrestrial ecosystem model. Earth Interactions, 4(3): 1-85.

White, M.A., S. W. Running, and P.E. Thornton, 1999. The impact of growing-season length variability on carbon assimilation and evapotranspiration over 88 years in the eastern US deciduous forest. Int. J. Biometeorology 42:139-145.

White, J.D., S.W. Running, P.E. Thornton, R.E. Keane, K.C. Ryan, D.B. Fagre, and C.H. Key, 1998. Assessing simulated ecosystem processes for climate variability research at Glacier National Park, USA. Ecological Applications, 8(3):805-823.

White, M.A., P.E. Thornton, and S.W. Running, 1997. A continental phenology model for monitoring vegetation responses to interannual climatic variability. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 11: 217-234.

Kimball, J.S., P.E. Thornton, M.A. White, and S.W. Running, 1997. Simulating forest productivity and surface-atmosphere carbon exchange in the BOREAS study region. Tree Physiology, 17: 589-599.

W.J. Parton, A. Haxeltine, P. Thornton, R. Anne, and M. Hartman, 1996. Ecosystem sensitivity to land-surface model and leaf area index. Global and Planetary Change, 13:89-98.

Mahfouf, J.-F., C.Ciret, A. Ducharne, P. Irannejad, J. Noilhan, Y. Shao, P.Thornton, Y. Xue, and Z.L. Yang, 1996. Analysis of transpiration results from the RICE and PILPS workshop. Global and Planetary Change, 13: 73-88.

Shao, Y., R. Anne, A. Henderson-Sellers, P. Irannejad, P. Thornton, X. Liang, T. Chen, C. Ciret, C. Desborough, O. Balachova, A. Haxeltine, and A. Ducharne, 1994. Soil moisture simulation: A report on the RICE and PILPS workshop. International GEWEX Project Office Publication Series,No. 14. World Climate Research Programme.

 

Other Publications (not peer reviewed)

Running, S.W., P.E. Thornton, R.R. Nemani, and J.M. Glassy, 2000. Global Terrestrial Gross and Net Primary Productivity from the Earth Observing System. In: Methods in Ecosystem Science, O. Sala, R. Jackson, and H. Mooney, Eds. Springer-Verlag, New York.

Thornton, P.E., 1998. Regional ecosystem simulation: combining surface- and satellite-based observations to study linkages between terrestrial energy and mass budgets. Ph.D. Dissertation, School of Forestry, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT., 280 pp.

 

Recent Presentations at Scientific/Professional Meetings:

(^* indicates presenting author for co-authored presentations).

December 2002, American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting, Invited talk: “Controls on the seasonal cycle of net ecosystem carbon exchange.” San Francisco, CA.

October 2002, AmeriFlux Meeting, Invited talk: “Effects of disturbance, CO₂, and N deposition on fluxes.” Boulder, CO.

September 2002, IGAC Meeting: “Integration of bio-atmospheric cycling of carbon and nitrogen into Earth system models.”(Elisabeth A. Holland^*, Alex Guenther, Christine Wiedinmyer, James Sulzman, Sam Levis, Gordon Bonan, Xuexi Tie, Peter Thornton, Scott Doney)

March 2002, CCSM Joint Biogeochemistry/Land Working Group meeting: “Land biogeochemistry developments for CCSM2: current status and near-term plans.” Boulder, CO.

December 2001, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting: “Modeling and measuring the effects of disturbance history and climate on carbon and water budgets in evergreen needleleaf forests.” San Francisco, CA.

August 2000, Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting: “Relationship between decadal anomalies in climate and model-estimated AET, NPP, and net ecosystem carbon exchange over the U.S., 1895-1993: Results from VEMAP Phase 2.” Snowbird, UT.

August 1999, Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting: “Net primary production from the MODIS sensor.” (P.E. Thornton and S.W. Running^*) Spokane, WA.

July 1999, International Union of Geophysics and Geodesy Annual Meeting: “Predicted NPP, NEE, and carbon stocks for historic and potential future climate scenarios over the U.S.: Model results from VEMAP Phase 2.” (P.E. Thornton^*, D.S. Schimel, and VEMAP members). One of three invited talks to present VEMAP results to the international community. Birmingham, UK.

 

Journal review (in the past year): Ecological Applications, Journal of Climate, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Journal of Hydrometeorology, Tree Physiology, Tellus, Global Change Biology.

 

Community Service:

January 2003 – present: Invited member, Editorial Review Board for the journal Tree Physiology.

December 2002: Co-chair, AGU Biogeosciences Special Session: “Water, energy, and carbon exchange in forest systems.” Fall AGU Meeting, San Francisco, CA.

March 2002: Chair, Code review committee for CCSM Community Land Model version 2.1.

December 2001 – present: Invited member, AGU Biogeosciences Section Meetings Committee.

November 2001 – present: Invited member, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Data Active Archive Center (ORNL DAAC) User Working Group.

December 2001: Co-chair, AGU Biogeosciences Special Session: “Water, energy, and carbon exchange in forest systems.” Fall AGU Meeting, San Francisco, CA.