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Energy and Environment Directorate

Chris Vernon

Chris Vernon

(509) 371-7193

Biography

Chris Vernon is a geospatial scientist who focuses on geospatial research and development to integrate and evaluate multi-sector dynamics in human-Earth systems. Chris specializes in geospatial algorithm and software development; multi-model integration for models with varying scale; workflow optimization; and leading teams of developers and scientists. Chris’s current research includes: evaluating the interconnection cost implications of future power generation capacity expansion in the United States; evaluation and comparison studies assessing land use land cover downscaling model performance; multi-model workflow systems software development; global water scarcity implications to human-Earth systems; and more.

Research Interests

  • Geospatial Information Sciences and Technology (GIST)
  • Multi-sector dynamics integrated modeling
  • Software development
  • Workflow optimization
  • Team leadership

Education and Credentials

  • Master of Geospatial Information Sciences and Technology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. 2014
  • Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems, Portland State University, Portland, OR. 2012
  • B.S., Environmental Science: Geology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN. 2010
  • A.A., Business Management, Western International University, Phoenix, AZ. 2006

Affiliations and Professional Service

  • American Geophysical Union (AGU)
  • International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software (iEMS)
  • Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System (CSDMS) community

Awards and Recognitions

  • 2012 EERE Project Team of the Year Award, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
  • 2011 Outstanding Performance Award, Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
  • 2010 University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Outstanding Senior Award
  • 2009 Department of Energy’s Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) Program

PNNL Publications

2024

  • Mcmanamay R., C.R. Vernon, M. Chen, I.F. Thompson, Z. Khan, and K. Narayan. 2024. "Dynamic urban land extensification is projected to lead to imbalances in the global land-carbon equilibrium." Communications Earth & Environment 5. PNNL-SA-185952. doi:10.1038/s43247-024-01231-y
  • Zhao M., Z. Khan, K.R. Dorheim, and C.R. Vernon. 2024. "helios: An R package to process heating and cooling degrees for GCAM." Journal of Open Source Software 9, no. 94:Art. No. 6033. PNNL-SA-188047. doi:10.21105/joss.06033

2023

  • Abeshu G.W., F. Tian, T.B. Wild, M. Zhao, S.W. Turner, A. Chowdhury, and C.R. Vernon, et al. 2023. "Enhancing the representation of water management in global hydrological models." Geoscientific Model Development 16, no. 18:5449-5472. PNNL-SA-189980. doi:10.5194/gmd-16-5449-2023
  • Khan Z., I.F. Thompson, C.R. Vernon, N.T. Graham, T. Wild, and M. Chen. 2023. "Global monthly sectoral water use for 2010-2100 at 0.5° resolution across alternative futures." Scientific Data 10. PNNL-SA-174645. doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02086-2
  • Yan H., N. Sun, H.A. Eldardiry, T.B. Thurber, P. Reed, K. Malek, and R. Gupta, et al. 2023. "Characterizing uncertainty in Community Land Model version 5 hydrological applications in the United States." Scientific Data 10. PNNL-SA-177243. doi:10.1038/s41597-023-02049-7

2022

  • Khan Z., M. Zhao, C.R. Vernon, T. Wild, and B.N. Yarlagadda. 2022. "rmap: An R package to plot and compare tabular data on customizable maps across scenarios and time." Journal of Open Source Software 7, no. 77:4015. PNNL-SA-168873. doi:10.21105/joss.04015
  • McGrath C.R., C.D. Burleyson, Z. Khan, A. Rahman, T.B. Thurber, C.R. Vernon, and N. Voisin, et al. 2022. "tell: A Python package to model future total electricity loads." Journal of Open Source Software 7, no. 79:4472. PNNL-SA-173932. doi:10.21105/joss.04472
  • Sampedro Martinez de Estivariz J., Z. Khan, C.R. Vernon, S.J. Smith, S.T. Waldhoff, and R. Van Dingenen:. 2022. "rfasst: An R tool to estimate air pollution impacts on health and agriculture." Journal of Open Source Software 7, no. 69:Art. no. 3820. PNNL-SA-163482. doi:10.21105/joss.03820

