SAIC created the Climate Enterprise to address the growing challenges of climate change. Through a focused program utilizing climate science, technology and engineering, SAIC supports our customers. We examine the impacts of climate change on disasters, sea level rise, food security, wildfires, public health, infrastructure, energy, transportation, ecosystems, national security and many other areas. We leverage SAIC enterprise solutions and operations sectors for modeling, artificial intelligence and analytic design services that help decision makers respond and mitigate climate risk, adaptation and sustainment goals.
Addressing the challenges of climate change, resilience and adaptation for a more sustainable future
ENTERPRISE
The CLIMATE
SAIC Impacts Climate Change Science and Technology
SAIC’s Koverse Data Platform (KDP) empowers organizations to use data to gain understanding and drive mission-impacting decisions and actions. It provides fine-grained access controls for complex and sensitive data while delivering unprecedented scale, performance, and flexibility. This enables SAIC to support customers by using advanced analytics and big data to generate knowledge and insights and to optimize mission-critical operations to provide a myriad of solutions to climate change challenges.
Advanced
Analytics
The Climate Enterprise provides support and solutions to help customers achieve their unique Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance goals. For example, for the EPA, SAIC developed EJScreen, an environmental justice mapping and screening tool that provides the agency with a nationally consistent dataset and approach for combining environmental and demographic indicators.
Environmental Sustainability Consulting
Our unique, configurable, turnkey NOAA Port Gateway system is capable of receiving the full NWS Satellite Broadcast Network bandwidth at full scalability. Our warehouse of worldwide real-time meteorological data is accessible at our customers' fingertips via flexible solutions, including mobile apps. Our toolkits assist customers in answering the critical questions to adapt to weather and climate change.
Application
Products
Our Solutions
SAIC developed and maintains a U.S. Forest Service (USFS) geospatial and tabular USFS data repository and technology platform called the Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW). EDW data is published via multiple services for use in many applications, and the platform provides business intelligence tools for integrating the USFS data for analysis and reporting, internal and external map services and web services that make the data accessible for consumption by agency applications.
SAIC ensures that the EDW data is refreshed regularly, that data is drawn from trusted and authoritative systems of record and that data is USFS-approved or meets generally accepted reference standards. The EDW has hundreds of datasets spanning dozens of dataset themes.
USDA Wildfire Data Warehouse
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USDA Wildfire Data Warehouse
NOAA
NASA
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has a requirement to objectively assess studies and research from the scientific community to better predict and set the goals to respond to global climate change. Predominant among these laboratories is NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), where SAIC supports data management, high performance computing, programming, AI and modeling efforts.
SAIC scientists are enhancing GFDL’s complex climate simulation codes and providing deep computational insights to better model extremely complicated atmospheric interactions. SAIC performs myriad tasks, including developing climate models, executing simulation experiments, visualizing simulation results, and delivering very high-volume simulation data. SAIC develops and enhances the core modeling framework that lets research scientists integrate GFDL’s atmospheric and oceanographic models for improved prediction.
SAIC Provides Leading Edge Climate Science to Improve NOAA’s Mission to Save Life and Property
From the ocean depths to the clouds in the sky, SAIC helps NASA to track and monitor the globe to understand climate trends and forecasts. Our scientists help NASA understand how phytoplankton populations in the ocean tell us about shifts in carbon emissions. They also use topography and algorithms to understand how effects of erosion shape the Earth's surface. And they read patterns in the clouds and air currents to help NASA decipher the shifting skies and prepare for the worst-case scenarios.
NASA
Our Success Stories
Steve Ambrose
CONTACT
Chief Climate Scientist
Steve Ambrose
Stephen Ambrose is a program management senior manager and SAIC's chief
climate scientist.
Ambrose joined SAIC in 2021. He leads the development of a climate program office to support federal, industry, state and local customers, utilizing SAIC’s deep experience in science and technology. Ambrose also leads program management understanding climate patterns and trends. He has more than 40 years of experience, serving at organizations including NASA, EPA, NOAA, Department of the Interior (DOI) and numerous organizations within the private sector.
Ambrose was recently named one of WashingtonExec's Top Climate Change Execs to Watch in 2023. Click here to learn more.
Chris Sequeira
BLOG
VIDEO
Senior Program Manager
Chris Sequeira is a senior program manager within SAIC’s Defense and Civilian Sector.
