Author: Cazzy Medley

Figure 1. The local perturbations in observed microwave brightness temperatures from an ascending orbit of (a) MetOp-B AMSU-A channel 14, (b) MetOp-C AMSU-A channel 14, a descending orbit of (c) NOAA-20 ATMS channel 15, and (d) SNPP ATMS channel 15 on January 15, 2022. The black triangle at the center for each panel is the Tonga volcano location. The outermost black-curved lines from the Tonga volcano location correspond to a phase speed of 330 m/s assuming that the perturbation has been generated at the time and location of initial volcanic eruption. From the 2nd outermost black-curved lines to the innermost lines, the phase speeds are 300, 270, and 230 m/s, respectively. The time information in each panel indicates the approximate observation time for the Lamb wave (between 300 m/s and 330 m/s indicated by black right-pointing triangles) and for the lead gravity wave (between 230 m/s and 270 m/s indicated by red right-pointing triangles). Red dots indicate the pixels where the brightness temperature perturbation is larger than 1.2 K.

Satellite Microwave Observations of the Hunga Tonga Eruption’s Atmospheric Waves

December 20, 2023

ESSIC/CISESS scientists Yong-Keun Lee and Christopher Grassotti are authors on a new paper in Geophysical Research Letters describing the first attempt to perform a detailed analysis of the stratospheric impact of the eruption from satellite microwave observations. The other authors on the paper are Neil Hindley from University of Bath and Quanhua (Mark) Liu from NOAA’s Center for Satellite Applications and Research.

ESSIC Celebrates 2023 Peer Awards

December 20, 2023

As a now traditional part of the ESSIC end-of-year Holiday Party, two annual peer awards were presented to honor the year’s Best Paper and the Employee of the Year. This year, Director Ellen Williams presented these awards to Chelsea Parker, Assistant Research Scientist, and Brenda Torney, Payroll Coordinator.

Example figure produced by SAWC showing the observation number density (colors) of aircraft winds matched with Aeolus Rayleigh-clear winds at all levels for Sep 2019 - Aug 2020.

First Official Public Release of the System for Analysis of Wind Collocations (SAWC)

December 15, 2023

The data and tools one needs for wind observation research all in one place.

Zhang Presents Her New Book at the CTR Wilson Meeting

December 13, 2023

ESSIC/CISESS scientist Daile Zhang and her coauthor Ron Holle virtually presented their new
book–Flashes of Brilliance: The Science and Wonder of Arizona Lightning –at the CTR Wilson
meeting on November 16, 2023. They discussed the motivation of writing the book and
introduced the content of each chapter. The audiences were interested in creating
undergraduate level courses and materials based on the book.

California wildfire burns near a residential area at night (Adobe Stock)

Air Quality Deterioration from Western Wildfires Outpaces Human-Driven Improvement, Threatens Human Health

December 5, 2023

UMD researchers analyzed changes in the mortality burden attributed to wildfire pollution over the last two decades.

Reporting and Sharing Data for Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement Research

November 27, 2023

ESSIC/NOAA Ocean Carbon and Acidification Data System (OCADS) Scientist Liqing Jiang led a chapter of the Guide to Best Practices in Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement Research, a

ESSIC Featured in Fifth National Climate Assessment

November 27, 2023

ESSIC Assistant Research Scientist Justin Pflug is an author attributed on the Fifth National Climate Assessment, the U.S. Government’s preeminent report on climate change impacts, risks, and responses. The congressionally-mandated effort provides the scientific foundation to support informed decision-making across the United States. Pflug is attributed on two chapters, “Water” and “Compound Events”.

Eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano in the South Pacific on 14 January 2022, one day prior to the larger eruption plume that would significantly impact stratospheric composition. (Tonga Geological Services, Adapted from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0)

Massive 2022 eruption reduced ozone levels

November 20, 2023

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano changed the chemistry, dynamics of Earth’s stratosphere

Global surface ocean pH on total scale in 2020. Modified from Jiang et al. (2023).

Acidification of the Global Surface Ocean: What We Have Learned from Observations

November 20, 2023

Global surface ocean pH on total scale in 2020. Modified from Jiang et al. (2023). ESSIC Scientist Liqing Jiang is a co-author on a new

Updated High-Resolution Northern North Pacific Regional Climatology Released

November 17, 2023

On November 7th, ESSIC/CISESS Scientist Alexey Mishonov and the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) released the Northern North Pacific regional climatology, version 2. This is a collection of high-resolution quality-controlled temperature and salinity fields retrieved from the latest World Ocean Database (WOD23) on standard depth levels from the sea surface to 5,200 m depth covering the period from 1955 to 2022.