Vikram Madhuvadan Mehta Author of Evaluating Organization Development
FEATURED AUTHOR

Vikram Madhuvadan Mehta

President and Executive Director
The Center for Research on the Changing Earth System (CRCES)

I have always been curious about natural and human-developed worlds. That has motivated me to "push the envelope" on natural climate variability and its impacts on water, food, and energy. But, I am also acutely aware that socieo-economic and political systems don't always work according to principles of scientific reasoning. That is where the grand challenges of ensuring food-energy-water securities to increasing population equitably are.

Biography

Dr. Vikram Mehta earned M.Sc. in Physics from Gujarat University, India in 1977; Post-graduate Diploma in Space Sciences and Their Applications from Gujarat University in 1979; and was an Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Research Fellow at Space Applications Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad, India from 1979 to 1982 working on Microwave Remote Sensing.  He then studied Upper Atmosphere Physics at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada from 1982 to 1984, earning a Post-Graduate Diploma in Physics.  A strong interest in more applications-oriented scientific research led him to the Department of Meteorology at the Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.A. where he earned M.S. degree in 1986 and Ph.D. degree in Meteorology in 1990.  Vikram was then a research scientist for over 12 years in NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, further specializing in identification of ocean-atmosphere interactions that give rise to decadal climate variability (DCV). Strongly motivated to use climate science for societal benefits, Vikram founded the Center for Research on the Changing Earth System (CRCES), a non-profit, scientific research organization in Columbia, Maryland, U.S.A. in 2002, with initial funding from NASA.  Currently, he is the President and Executive Director of CRCES.  In addition to NASA, CRCES is also funded by grants from NOAA, NSF, USDA, and USGS for research and other activities on DCV and its societal impacts.  Vikram’s major research interests are understanding and prediction of DCV; assessment of DCV impacts on water resources, agriculture, public health, and the economy; and climate and public policy.  Vikram has published over 150 research papers and Conference/Workshop presentations.  

Education

    M.Sc., Physics, Gujarat University, India, 1977
    PG Diploma in Space Sciences, Gujarat Univ., India, 1978
    PG Diploma in Physics, Univ. of Saskatchewan, Canada, 1984
    M.S., Meteorology, Florida State University, U.S.A., 1986
    Ph.D., Meteorology, Florida State University, U.S.A., 1990

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

    Natural climate variability and its predictability; Impacts of climate variability on water, agriculture, energy, inland water-borne transportation, and fisheries; Socio-economic and political consequences of climate variability impacts

Personal Interests

    Among major hobbies are flying a single-engine airplane, reading, and listening to Indian and Western classical music.

Books

Featured Title
 Featured Title - Natural Decadal Climate Variability: Societal Impacts - 1st Edition book cover

Articles

Climatic Change, Volume 139, 517-533, 2016.

Value of Decadal Climate Variability Information for Agriculture


Published: Dec 01, 2016 by Climatic Change, Volume 139, 517-533, 2016.
Authors: Mario Fernandez, Pei Huang, Bruce McCarl, and Vikram Mehta
Subjects: Agricultural Science, Environmental Science, Geoscience

This study estimates economic value and management adaptations associated with decadal climate variability (DCV) information for agriculture in the Missouri River Basin.

Journal of Hydrometeorology, Volume 17, 2455-2476, 2016.

Decadal Climate Variability Impacts on Water Yield in the Missouri River Basin


Published: Sep 01, 2016 by Journal of Hydrometeorology, Volume 17, 2455-2476, 2016.
Authors: Vikram Mehta, Katherin Mendoza, Prasad Daggupati, Raghavan Srinivasan, Norman Rosenberg, and Debjani Deb
Subjects: Environmental Science, Geoscience, Physics, Water Science & Engineering

This article described simulations of natural decadal climate variability impacts on water resources in the Missouri River Basin with a fine-scale version of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT).

Journal of the American Water Resources Association.  Volume 53, 648-666, 2016

Fine-resolution Hydrological Modeling in the Missouri River Basin


Published: Jun 01, 2016 by Journal of the American Water Resources Association. Volume 53, 648-666, 2016
Authors: Prasad Daggupati, Debjani Deb, Raghavan Srinivasan, Dhanesh Yeganantham, Vikram M. Mehta, and Norman J. Rosenberg
Subjects: Agricultural Science, Environmental Science, Geoscience, Water Science & Engineering

This study simulated crop and water yields in the Missouri River Basin (MRB), one of the largest river basins in the United States, using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) at a fine resolution of 12-digit Hydrological Unit Codes (HUCs) using the regionalization calibration approach.

Weather and Climate Extremes, Volume 3, 47-53, 2014.

Predictability and Prediction of Decadal Hydrologic Cycles in Southern Africa


Published: May 01, 2014 by Weather and Climate Extremes, Volume 3, 47-53, 2014.
Authors: Vikram Mehta, Hui Wang, Katherin Mendoza, and Norman Rosenberg
Subjects: Environmental Science, Geoscience, Physics, Water Science & Engineering

Decadal predictions of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation from 1961 to 2010, made by the Japanese MIROC5 Earth System Model, are used to assess predictability of the Palmer Drought Severity Index over 10-year periods.

Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 40, 2807-2812, 2013.

Decadal Predictability of Sea-surface Temperatures in Four Earth System Models


Published: Jun 01, 2013 by Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 40, 2807-2812, 2013.
Authors: Vikram Mehta, Hui Wang, and Katherin Mendoza
Subjects: Environmental Science, Geoscience, Physics

This paper describes initial results from a broadscale study to assess decadal climate hindcast skills of the HadCM3, GFDL-CM2.1, NCAR-CCSM4, and MIROC5 global Earth System Models (ESMs) in experiments conducted under the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5.

Weather, Climate, and Society, Volume 5, 27-42, 2013.

Decadal Climate Information Needs of Stakeholders for Decision Support


Published: Jan 01, 2013 by Weather, Climate, and Society, Volume 5, 27-42, 2013.
Authors: Vikram Mehta, Cody Knutson, Norman Rosenberg, Rolf Olsen, Nicole Wall, Tonya Bernadt, and Michael Hayes
Subjects: Agricultural Science, Environmental Science, Water Science & Engineering, Disaster Planning & Recovery

Here, the authors report the results of exploratory activities undertaken to assess DCI needs in water resources and agriculture sectors, using the Missouri River basin as a case study. This assessment was achieved through discussions with 120 stakeholders.

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Volume 152, 109-124, 2012.

Simulated impacts of natural decadal climate variability on crop yields


Published: Jan 12, 2012 by Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Volume 152, 109-124, 2012.
Authors: Vikram Mehta, Norman Rosenberg, Katherin Mendoza
Subjects: Agricultural Science, Environmental Science, Geoscience, Water Science & Engineering

The Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model was used to simulate impacts of natural decadal climate variability on per-hectare yields of corn, and spring and winter wheat in the Missouri River Basin in the U.S.

News

CRCES Completes 15 Years!

By: Vikram Madhuvadan Mehta

The Center for Research on the Changing Earth System (CRCES) completed 15 years in July 2017.  A summary of CRCES's research and other work is available from any of CRCES's three websites:  www.crces.org; missouri.crces.org; mississippi.crces.org.