
Using Satellite Data to Help Protect Coral Reefs
UMD/NOAA Coral Reef Watch has been using new satellite products to enact real change to protect coral reefs from the threats of climate change.
UMD/NOAA Coral Reef Watch has been using new satellite products to enact real change to protect coral reefs from the threats of climate change.
Summer brings to mind sunny days and relaxing vacations, but the season’s dark side makes it one of the busiest times of the year for a University of Maryland “fulminologist”—a scientist specializing in lightning research.
On Saturday, April 29, ESSIC faculty and staff gathered to celebrate Maryland Day, the University of Maryland’s largest community outreach event! This was the 25th year that the university held the event, and the 23rd time that ESSIC has participated.
Recently, researchers from NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction (NCWCP) and University of Maryland gathered for a mini-conference to share presentations from recent conferences such as the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and American Meteorological Society (AMS) annual meetings.
Weston Anderson, an Assistant Research Scientist at the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, is lead author on a new study that investigates the frequency and trends of simultaneous yield shocks in global breadbaskets, regions that specialize in grain crops.
ESSIC/CISESS lightning team scientist Joseph Patton posted a weather briefing video summarizing the overall national weather patterns with a focus on Hurricane Ian. The lightning team, which also includes Daile Zhang and Scott Rudlosky, plan to post the videos weekly.
Kimberly Slinski can’t stop droughts from happening, but she can see them coming. Her warnings help entire regions of the world prepare for water shortages, crop failures and food insecurities that follow severe droughts. As an assistant research scientist in the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, Slinski uses satellite data to monitor water availability in drought-prone regions around the world.
Trying to predict, combat and prepare for climate change is a bit like managing the budget of a major multinational corporation. But instead of knowing where all the money goes, you have to know where all the energy goes. How much sunlight hits the planet?
Several ESSIC/CISESS scientists have contributed to State of the Climate, the annual peer-reviewed summary of the global climate published by the American Meteorological Society. The recently-released State of the Climate in 2021 is the 32nd issue and features six chapters authored by dozens of international scientists. ESSIC/CISESS scientists Bob Adler, Jeannette Wild, Alexey Mishonov, Chelsea Parker, and Sinead Farrell contributed to the chapters “Global Climate”, “Global Ocean”, and “The Arctic”.
This past summer, ESSIC’s Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies (CISESS) welcomed 22 interns to assist in the research of 24 ESSIC/CISESS scientists. Of the interns, three were graduate students, 14 were undergraduates and five were high school students. Several of these students were returning interns from previous semesters.