Dr. Elizabeth A Burakowski (she/her/hers) is a Research Faculty member in the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space and Affiliate faculty in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of New Hampshire. Burakowski’s research focuses on winter climate change in the northeastern United States, including what changes we've seen in the past, what we can expect for the future, and the impacts on ecosystems and society. Dr. Burakowski has served on the Boulder-based non-profit Protect Our Winters since 2016, co-chairs the UNH Research Fieldwork Safety Committee, and is a board member at Granite Outdoor Alliance.
Courses Taught
- ESCI 405: Global Environmental Change
- ESCI 765: Paleoclimatology
- ESCI 765/865: Paleoclimatology
- ESCI 865: Paleoclimatology
- INCO 790: Advanced Research Experience
- MARI 902: Arctic Research Methods II
Selected Publications
Pastore, M. A., Nelson, S. J., Burakowski, E. A., Contosta, A. R., D'Amato, A. W., Garlick, S., . . . Weiskittel, A. (2025). Snow refugia: Managing temperate forest canopies to maintain winter conditions. Ecosphere, 16(7). doi:10.1002/ecs2.70302
Beltran-Peña, A. A., Rhoades, A., Burakowski, E. A., Girotto, M., Michalak, A. M., Diffenbaugh, N. S., . . . D'Odorico, P. (2025). Future implications of enhanced hydroclimate variability and reduced snowpack on California’s water resources. Environmental Research: Water. doi:10.1088/3033-4942/ade7aa
Waling, A., Herrington, A., Duderstadt, K., Dibb, J., & Burakowski, E. (2024). Using variable-resolution grids to model precipitation from atmospheric rivers around the Greenland ice sheet. Weather and Climate Dynamics, 5(3), 1117-1135. doi:10.5194/wcd-5-1117-2024
Barnes, M. L., Zhang, Q., Robeson, S. M., Young, L., Burakowski, E. A., Oishi, A. C., . . . Novick, K. A. (2024). A Century of Reforestation Reduced Anthropogenic Warming in the Eastern United States. Earth's Future, 12(2). doi:10.1029/2023ef003663
Smith, M., Ferguson, M., Ferguson, L., Contosta, A., Burakowski, E., Levine, D., & Rogers, S. (2024). From a Shorter Winter Season to More Storm Damage: New Hampshire Outdoor Recreation Providers Feel Climate Impacts Far More than Visitors. https://scholars.unh.edu/carsey/484/: Carsey School of Public Polic. Retrieved from https://scholars.unh.edu/carsey/484/
Contosta, A. R., Casson, N. J., Garlick, S., Nelson, S. J., Ayres, M. P., Burakowski, E. A., . . . Thornbrugh, C. (2019). Northern forest winters have lost cold, snowy conditions that are important for ecosystems and human communities. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS, 29(7). doi:10.1002/eap.1974
Bonan, G. B., Patton, E. G., Harman, I. N., Oleson, K. W., Finnigan, J. J., Lu, Y., & Burakowski, E. A. (2018). Modeling canopy-induced turbulence in the Earth system: a unified parameterization of turbulent exchange within plant canopies and the roughness sublayer (CLM-ml v0). GEOSCIENTIFIC MODEL DEVELOPMENT, 11(4), 1467-1496. doi:10.5194/gmd-11-1467-2018
Burakowski, E., Tawfik, A., Ouimette, A., Lepine, L., Novick, K., Ollinger, S., . . . Bonan, G. (2018). The role of surface roughness, albedo, and Bowen ratio on ecosystem energy balance in the Eastern United States. AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY, 249, 367-376. doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2017.11.030
Contosta, A. R., Adolph, A., Burchsted, D., Burakowski, E., Green, M., Guerra, D., . . . Wollheim, W. (2017). A longer vernal window: the role of winter coldness and snowpack in driving spring transitions and lags. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, 23(4), 1610-1625. doi:10.1111/gcb.13517
Burakowski, E. A., Wake, C. P., Braswell, B., & Brown, D. P. (2008). Trends in wintertime climate in the northeastern United States: 1965-2005. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES, 113(D20). doi:10.1029/2008JD009870
