Category: Features

A screenshot of the cover photo of State of the Climate

ESSIC Scientists Contribute to State of the Climate Report

September 26, 2022

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”.

A screenshot of the virtual attendees at the summer intern party

CISESS Welcomes Summer Interns in 2022

September 7, 2022

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.

Stormy skies spell trouble afoot for the citizens of College Park

ESSIC Scientist Explains the Science Behind College Park’s Severe Storm

July 19, 2022

On Tuesday, July 12, the College Park area was ravaged by three storm complexes fueled by the influx of hot and humid air and powered by strong high-altitude winds. The storms brought down countless trees and caused thousands of people to lose power. ESSIC scientist Will Miller provides some commentary on the storm’s trajectory and intensification.

Raspberry Pi Cameras Captures 7-Stroke Close-to-Ground Lightning Flash

May 26, 2022

In May, Daile Zhang, Guangyang Fang, Joseph Patton, and an AOSC undergrad student Domenic Brooks set up Raspberry Pi cameras at two locations. Now, they capture a lightning storm!

ESSIC Celebrates Maryland Day 2022

May 6, 2022

On Saturday, April 30, ESSIC faculty and staff gathered to celebrate Maryland Day, the University of Maryland’s largest community outreach event! This was the first

NOAA Coral Reef Watch Provides Critical Early Warnings for the 2022 Mass Coral Bleaching Event on the Great Barrier Reef

March 31, 2022

For more than 20 years, NOAA Coral Reef Watch (CRW) has been the world’s leader in observing, predicting, and communicating changes in the coral reef environment to a diverse, global user community. In mid-December 2021, CRW’s daily global 5km-resolution satellite coral bleaching heat stress products detected a significant build-up of oceanic heat stress on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia. This signified the GBR was starting its 2021-2022 summer season with a much earlier onset of accumulated heat stress than ever recorded before. At the same time, CRW’s modeled Four-Month Coral Bleaching Heat Stress Outlook indicated the significant heat stress would continue, leading to a potential mass coral bleaching event on the GBR (following on the heels of confirmed mass bleaching events in 2016, 2017, and 2020).

Two Scientists Have a Frank and Honest Discussion about Antarctica

March 23, 2022

Two NASA Glaciologists, Kelly Brunt and Alex Gardner, recently sat down to discuss the history, challenges, and evolution of mapping the Antarctic continent and what it means for science and society.

Great Barrier Reef Temperatures “Alarmingly High”, Bringing Unprecedented Heat Stress to Corals

February 9, 2022

A new paper by the NOAA Coral Reef Watch (CRW) program, an initiative supported by the ESSIC-administered Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies (CISESS), shows that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) started the 2021-2022 summer season with more accumulated oceanic heat stress than ever before in the satellite record (i.e., 1985 to the present). As of December 14, 2021, NOAA CRW’s daily global 5km satellite coral bleaching heat stress products indicated that instantaneous heat stress and accumulated heat stress over the prior 12 weeks were unprecedented on the GBR.

ESSIC/CISESS at AMS Conferences

February 9, 2022

The American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting was held virtually this year from January 23 to 27. Simultaneously, AMS held a number of specialized conferences and symposiums, focusing on topics including hydrology, climate variability and change, and atmospheric chemistry. ESSIC/CISESS scientists contributed a large number of talks and posters at the event. Talks included:

Ocean Warming Continues Through 2021

January 18, 2022

2021’s world ocean was the hottest ever recorded, beating out even last year’s record high temperatures, finds Alexey Mishonov, Jim Reagan, and a team of international scholars.