Are We at Risk of Losing the Current Generation of Climate Researchers to Data Science?

Shipra Jain; Julia Mindlin; Gerbrand Koren; Carla Gulizia; Claudia Steadman; Gaby S. Langendijk; Marisol Osman; Muhammad A. Abid; Yuhan Rao; Valentina Rabanal

doi:10.1029/2022AV000676

Are We at Risk of Losing the Current Generation of Climate Researchers to Data Science?

Shipra Jain, Julia Mindlin, Gerbrand Koren, Carla Gulizia, Claudia Steadman, Gaby S. Langendijk, Marisol Osman, Muhammad A. Abid, Yuhan Rao, Valentina Rabanal

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/Letter to the editor › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Climate model output has progressively increased in size over the past decades and is expected to continue to rise in the future. Consequently, the research time expended by Early Career Researchers (ECRs) on data-intensive activities is displacing the time spent in fostering novel scientific ideas and expanding the frontiers of climate sciences. Here, we highlight an urgent need for a better balance between data-intensive and foundational climate science activities, more open-ended research opportunities that reinforce the scientific freedom of the ECRs, and strong coordinated action to provide infrastructure and resources to the ECRs working in under-resourced environments.

Original language	English
Article number	e2022AV000676
Pages (from-to)	1-9
Journal	AGU Advances
Volume	3
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2022AV000676
Publication status	Published - Aug 2022

Keywords

CMIP
climate model data
climate research
climate science
early career researchers

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10.1029/2022AV000676Licence: CC BY-NC

AGU Advances - 2022 - Jain - Are We at Risk of Losing the Current Generation of Climate Researchers to Data ScienceFinal published version, 308 KBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

@article{5e2a53331d7348f698104e4cf2d47f7a,

title = "Are We at Risk of Losing the Current Generation of Climate Researchers to Data Science?",

abstract = "Climate model output has progressively increased in size over the past decades and is expected to continue to rise in the future. Consequently, the research time expended by Early Career Researchers (ECRs) on data-intensive activities is displacing the time spent in fostering novel scientific ideas and expanding the frontiers of climate sciences. Here, we highlight an urgent need for a better balance between data-intensive and foundational climate science activities, more open-ended research opportunities that reinforce the scientific freedom of the ECRs, and strong coordinated action to provide infrastructure and resources to the ECRs working in under-resourced environments.",

keywords = "CMIP, climate model data, climate research, climate science, early career researchers",

author = "Shipra Jain and Julia Mindlin and Gerbrand Koren and Carla Gulizia and Claudia Steadman and Langendijk, {Gaby S.} and Marisol Osman and Abid, {Muhammad A.} and Yuhan Rao and Valentina Rabanal",

note = "Funding Information: The authors thank the Young Earth System Scientists (YESS) community for bringing our team together and providing us with a platform to discuss the thoughts presented here. The authors also thank Cecile B. Menard for her feedback on the initial version of this manuscript. The authors thank the editor Bjorn Stevens, reviewer Nadir Jeevanjee and two anonymous reviewers for their very constructive suggestions and criticism which have helped us immensely to shape some of the arguments. This piece has greatly benefited from the editor's advice on being less apologetic. The authors also thank Adam A. Scaife for sharing the story behind the discovery of QBO disruption and Nick Byrne for his comments on software packages for the Earth System Community. The authors did not receive any financial support for this manuscript. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022. The Authors.",

year = "2022",

month = aug,

doi = "10.1029/2022AV000676",

language = "English",

volume = "3",

pages = "1--9",

journal = "AGU Advances",

issn = "2576-604X",