Category: Archive

NASA researchers look forward to getting their first results from OCO-2, a satellite that will study Earth’s carbon dioxide sources and sinks and their contributions to climate change from space. After Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)’s launch vehicle failure in 2009, NASA researchers, who have been working on this project for the past 13 years, finally launched its successor, OCO-2, into orbit on July 2, 2014. “OCO-2 was designed to do one thing and one thing …

Wednesday, 13 August 2014

Dr. Zhanqing Li, a University of Maryland (UMD) professor in the Department of Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences  (AOSC) and member of the Earth System Sciences Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) was announced as an American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fellow, for his outstanding breakthroughs in remote sensing of clouds, aerosols and radiation.

“Only one in a thousand members is elected to Fellowship each year,” said Professor Antonio Busalacchi, director of ESSIC. “To

Heat waves are prolonged periods of high temperatures that can cause crop failure and human health problems ranging from dehydration to stroke. A new study, however, suggests that the agricultural community can play a role in mitigating such extreme weather. . Depending on how they manage their fields, farmers can decrease local temperatures by nearly 2 degrees Celsius during heat waves, according to researchers at ETH Zurich, a science, technology, engineering and mathematics university in …

Publication: Science News Author:  Sarah Zielinski Date: July 11, 2014 Title: How species will, or won’t, manage in a warming world Climate change is happening at a rate that most vertebrate species cannot keep up with evolutionarily, according to a 2013 report in the journal Ecology Letters. And while humans have played a large role in pushing animal and plant populations to this critical point, there may be ways to help organisms adapt. Researchers around the globe are preparing …

ESSIC / AOSC Professor Raghu Murtugudde took part in a 4-day Earth-life sciences course in Borneo, Sweden.  The class was limited to 12 PhD students in fields relating to climate and biogeochemistry.  Murtugudde was one of three guest lecturers for the course, which also included Katherine Richardson and Markus Jochum, both of the University of Copenhagen. Murtugudde was featured in talks on Basic Climate Physics, Geography and Life, Microbiology and Evolution, and Society, Climate Change …

ESSIC Research Associate and NASA/GSFC CO2 Sounder team member Anand Ramanathan, will participate in the ASCENDS (Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days and Seasons) 2014 field campaign, measuring CO2 over the continental US. The NASA ASCENDS program will develop the next generation space-based CO2 sensors using lidar technology, of which the NASA GSFC CO2 Sounder is a candidate instrument.  The ASCENDS 2014 field campaign will take place aboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft and includes …

The 2014 Joint ESSIC/JGCRI Summer Potluck is right around the corner! Each individual in attendance should bring a dish that serves at least 12 people–either homemade or store-bought. Please submit the form below to let us know what you're bringing. Festivities will begin at 11:30am on Tuesday, August 5th in the vacant suite on the second floor of our building (5825 University Research Court, College Park, MD). …

Dr. Ross Salawitch’s recent field campaign research about the “global chimney” in the Pacific Ocean, which takes gases from the troposphere into the stratosphere and may affect climate change around the world, was featured in Scientific American on Friday. To learn about how the “global chimney” works and its potential effects on climates around the world, click the following link:  http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/giant-global-chimney-could-alter-climate-change/…