Sequeira joined SAIC in 2021. Sequeira works to develop community engagement to understand environmental impact and sustainability. He builds relationships across a wide range of stakeholders to improve environmental policies, processes, and outcomes. Sequeira has served in numerous federal government and consulting roles, including the Federal Aviation Administration, where he held a leadership role to lead improvements to nationwide noise and air pollution policies. He also led similar noise studies at John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport in support of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Chris Sequeira
Meet Our Experts
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NOAA
NASA
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NOAA
NASA
Steve Ambrose
Sean Nolan
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Home > What We Do > Mission Support > The Climate Enterprise
SAIC Fireside Chats with Steve Ambrose
Ms. Beth Gibbons, Executive Director, American Society of Adaptation Professionals
Steve Ambrose, SAIC’s Chief Climate Scientist discusses climate resilience and adaptation with Beth Gibbons, Executive Director, American Society of Adaptation Professionals In this role, she is responsible for strengthening the capacities of individual adaptation professionals, adaptation and resilience oriented organizations, and accelerating the evolution of the adaptation field of practice. Ms. Gibbons discusses the importance of elevating justice and equity in all climate adaptation planning. She cited an example where reduced tree canopies in urban areas leads to warmer temperatures and increased heat related illnesses in cities. Ms. Gibbons also explained the impact of the Task Force for Climate Financial Disclosure (TCFD) to ensure private industry is taking appropriate measures to reduce climate related risk in all aspects of businesses. She also explained that industry changes and progress can allow for continuity of Climate Change policies across multiple government administrations (federal, state and local levels).
Thought Leadership
Climate Change Forum
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Meeting the Challenge of Climate Change in Industry, Government and Society
Additional copy needed to tell the story of what SAIC is specifically doing to address climate change. It is important we answer these questions: - This is the "what" is SAIC doing explanation.
What solutions are we bringing to bare to address the problems.
How are we transitioning from research to operation?
What is being done with AI and compute capacity to address the volumes of data from observatories?
What partnership do we have?
Can you expand on how SAIC is working with communities of practice in the sharing of environmental intelligence?
SEAN NOLAN
BLOG
VIDEO
Program Manager
Sean Nolan is a program manager (PM) within the SAIC Climate Enterprise.
Nolan has been with SAIC since 2012 and most recently served as a PM with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Research and Development Directorate Advisory and Assistance Services (A&AS) contract. He brings expertise in transitioning promising developmental technologies from research to operations. Specifically, he supported the destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons stockpile in 2016. He is a retired Air Force weather officer, serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and worked as logistics coordinator for the New York City Office of Emergency Management during the 9/11 rescue and recovery mission. Nolan is a severe weather enthusiast with vast forecasting experience in winter and tropical storms.
Steve Ambrose
Sean Nolan
Contact
BLOG
VIDEO
Senior Director
Rob Snyder serves as a senior director of business development for the Climate Enterprise Group.
Snyder joined SAIC in late 2021 and supports numerous civilian agency business development efforts for the company. Snyder has over 30 years of federal support experience and has started, managed and successfully exited a few small businesses. He brings experience in serving in numerous programmatic roles throughout his career on programs in support of the EPA, Department of Energy and the FAA. His passion for climate change solutions has also included biofuels, alternative energy platforms and participation in the development of a chemical engine.
Rob SNYDER
Steve Ambrose
Sean Nolan
Contact
Rob snyder
Rob snyder
Rob snyder
SAIC is focused on leveraging current science and technology that can be used to respond to climate change. We are on the cutting edge in developing climate change-related solutions by utilizing our superior analytical, geospatial and subject matter expertise. The SAIC Climate Enterprise is SAIC’s first line of defense to improve resilience and adaptation to climate change for humans, environment, disasters, space, communications, aviation and social justice.
Navy Sea Level Project
Impact analysis of sea level rise on bases and installations in the U.S. and around the world
Wildfires are more frequent. SAIC uses Artificial Intuition to understand wildfire risk better.
Artificial Intuition to Fight Wildfires
Ensuring the EPA can better understand the social implications of climate mitigation
Environmental Justice
SoLUTIONS TO ADDRESS CLIMATE Change:
Problem: The Navy has a number of bases and installations along the coasts in the U. S. and around the world. According to NOAA, melt water from glaciers and ice sheets and thermal expansion of seawater as it warms are causing rising sea levels, thus endangering the Navy's coastal infrastructure.
Solution: SAIC provides sea level rise analysis based on the latest climate models and projections and presents these in geospatial maps that can be combined with other map layers to help make decisions to protect Navy infrastructure.
SAIC is helping the U.S. Navy better plan their infrastructure before sea level rises.
