Author: Travis Swaim

Last week, Associate Research Professor Ariana Sutton-Grier gave a keynote speech at ACCESS 2019, a coastal & estuarine science and management event held at Saint Mary’s University. Sutton-Grier spoke about natural infrastructure, such as salt marshes, mangrove trees, and dunes, and how it can protect shorelines from erosion in the wake of worsening natural disasters.  Natural infrastructure, unlike grey (manmade, built) infrastructure is more cost effective, grows stronger as it …

Last week, it was announced that ESSIC / CICS-MD Visiting Research Scientist Tom Smith and ESSIC / CICS-MD Visiting Associate Research Scientist Ralph R. Ferraro will be receiving The Department of Commerce Bronze Medal, the highest honor that can be bestowed by the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere that marks outstanding contributions to the efficiency and effectiveness of their operating unit. Smith, who is also a physical scientist in Satellite Applications and …

ESSIC/AOSC Professor Raghu Murtugudde recently wrote a piece in Tech2 detailing how sea surface temperatures can determine the strength of a monsoon. He wrote this in the eve of Cyclone Fani, a strong tropical cyclone that made landfall on the coast of Odisha, India on Friday, May 3. Fani originated from the Bay of Bengal, a part of the Indian Ocean with sea surface temperatures above 28°C, the threshold for atmospheric deep convection.  These warm temperatures serve as an energy source for …