ESSIC / AOSC professor Zhanqing Li and AOSC graduate student Yuwei Zhang are co-authors of a paper published in Science titled “Substantial convection and precipitation enhancements by ultrafine aerosol particles.” It reports that miniscule aerosol particles can influence weather more dramatically than previously thought, including storm and rain intensity. Read a press release here….
ESSIC associate research scientist Jieshun Zhu coauthored an article in the January, 2018 issue of Climate Dynamics titled “Influence of surface nudging on climatological mean and ENSO feedbacks in a coupled model.” The article discusses tests of the NCEP Climate Forecast System, version 2 (CFSv2L) using “surface nudging.” Surface Nudging assimilates observations into the model, with the goal that more realistic inputs will result in more realistic outputs. Zhu and …
There’s a new kid in town and I’m torn. Is it going to be the tyrokaftari at Kapnos Taverna (at The Hotel@UMD) or the risotto at Burtons (at Riverdale Park Station)? Ha, both! Burtons is a few days old and sorting things out … coming up with a bigger “happy hour” bar menu (home-made potato chips in a small paper bag at the moment – FYI, the Kapnos happy hour has them beat there right now) and a weekend brunch menu soon. Do like the rich, …
ESSIC assistant research scientist Alexey Mishonov co-authored a new article in Geophysical Research Letters on decadal patterns of suspended particles in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean Basins. The study found that the long-term trend is for high particulate areas to occur only in areas where the surface water kinetic energy is high. Particulate concentration is very low throughout most of the ocean….
ESSIC was a visible participant at the 98th annual American Meteorological Society’s conference in early January in Austin, Texas. Center researchers and visiting ESSIC scientists participated in the following activities at the meeting: Talks:
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ESSIC assistant research scientist Amy McNally is a co-investigator of a new NASA-created consortium led by the University of Maryland’s Center for Global Agricultural Monitoring. The program, the Earth Observations for Food Security and Agriculture Consortium (EOFSAC), intends to use satellite data to address international food security. McNally previously helped create the Famine Early Warning Land Data Assimilation System (FEWLDAS). The system monitors water availability in …
ESSIC visiting research scientist Christopher Brown presented the Fisheries Monitoring Workgroup (FMW) progress report at the Cooperative Hypoxia Assessment and Monitoring Program (CHAMP) Workshop. Brown co-leads the FWM, which produces fisheries surveys and serves as an advisory group for fishery management. The CHAMP workshop was held in early January at Mississippi State University….
ESSIC / AOSC Professor Zhanqing Li is a co-author of a new study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences titled “First surface-based estimation of the aerosol indirect effect (AIE) over a site in southeastern China.” According to Li, the use of ground-based measurements is one of the most important methodologies for both quantifying the magnitude of AIE and understanding the underlying mechanisms. The authors were the first researchers to utilize the approach in China. …
ESSIC post-doctoral associate Michael Peterson and ESSIC visiting assistant research scientist Scott Rudlosky co-authored a new article in the Journal of Geophysical Research titled “The Evolution and Structure of Extreme Optical Lightning Flashes.” The article documents extreme lightning flashes measured by a lightning sensor on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. The methods introduced in this article are currently being applied to GOES-16 Geostationary …
ESSIC associate professor Sujay Kaushal is the lead author of a new study about increasing salt in North American waterways. Land-based salt use, such as on farms and roads, runs into natural waters, threatening ecosystems and drinking water supplies. The new study, published in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, uses data from the past 50 years to indicate significant increases in freshwater salinity and pH. It is the first to reveal long-term changes. …