Navy Sea Level Project
4.6 meters by 2035
5.2 meters by 2065
6.5 meters by 2100
Combined Sea Level Rise and 100 Year Storm Surge Risk– Washington Navy Yard, District of Columbia
Join SAIC’s Chief Climate Scientist Steve Ambrose as he hosts fireside chats with leaders and practitioners in climate and climate change. The far-reaching effects of climate touch every aspect of life, economy, and even national security.
Beth Gibbons, Executive Director, American Society of Adaptation Professionals
Mason Fried, Managing Consultant, Climate Scientist, ICF
David Herring, Director of Education and Communications, NOAA Climate Program
Gavin Dillingham, Director Clean Energy, Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC)
Adam Eaton, Senior Water Resilience Planner, WSP
Ned Gardiner, NOAA, Climate Program Office
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Dr. Mason Fried, Managing Consultant, Climate Scientist, ICF
Steve Ambrose, SAIC’s Chief Climate Scientist talks about climate resilience and adaptation with Dr. Mason Fried, Managing Consultant, Climate Scientist at ICF and his role in building resilience. He specializes in using climate projections and remote sensing datasets to analyze and communicate climate change and extreme weather risks, such as from sea level rise and heat waves. Dr. Fried highlighted the work ICF is doing with California in determining climate impacts on increased wildfire risk to 2030, 2050 and out to 2099. He also stressed the need to address equity issues and to develop strong communication plans. The discussion concluded with discussing the impacts on providing risks to the insurance sector and establishing quantifiable metrics to improvements in adaptation or to determine areas for future improvement.
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Mr. David Herring, Director of Education and Communications, NOAA Climate Program
Steve Ambrose, SAIC’s Chief Climate Scientist talks about climate resilience and adaptation with David Herring of NOAA’s Climate Program Office. David serves as Program Manager for both NOAA Climate.gov (www.climate.gov) and the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit (https://toolkit.climate.gov) websites. Mr. Herring’s major focus over the past 6-7 years was to support regional, state and local jurisdictions in resilience planning. He discussed the upcoming Climate Smart Initiatives program that will fund and train a cohort of climate adaptation practitioners in industry, non-profit and academia to further educate local communities. He also stressed the importance of working with underserved communities to further climate change education. Lastly, Mr. Herring discussed recent advancements in working with Microsoft and Amazon Web Services to provide faster and better datasets that are being utilized by government, other commercial entities and academia.
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Dr. Gavin Dillingham, Director Clean Energy, Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC)
Steve Ambrose, SAIC’s Chief Climate Scientist talks about climate resilience and adaptation with Dr. Gavin Dillingham, Director Clean Energy, Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC). Dr. Dillingham joined HARC in 2012 where he leads multi-stakeholder efforts focusing on policy and programs to improve the climate resilience of power infrastructure and built environment and to help usher in the energy transition via a variety of clean energy initiatives. A recent success is HARCs “Solar Plus Storage” initiative which is able to provide mobile sources of power to communities in need and reduce the cost burden. Dr. Dillingham stressed the importance of being a participant with the local communities rather than trying to push solutions which are not desired or needed. Another success of HARC is their strong Public/Private partnership advocacy. HARC works with Houston and industry leaders, like BP and Shell, to offer energy capabilities to underserved communities. Companies like BP and Shell bring strong program management expertise and are able to better serve communities in need. HARC most recently established an air monitoring network in the Greater Houston area to foster improved health in urban areas.
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Mr. Adam Eaton, Senior Water Resilience Planner, WSP
Steve Ambrose, SAIC’s Chief Climate Scientist talks about climate resilience and adaptation with Adam Eaton, Senior Water Resilience Planner at WSP. Mr. Eaton talked about the One Water Project which is considering drinking water, storm water and waste water as one entity. Understanding the interplay between the three sources of water when establishing policy and programs. Mr. Eaton also discussed the importance of resilience planning in being able to better anticipate impacts of coastal storms and heavy rain events but also drought. However, it may be difficult to measure progress of storm water programs because many of the programs are built around extreme events (e.g. rainfall from Hurricane Harvey in 2017). These events occur so infrequently that it may be decades before you experience a similar event and are able to gleam whether the storm reduction program was effective or not. The discussion also focused on the type of data used to evaluate impacts of an extreme event. Mr. Eaton presented an example that using flood insurance claims to assess impacts from an extreme event can be misleading because underserved communities are going to have less people who have flood insurance. Hence, modeling data is being used to avoid evaluate extreme rain events to ensure all populations are being considered. Lastly, Mr. Eaton stressed the value of the private sector in helping to implement change. Private industry is an apolitical force that can positively affect water policy and programs regards of what political administration is in office.
