I, Steven W. Running, have been retained by counsel for Plaintiffs in the above-captioned matter to provide expert testimony explaining Earth’s Energy Imbalance; how the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) to the atmosphere is driving climate change globally and in Montana; the state of Montana’s longstanding knowledge of the dangers posed by climate change and fossil fuels; and how human-caused fossil fuel development and the resulting release of CO2 into the atmosphere are harming Montana’s ecosystems, water supplies, communities, and the Plaintiffs themselves.
In this report, Dr. Whitlock and I discuss recent trends and future projections in temperature, precipitation, snow accumulation and snowmelt, and stream runoff in Montana and explain how they affect terrestrial ecosystems, communities, and the livelihoods of people that depend on these ecosystem services. These projections for Montana’s future are based on continuing or increasing the present rate of greenhouse gas emissions, a certainty that will occur unless we curtail our reliance on fossil fuels. I received my Ph.D. (1979) in Forest Ecology from Colorado State University. Since 1979, I have been with the University of Montana, where I retired in 2017 and now am a University Regents Professor Emeritus of Global Ecology in the College of Forestry and Conservation. I founded the Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group (NTSG) at the University of Montana in 1983. My primary area of research is the development of global and regional ecosystem biogeochemical models integrating remote sensing with bioclimatology and terrestrial ecology.
I am a Team Member for the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, and I am responsible for the EOS global terrestrial net primary production and evapotranspiration datasets. Beginning in 1981, I was part of the NASA planning for Mission to Planet Earth that resulted in building and deploying the Earth Observing System that to this day provides key global change datasets (NASA 1983). It is remarkable that in these 1980-1983 reports, many of the main impacts of climate change, sea level rise, ice sheet melting, glacial retreat, droughts, and floods, as well as agricultural and ecosystem disruption, were already identified and expected. I have published over 300 scientific articles and two books, and have been honored with several awards, including the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Technology Pioneer Award, and the W.T. Pecora award for lifetime achievement in Earth remote sensing from NASA and U.S. Geological Survey. I currently co-chair the standing Committee for Earth Science and Application from Space of the National Academy of Science. I previously served on the federal Interagency Carbon Cycle Science Committee.
I have also served as a Co-Chair of the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Climate System Model Land Working Group, a Member of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program Executive Committee, and the World Climate Research Program, Global Terrestrial Observing System. I just completed serving on the advisory NASA Earth Science Subcommittee, and the NOAA Science Advisory Board Climate Working Group. In 2007, I shared the honor of the Nobel Peace Prize as a chapter Lead Author for the 4th Assessment Report (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). I am an elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and am designated a Highly Cited Researcher by the Institute for Scientific Information.
