The Connectedness of the Climate System

Derek "Deke" Arndt, Chief of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center Climate Monitoring Branch gave an excellent presentation of how the Earth's climate system works. He focused on how the ocean and the atmosphere affect each other, and how a warming world may affect this relationship. In addition to detailing the interconnectedness of the major components of the climate system, Deke's presentation included insights into recent trends and evidence of change.

Derek “Deke” Arndt

Deke has served as the Chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center since 2009. The Branch is responsible for routine and special reporting of the status of the Earth’s climate system, from large global phenomena like global temperature (“global warming”), to regional occurrences like drought and weather extremes. The Branch is often asked to place today’s weather and climate events into a historical perspective. Mr. Arndt was one of the lead editors for last four editions of The State of the Climate, an annual supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. This series features input and analysis from nearly authors and editors in more than 50 countries. Before coming to NCDC, he spent 15 years at the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, as the Associate and Acting State Climatologist and the program Manager for the OK-FIRST public safety outreach program. Mr. Arndt holds a B.S. and M.S. in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma. He is also a student in the University of Oklahoma's Adult & Higher Education Ph.D. program.