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Dr. Ned Gardiner, NOAA, Climate Program Office
Steve Ambrose, SAIC’s Chief Climate Scientist discusses climate resilience and adaptation with Dr. Ned Gardiner, at NOAA’s, Climate Program Office. Dr. Gardiner is responsible for implementing the engagement strategy for NOAA’s US Climate Resilience Toolkit. A major aspect of his current job is to help quantify climate risk for communities through the U.S. Dr. Gardiner highlighted current progress in NOAA’s High Resolution Heat Maps that can provide heat loads on specific urban areas to include individual buildings. This allows for planners at all levels to address heat stress in targeted urban areas. He also referenced the term “Social Cohesion” which is the fusion of climate science with social science. Having “Social Cohesion” enables better collaboration within urban areas and communities and provides the residents a participatory voice. Dr. Gardiner commented that the benefits for planning for extreme weather events (heat, flooding, and tropical storms) can yield financial benefits of $5 for every $1 spent. To close out the discussion, Dr. Gardiner applauded the US in leading the way in global climate resilience with cutting edge science and data sharing. Future plans include kicking off the Climate Smart Communities Initiative, which will bring tested practices to communities (including local and tribal) to enable resilience to climate change related weather events.
SAIC’s Chief Climate Scientist, Steve Ambrose hosted a panel of climate experts to discuss the impacts and causes of Climate Change. This Forum of distinguished scientist leaders defined a clear picture of what the U. S and the World are dealing with in climate change. In her keynote address, Dr. McPherson offered four response options to limit warming to 1.5-2 deg C through 2050. They are limiting greenhouse gas emissions, removing CO2 that currently exist in the atmosphere, reduce vulnerabilities to climate and exploiting opportunities to benefit from new technologies/techniques. The panelists addressed a myriad of topics that improved understanding of climate change, such as;
How do we observe climate change?
What are the human drivers?
How are human health and the health of the planet affected by climate change?
How do we reach society to educate, respond, cooperate, and implement solutions?
How do we study and report on climate change?
What are the most notable gaps in how we respond to climate change?
What type of technologies can be brought to bear to mitigate and adapt to climate change?
What role should government play in addressing climate change and partner with industry and the public to bring about meaningful solutions?
How do government agencies begin to address climate change within their mission scope and funding?
Meeting the Challenges of Climate Change, 22 September 2021
Panelists:
- Keynote Address – Dr. Renee McPherson, University Director for the South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center, University of Oklahoma
- Dr. Waleed Abdalati, Director, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
- Dr. Betsy Weatherhead, Senior Scientist, Jupiter Intelligence
- Mr. David Herring, Director of Communications and Education, NOAA Climate Office
- Ms. Lori Garver, CEO of Earthrise Alliance (Former Deputy Administrator of NASA)
WATCH: FORUM 1 | FORUM 2
SAIC’s Chief Climate Scientist, Steve Ambrose, hosted a panel of climate experts from government, industry and academia to address the impacts climate policy has on the progress in impelling climate action. Policy is the driver for advancing climate change science and technological diffusion, and provides the framework for implementation of effective, and equitable, responses to climate change. This talented group of people provided insights on their role in formulating, educating, and responding to, climate policies, including efforts to ensure that said policies further principles of environmental justice, those communities potentially most disadvantaged by climate change, energy and sustainability, as well as implications to national security.
Panelists:
- Mr. Michael McGee - Executive Director for Climate Resilience at the Department of Defense
- Ms. Pari Kasotia - New Jersey Council on the Green Economy
- Dr. Joseph Majkut – Director, Energy Security and Climate Change Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
- Dr. Will Burns - Visiting Professor, Environmental Policy & Culture Program, Northwestern University
How Climate Policy Can Drive Change, 24 February 2022
WATCH: FORUM 1 | FORUM 2
Need Forum 2 Video
Problem: Wildfires have become so frequent now that California has declared there is no longer a wildfire season, since fires can happen at any time of the year. The USDA Forest Service is tasked with the mission to “sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands.” However, the number of wildfires has made its job more complicated and costly. They are always looking for solutions to help understand wildfire risk to improve their response efforts.
Solution: SAIC recently received a NASA applications grant to test Artificial Intuition to see if it can help better understand wildfire risk. This model-free approach requires less data and no training to produce useful results, when compared to conventional Artificial Intelligence. The Quantitative Complexity Approach also allows for integration into typical AI and ML functions to streamline and accelerate preprocessing to access the most impactful data.
