NASA and UMD jointly announced today the awarding of a cooperative funding agreement to the University of Maryland College to continue collaborative research in the field of earth systems science through ESSIC. The agreement spans five-years and totals $36,334,811.
Research being funded by the cooperative agreement includes the study of aerosols and other human generated pollutants that travel long distances through the atmosphere and oceans; ways to improve drought monitoring; real time analysis to detect falling snow on a variety of surfaces; and determining how satellite observations can better diagnose ground level air pollution.
Additional and on-ongoing research funded by the agreement includes an activity to make a global flood and landslide technique available for decision-making to reduce disaster around the globe; and how models and observations are being used together to investigate how the Chesapeake Bay breeze affects surface air pollution levels and deposits over the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
(Further information: UMD Press Release / NASA Press Release)