2021

  • Khan Z., T.B. Wild, G.C. Iyer, M.I. Hejazi, and C.R. Vernon. 2021. "The future evolution of energy-water-agriculture interconnectivity across the U.S." Environmental Research Letters 16, no. 6:065010. PNNL-SA-159533. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac046c
  • Li X., Y. Zhou, M.I. Hejazi, M.A. Wise, C.R. Vernon, G.C. Iyer, and W. Chen. 2021. "Global urban growth between 1870 and 2100 from integrated high resolution mapped data and urban dynamic modeling." Communications Earth & Environment 2. PNNL-SA-158560. doi:10.1038/s43247-021-00273-w
  • Mcmanamay R.A., C.R. Vernon, and H.I. Jager. 2021. "Global Biodiversity Implications of Alternative Electrification Strategies Under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways." Biological Conservation 260. PNNL-SA-161542. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109234
  • Narayan K., C.R. Vernon, S.T. Waldhoff, J.A. Edmonds, and R. Cui. 2021. "ambrosia: An R package for calculating and analyzing food demand that is responsive to changing incomes and prices." Journal of Open Source Software 6, no. 59:2890. PNNL-SA-157944. doi:10.21105/joss.02890
  • Nelson K.D., S. Turner, C.R. Vernon, and J.S. Rice. 2021. "gamut: A Geospatial R Package to Analyze Multisectoral Urban Teleconnections." Journal of Open Source Software 6, no. 66:Art. No. 3383. PNNL-SA-161635. doi:10.21105/joss.03383
  • Santos Da Silva S., M.I. Hejazi, G.C. Iyer, T. Wild, M.T. Binsted, F. Miralles-Wilhelm, and P.L. Patel, et al. 2021. "Power sector investment implications of climate impacts on renewable resources in Latin America and the Caribbean." Nature Communications 12, no. 1:Article No. 1276. PNNL-SA-154178. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21502-y
  • Santos Da Silva S.R., G.C. Iyer, T.B. Wild, M. Hejazi, C.R. Vernon, M.T. Binsted, and F. Miralles-Wilhelm. 2021. "The implications of uncertain renewable resource potentials for global wind and solar electricity projections." Environmental Research Letters 16, no. 12:Art. No. 124060. PNNL-SA-162946. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac3c6b
  • Smith A.D., B.G. Stuermer, T.B. Thurber, and C.R. Vernon. 2021. "diyepw: A Python package for Do-It-Yourself EnergyPlus weather file generation." Journal of Open Source Software 6, no. 64:3313. PNNL-SA-161402. doi:10.21105/joss.03313
  • Thurber T.B., C.R. Vernon, N. Sun, S. Turner, J.J. Yoon, and N. Voisin. 2021. "mosartwmpy: A Python implementation of the MOSART-WM coupled hydrologic routing and water management model." Journal of Open Source Software 6, no. 62:3221. PNNL-SA-161232. doi:10.21105/joss.03221
  • Turner S., J.S. Rice, K.D. Nelson, C.R. Vernon, R. Mcmanamay, K. Dickson, and L. Marston. 2021. "Comparison of potential drinking water source contamination across one hundred U.S. cities." Nature Communications 12. PNNL-SA-160268. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-27509-9
  • Vernon C.R., J.S. Rice, N. Zuljevic, K. Mongird, K.D. Nelson, G.C. Iyer, and N. Voisin, et al. 2021. "cerf: A Python package to evaluate the feasibility and costs of power plant siting for alternative futures." Journal of Open Source Software 6, no. 65:Art. No. 3601. PNNL-SA-164611. doi:10.21105/joss.03601
  • Wild T.B., Z. Khan, M. Zhao, M.P. Suriano, J.C. Lacal Bereslawski, P. Roberts, and J. Casado, et al. 2021. "The Implications of Global Change for the Co-Evolution of Argentina's Integrated Energy-Water-Land Systems." Earth's Future 9, no. 8:Article No. e2020EF001970. PNNL-SA-165243. doi:10.1029/2020EF001970
  • Zhao M., M.T. Binsted, T.B. Wild, Z. Khan, B.N. Yarlagadda, G.C. Iyer, and C.R. Vernon, et al. 2021. "plutus: An R package to calculate electricity investments and stranded assets from the Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM)." Journal of Open Source Software 6, no. 65:3212. PNNL-SA-162209. doi:10.21105/joss.03212