SAIC’s approach to using Artificial Intuition can help wildfire risk and response.
Chris MUSEI-Sequeira
BLOG
VIDEO
Senior Program Manager
Chris Sequeira is a senior program manager within SAIC’s Defense and Civilian Sector.
Sequeira joined SAIC in 2021. Sequeira works to develop community engagement to understand environmental impact and sustainability. He builds relationships across a wide range of stakeholders to improve environmental policies, processes and outcomes. Sequeira has served in numerous federal government and consulting roles, including the Federal Aviation Administration, where he held a leadership role to lead improvements to nationwide noise and air pollution policies. He also led similar noise studies at John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport in support of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Chris
Musei-Sequeira
Contact
Steve Ambrose
Sean Nolan
Rob snyder
Chris
Musei-Sequeira
Chris
Musei-Sequeira
Chris
Musei-Sequeira
Problem: When implementing climate change solutions, attention must be made to ensure those solutions are applied equally to all populations, regardless of race, income or other characteristics.
Solution: SAIC helped EPA build a geospatial system, with Census, air quality, water, flooding and other environmental data that can be used to identify and understand the impacts of climate change on disparate communities. EJScreen, an Esri-based environmental justice mapping and screening tool, provides users with a nationally consistent dataset and approach for combining environmental and demographic indicators for better decision-making.
The EPA and users can better understand socioeconomic implications of climate mitigation.
Environmental Justice: SAIC Support to the EPA
Frameworks for reslience and adaptation related to climate change
DISCOVER
climate science, meet climate change
SAIC
Climate Focused
climate science, meet climate change
climate science, meet climate change
applying SCIENCE AND TECH TO deploy solutions
applying SCIENCE AND TECH TO deploy solutions
LEARN
SAIC
USDA Wildfire Data Warehouse
USDA Wildfire Data Warehouse
BLOGS
FEATURE
ARTICLES
The Impact of Climate on the Health of the Nation and the World
A conversation with Dr. John Balbus, Interim Director, Office of Climate Change and Health Equity
Wednesday, 30 November, 1-2 pm EST (Virtual)
MORE INFORMATION
SAIC Climate Enterprise has the experience and expertise to help the wildfire community as well as the disaster community better understand risk, and data analysis to prevent and respond to disasters.
image courtesy: nasa.gov
Wildfires are more frequent. SAIC uses Artificial Intuition to understand wildfire risk better.
Artificial Intuition to Fight Wildfires
Problem: Wildfires have become so frequent now that California has declared there is no longer a wildfire season, since fires can happen about any time of the year. The USDA Forest Service is charted with the mission to “sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands”. However, the number of wildfires has made their job more complicated and costly. They are always looking for solutions to help understand wildfire risk to improve their response efforts.
Solution: SAIC recently received a NASA applications grant to test Artificial Intuition to see if it can help better understand wildfire risk. This model-free approach requires less data and not training to product useful results, when compared to conventional Artificial Intelligence. The Quantitative Complexity Approach also allows for integration into typical AI and ML functions to streamline and accelerate preprocessing to access the most impactful data.
SAIC’s approach to using Artificial Intuition can help wildfire risk and response.
Ned Gardiner, NOAA, Climate Program Office
Adam Eaton, Senior Water Resilience Planner, WSP
Pari Kasotia, Sr. Director and Head of Policy for Distributed Solar Development (DSD) Renewables
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How Energy and Climate Policy Drives Change, a Special Earth Week Fireside Chat
Pari Kasotia, Sr. Director and Head of Policy for Distributed Solar Development (DSD) Renewables
For this special Earth Week event, Steve Ambrose, SAIC’s Chief Climate Scientist discusses energy and climate policy with we talk with our guest Pari Kasotia on the impacts of energy policy on our economy and our environment. Pari is an energy policy and regulatory expert with 15+ years of experience in the clean energy space. In her role as the Sr. Director and Head of Policy for Distributed Solar Development (DSD) Renewables, she leads all the state and federal policy undertakings within this company. With a focus on energy renewables, Pari discusses the policies and actions of states, and the Federal Government, towards moving to wind and solar, as well as other ways to produce energy and reduce the impact on the Earth and climate change. She also discussed the impacts of renewables on cost and efficiency, recycling parts, what are the incentives, and how will fossil fuels continue to serve society in a world trying to move away from oil and gas?
Clicking on the above image will take you to LinkedIn.com for the replay.
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