Home » Travis Swaim » Page 4

Author: Travis Swaim

New Study Identifies Causes of Multidecadal Climate Changes

This story was published by the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. UMD geologist contributes to analysis that suggests current climate models can accurately predict climate warming several decades into the future A new reconstruction of global average surface temperature change over the past 2,000 years has identified the main causes for decade-scale climate changes. The analysis suggests that Earth’s current warming rate, caused by human greenhouse gas emissions, is …

Read More »

Satellite Retrieved Precipitate Rates Lag Ground Precipitation Measurements, Find ESSIC/CISESS Scientists

Earlier this month, Geophysical Research Letters published an article co-authored by ESSIC/CISESS Assistant Research Scientist Yalei You and Faculty Specialist Jun Dong as well as Visiting Research Scientist Huan Meng and Visiting Assistant Research Scientist Scott Rudlosky. Titled “Time‐Lag Correlation Between Passive Microwave Measurements and Surface Precipitation and Its Impact on Precipitation Retrieval Evaluation”, the study showed a time lag between satellite radiometer-retrieved …

Read More »

Ferraro Talks Hydrological Products in Alaskan Webinar

Last week, ESSIC/CISESS Visiting Associate Research Scientist Ralph Ferraro gave a talk titled “Satellite Hydrological Products and their Utility in the Alaska Region”.  Over 50 participants listened in on the remote presentations. Passive microwave sensors on low earth orbiting satellites have the ability to monitor several parameters associated with the Earth’s hydrological cycle–falling precipitation, snow and ice parameters, soil moisture, etc.  These observations are …

Read More »

Wild Earns NSF Award for New Regional Food-Energy-Water Research Project

ESSIC/CISESS Assistant Research Professor Thomas Wild recently earned an award with the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a proposal titled “INFEWS/T1: Decision-Driven Advances in Integrated Assessment Modeling of the Food-Energy-Water Nexus”. The award will provide $2.5M of funding for five years. This research project will develop a new, integrated analytical approach that considers the interconnections among food, energy, and water systems to improve regional food-energy-water …

Read More »

Zou and Tian Mitigate Striping Noise on Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder

ESSIC / CISESS Scientists Xiaolei Zou and Xiaxu Tian have put their expertise on striping noise and applied it to one of the key JPSS instruments, Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS). Their new technique using symmetric filters is described in their new article in the July 2019 issue of the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. During each ATMS scanning cycle, the antenna first scans the Earth scene, then cold space, and finally the blackbody warm target to record the …

Read More »

New Book by ESSIC Research Scientist Demystifies Climate Analysis

There is no doubt that Earth is getting warmer. At the same time, many locations experience dramatic weather and climate variations every year. Heat waves, intense cold outbreaks, threatening droughts, floods, and destructive tropical storms are common in the daily news. These climate variations are taking place against the background of overall climate change, but the distinction between the two can be challenging to explain.  What factors are responsible for these variations and how do we …

Read More »

Brown Participates in First International Operational Satellite Oceanography Symposium

ESSIC/CISESS Visiting Research Scientist Christopher Brown was on the Executive Steering and Program Committees of last week’s First International Operational Satellite Oceanography Symposium (OSOS), a meeting jointly organized by NESDIS’ Center for Satellite Applications (STAR) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). Designed for users of operational satellite oceanographic data, products and applications, the conference’s objectives …

Read More »

Rudlosky and Quick Explain Large Tidal Basin Lightning Bolt

Last week, SCSB’s Scott Rudlosky and ESSIC/CISESS Scientist Mason Quick contributed to a Washington Post article that detailed a lightning flash across the Tidal Basin. The author, a member of the Capital Weather Gang, sought out Rudlosky to research the size and location of the flash using data from the D.C. Lightning Mapping Array (DCLMA).  Using sensors that monitor lightning’s very high frequency radio waves, the DCLMA provides detailed insight into the structure and evolution of …

Read More »

Evans Speaks About Climate Change Projections at Science on Tap

Michael Evans, Associate Professor for ESSIC and UMD’s Department of Geology, recently gave a lecture titled “How good are global climate change projections …out to 2050?” at Science on Tap, a casual monthly lecture series that explores the latest discoveries in science and technology. At the event, Evans discussed his efforts alongside an international team to develop reconstructions of global mean surface temperatures for the last 2,000 years.  The results were surprisingly …

Read More »

Nicely and Co-authors Develop New Method to Gauge Atmosphere’s Ability to Clear Methane

Assistant Research Scientist Julie Nicely was the second author on a recent publication in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that outlines a way to quantify global hydroxyl radical (OH), a central oxidizing agent that can destroy hazardous air pollutants such as methane. The authors of the piece, titled “Mapping hydroxyl variability throughout the global remote troposphere via synthesis of airborne and satellite formaldehyde observations”, have developed a …

Read More »