2020

  • Chen M., C.R. Vernon, N.T. Graham, M.I. Hejazi, M. Huang, Y. Cheng, and K.V. Calvin. 2020. "Global land use for 2015-2100 at 0.05° resolution under diverse socioeconomic and climate scenarios." Scientific Data 7, no. 1:320. PNNL-SA-155943. doi:10.1038/s41597-020-00669-x
  • Di Vittorio A., C.R. Vernon, and S. Shu. 2020. "Moirai Version 3: A Data Processing System to Generate Recent Historical Land Inputs for Global Modeling Applications at Various Scales." Journal of Open Research Software 8, no. 1:1. PNNL-SA-142149. doi:10.5334/jors.266
  • Evanoff J.E., C.R. Vernon, S.T. Waldhoff, A.C. Snyder, and C.A. Hartin. 2020. "hectorui: A web-based interactive scenario builder and visualization application for the Hector climate model." Journal of Open Source Software 5, no. 56:Article No. 2782. PNNL-SA-156861. doi:10.21105/joss.02782
  • Graham N.T., M.I. Hejazi, M. Chen, E. Davies, J.A. Edmonds, S.H. Kim, and S. Turner, et al. 2020. "Humans drive future water scarcity changes across all Shared Socioeconomic Pathways." Environmental Research Letters 15, no. 1:Article No. 014007. PNNL-SA-151297. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab639b
  • Kaiser K.E., A. Flores, and C.R. Vernon. 2020. "Janus: A Python Package for Agent-Based Modeling of Land Use Change." Journal of Open Research Software 8, no. 1:15. PNNL-SA-148545. doi:10.5334/jors.306
  • Khan Z., T.B. Wild, C.R. Vernon, A. Miller, M.I. Hejazi, L.E. Clarke, and F.R. Miralles-Wilhelm, et al. 2020. "Metis - A tool to harmonize and analyze multi-sectoral data and linkages at variable spatial scales." Journal of Open Research Software 8, no. 1:Article No. 292. PNNL-SA-146642. doi:10.5334/JORS.292
  • Khan Z., T.B. Wild, M. Silva Carrazzone, R. Gaudioso, M. Mascari, F. Bianchi, and F. Weinstein, et al. 2020. "Integrated energy-water-land nexus planning to guide national policy: an example from Uruguay." Environmental Research Letters 15, no. 9. PNNL-SA-150376. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ab9389
  • Link R.P., T. Wild, A.C. Snyder, M.I. Hejazi, and C.R. Vernon. 2020. "100 Years of Data is Not Enough to Establish Reliable Drought Thresholds." Journal of Hydrology X 7, no. X:100052. PNNL-SA-144280. doi:10.1016/j.hydroa.2020.100052
  • Liss S.A., K.R. Znotinas, J.S. Hughes, B.J. Bellgraph, C.R. Vernon, R.A. Harnish, and E.S. Fischer, et al. 2020. Evaluation of Foster Dam Juvenile Fish Passage, 2018: Final Report. PNNL-29587. Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Evaluation of Foster Dam Juvenile Fish Passage, 2018: Final Report

2019

  • Chen M., C.R. Vernon, M. Huang, K.V. Calvin, and I.P. Kraucunas. 2019. "Calibration and analysis of the uncertainty in downscaling global land use and land cover projections from GCAM using Demeter (v1.0.0)." Geoscientific Model Development 12, no. 5:1753-1764. PNNL-SA-143284. doi:10.5194/gmd-12-1753-2019
  • Huang Z., M.I. Hejazi, Q. Tang, C.R. Vernon, Y. Liu, M. Chen, and K.V. Calvin. 2019. "Global agricultural green and blue water consumption under future climate and land use changes." Journal of Hydrology 574. PNNL-SA-137028. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.04.046
  • Vernon C.R., M.I. Hejazi, S. Turner, Y. Liu, C.J. Braun, X. Li, and R.P. Link. 2019. "A Global Hydrologic Framework to Accelerate Scientific Discovery." Journal of Open Research Software 7, no. 1:Article No. 1. PNNL-SA-137438. doi:10.5334/jors.245

