Year: 2013

Superstorm Sandy's left hook into the Jersey Shore. Flooding in Europe. Heat waves in Russia. In the past few years, extreme weather events like these have captured public attention as potential examples of a brave new world of weather, brought to you courtesy of climate change. Last year, Rutgers climate scientist Jennifer Francis gained scientific — and media — attention for proposing an explanation for how climate change is leading to more events like these. The basic idea …

Dr. Melissa A. Kenney,UMD ESSIC Research Assistant Professor, was awarded an NSF Research Collaboration Network (RCN) grant through the Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability (SEES) program. The title of the project is: “Sustainable Adaptive Gradients in the Coastal Environment (SAGE): Reconceptualizing the Role of Infrastructure in Resilience.” The core objective of the SAGE RCN is to develop a transdisciplinary network of researchers and policymakers focusing on the Caribbean …

ESSIC / Geology Assistant Professor, Sujay Kaushal, is the lead author of newly published study on long-term river alkalization trends in the Eastern U.S.  The paper entitled, “Increased river alkalization in the Eastern U.S.,” was published in Environmental Science and Technology, August 26, 2013. Kaushal’s research team determined in the first survey of its kind, that human activities have altered the basic chemistry of many rivers in the Eastern U.S.  The study analysed …

ESSIC / Geology Assistant Professor, Sujay Kaushal, is the lead author of newly published study on long-term river alkalization trends in the Eastern U.S.  The paper entitled, “Increased river alkalization in the Eastern U.S.,” was published in Environmental Science and Technology, August 26, 2013. Kaushal’s research team determined in the first survey of its kind, that human activities have altered the basic chemistry of many rivers in the Eastern U.S.  The study analysed long-term …

Tuesday, 27 August 2013

Human activities are changing the basic chemistry of many rivers in the Eastern U.S. in ways that have potentially major consequences for urban water supplies and aquatic ecosystems, a University of Maryland-led study has found.

In the first survey of its kind, a research team looked at long-term records of alkalinity trends in 97 rivers from Florida to New Hampshire. Over time spans of 25 to 60 years, two-thirds of the rivers had become significantly more alkaline.

Increased alkalinity

ESSIC Director and ConE Chair, Professor Antonio Busalacchi, was recently featured in a Princes Georges Community Television (CTV) news report, highlighting his study on climate and the world’s major wine producing regions. Busalacchi noted how some vineyards are already suffering from extreme weather events that are considered by many to be a direct consequence of climate change.  He also discussed how some growers have begun to explore and even relocate to new host-regions, as the …

According to Climate Progress, the currently booming Maine lobster-fishing industry could be in jeopardy, if ocean temperatures continue to rise. The publication noted that technological improvements in fishing practices were certainly a component of Maine’s record 125 million pounds lobster catch last year, but the main ingredient was the unusually warm ocean temperatures, averaging two to three degrees above normal. Currently, ocean temperatures have hit the lobster’s sweet spot, allowing …

Students and faculty are one step closer to being able to observe climate change negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, after the U.N. Framework approved this university to become an observer organization this month. The convention started in 1992 as a way for countries to discuss global temperature increases and the effects of climate change. As an observing member, the university will be able to send researchers to watch environmental policy changes …

Chris Kidd gave an invited presentation “Status of Satellite-based Global Precipitation” at the 11th International Precipitation Conference, July 1-3, in Ede-Wageningen in The Netherlands….