2018

  • Graham N.T., E. Davies, M.I. Hejazi, K.V. Calvin, S.H. Kim, L. Helinski, and F. Miralles-Wilhelm, et al. 2018. "Water Sector Assumptions for the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways in an Integrated Modeling framework." Water Resources Research 54, no. 9:6423-6440. PNNL-SA-126476. doi:10.1029/2018WR023452
  • Huang Z., M.I. Hejazi, X. Li, Q. Tang, C.R. Vernon, G. Leng, and Y. Liu, et al. 2018. "Reconstruction of global gridded monthly sectoral water withdrawals for 1971-2010 and analysis of their spatiotemporal patterns." Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 22, no. 4:2117-2133. PNNL-SA-129126. doi:10.5194/hess-22-2117-2018
  • Li X., C.R. Vernon, M.I. Hejazi, R.P. Link, Z. Huang, L. Liu, and L. Feng. 2018. "Tethys - A Python Package for Spatial and Temporal Downscaling of Global Water Withdrawals." Journal of Open Research Software 6, no. 1:9. PNNL-SA-129638. doi:10.5334/jors.197
  • Vernon C.R., J.S. Rice, N. Zuljevic, T.E. Seiple, M. Kintner-Meyer, C. Jin, and J. Olson, et al. 2018. "CERF - A Geospatial Model for Assessing Future Energy Production Technology Expansion Feasibility." Journal of Open Research Software. PNNL-SA-125186. doi:10.5334/jors.227
  • Vernon C.R., N. Zuljevic, J.S. Rice, T.E. Seiple, M. Kintner-Meyer, N. Voisin, and I.P. Kraucunas, et al. 2018. "CERF - A Geospatial Model for Assessing Future Energy Production Technology Expansion Feasibility." Journal of Open Research Software 6, no. 1:20. PNNL-SA-133523. doi:10.5334/jors.227
  • Vernon C.R., Y.L. Le Page, M. Chen, M. Huang, K.V. Calvin, I.P. Kraucunas, and C.J. Braun. 2018. "Demeter - A land use and land cover change disaggregation model." Journal of Open Research Software 6, no. 1:Article No. 15. PNNL-SA-131044. doi:10.5334/jors.208

2017

  • Li X., C.R. Vernon, M.I. Hejazi, R.P. Link, L. Feng, Y. Liu, and L.T. Rauchenstein. 2017. "Xanthos - A Global Hydrologic Model." Journal of Open Research Software 5, no. 1:21. PNNL-SA-126584. doi:10.5334/jors.181

2015

  • Hejazi M.I., N. Voisin, L. Liu, L.M. Bramer, D.C. Fortin, J.E. Hathaway, and M. Huang, et al. 2015. "21st Century United States Emissions Mitigation Could Increase Water Stress more than the Climate Change it is Mitigating." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) 112, no. 34:10635-10640. PNNL-SA-105956. doi:10.1073/pnas.1421675112

Selected Publications

2013

  • Vernon CR, EV Arntzen, MC Richmond, RA McManamay, TP Hanrahan, and CL Rakowski. 2013. GIS framework for large river geomorphic classification to aid in the evaluation of flow-ecology relationships. PNNL-22296, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA.

2011

  • Geist DR, TP Hanrahan, CR Vernon, RP Mueller. 2011. Investigation of habitat modification in the Wanapum Dam tailrace to increase quantity of fall Chinook salmon spawning habitat. PNNL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA.
  • Ham KD, CR Vernon, and WA Haerer. 2011. Inventory and analysis of models to support ecosystem modeling analysis, Columbia River Treaty 2014/2024 program: fish. PNWD-4300, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA.
  • Ham KD, JL Downs, CA Duberstein, SS Hughes, CR Vernon, WA Haerer. 2011. Recommended approach for applying models of fish, wildlife, and cultural resources to support ecosystem modeling analysis, Columbia River Treaty 2014/2024 program. PNWD-4308, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA.
  • Hanrahan TP, and CR Vernon. 2011. Monitoring and assessment of the Grays River Gorley Springs restoration project: 2010 final report. PNNL-21028, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA.
  • Mueller RP, and CR Vernon. 2011. Evaluation of fallback and reascension of fall Chinook salmon as it relates to escapement to the Hanford Reach. PNNL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA.

2010

  • Hanrahan TP, CR Vernon, AP Levell, EV Arntzen. 2010. Monitoring and assessment of the Grays River Gorley Springs restoration project: 2009 annual progress report. PNNL-19716, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA.

Energy and Environment

Core Research Areas

Contacts