Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons^™

Health Professionals’ Roles In Animal Agriculture, Climate Change, And Human Health, Aysha Z. Akhtar, Michael Greger, Hope Ferdowsian, Erica Frank

Michael Greger, MD, FACLM

What we eat is rapidly becoming an issue of global concern. With food shortages, the rise in chronic disease, and global warming, the impact of our dietary choices seems more relevant today than ever. Globally, a transition is taking place toward greater consumption of foods of animal origin, in lieu of plantbased diets. With this transition comes intensification of animal agriculture that in turn is associated with the emergence of zoonotic infectious diseases, environmental degradation, and the epidemics of chronic disease and obesity. Health professionals should be aware of these trends and consider them as they promote healthier and more …

Laboratory Evaluation Of Black Carbon Deposition Onto Snow And Transport Via Snowmelt, Larry D. Hermanson, Joshua P. Schwarz

STAR Program Research Presentations

Black carbon (BC) is an aerosol material produced by incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass. BC has been shown to be the second most important anthropogenic climate warming agent after carbon dioxide due to its ability to absorb solar radiation, influence cloud behavior, and accelerate snow melt. BC in otherwise clean snow can significantly reduce its reflectivity. In order to learn about the significance of BC contamination in snow, we explored the deposition of BC onto snow and the transport of BC in snow during snowmelt. A Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2), was used to measure the concentration and …

Multi-Periodic Climate Dynamics: Spectral Analysis Of Instrumental, Short- And Long-Length Proxy Temperature Records, Michael David Madsen

Theses and Dissertations

Analyzing 26 short-length (less than 3000 years) instrumental and proxy temperature records and five long-length (greater than 3000 years) proxy temperature records using Discrete Fourier Transform has shown that as the length of significant periods increase in the time domain then so does the power at which the period is observed. A t-test verifies that a positive correlation exist between the length of the significant periods and the power with a confidence level of ∝ >0.05. Significant frequencies with period greater than 30 years are confirmed using Monte Carlo simulations, which were created using a nonlinear approach known as fractional …

Springtime Atmospheric Responses To North Atlantic Sst Anomalies In Idealized Gcm Experiments: Northern Hemisphere Circulation And North American Precipitation, Michael C. Veres

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this study, a series of experiments using idealized sea surface temperatures (SST), land and orography are performed to examine the interactions between the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), continents and major orography. Three sets of experiments are done using an increasingly realistic surface boundary (aqua-planet, land without orography and land with orography) and run using perpetual equinox conditions. For each land surface boundary, the model is forced with a zonally symmetric SST, with additional experiments with an imposed positive or negative SST anomalies in the North Atlantic. The experiments are then compared to determine how these forcings interact and what …

Using Green Building To Mitigate Climate Change In The Twenty-First Century, Lisa Battiste

Honors Theses

The need for green buildings are rapidly becoming more important as the nation faces impending energy crises and the world heats up from the overabundance of greenhouse gases. Buildings in America are one of the largest consumers of energy and one of the greatest contributors to CO2 emissions; more than the total emissions from all the transportation vehicles used every day. By making the construction and use of buildings more resource efficient, this can help alleviate the environmental strain of climate change. Neutralizing or eliminating carbon emissions from building use will significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the …

Northern Hemisphere Sea Level Pressure Synchronization And Its Effect On Northern Hemisphere Temperature Variability, Joshua Daniel Verbeten

Theses and Dissertations

We consider monthly anomalies of zonally averaged sea level pressure (SLP) in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) from two reanalysis products. A measure of synchronization utilizing correlation coefficient in a five-year sliding window across all latitude pairs is computed over this data. It is found that there have been two NH SLP synchronization episodes since the 1890s, which are significant to approximately three standard deviations. Similar statistically significant synchronization events are seen in simulations of 42 global climate models (GCM) with the dominant synchronization pattern in GCMs proving dynamically consistent with observations. Furthermore, a GCM-based NH temperature anomaly composite shows a …

Geochemical And Stratigraphic Analysis Of The Linnévatnet Sediment Record: A Study Of Late Holocene Cirque Glacier Activity In Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Graham Harper Edwards

Honors Projects

Morainal and lacustrine sediments in Linnédalen, Spitsbergen, Svalbard, record the fluctuations of a glacier in a currently unglaciated mountain cirque during the Little Ice Age (LIA). This study attempts to reconstruct Late Holocene glacial activity within this cirque from geochemical, physical, and visual stratigraphic variation of the Linnévatnet lacustrine sediment record. A 57 cm lacustrine sediment core (D10.5) from Linnévatnet was analyzed at a high-resolution for variations in X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF)-measured elemental composition, spectral reflectance, and magnetic susceptibility. The visual stratigraphy was observed at a microscopic scale. An age-depth model for D10.5 is developed by extrapolating sedimentation rates from dated …

Hail Formation In Florida, Matthew Stanley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Hail poses a substantial threat to life and property in the state of Florida. These losses could be minimized through better understanding of the relationships between atmospheric variables that impact hail formation in Florida. Improving hail forecasting in Florida requires analyzing a number of meteorological parameters and synoptic data related to hail formation.

NOAA archive data was retrieved to create a database that was used to categorize text files of hail days. The text files were entered into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Earth System Research Laboratory website to create National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric …

Climate Change In Southern New Hampshire: Past, Present And Future, Cameron P. Wake, Elizabeth A. Burakowski, Peter Wilkinson, Katharine Hayhoe, Anne Stoner, C. Keeley, Julie Labranche

The Sustainability Institute Publications

EARTH’S CLIMATE CHANGES. It always has and always will. However, an extensive and growing body of scientific evidence indicates that human activities—including the burning of fossil fuel (coal, oil, and natural gas) for energy, clearing of forested lands for agriculture, and raising livestock—are now the primary force driving change in the Earth’s climate system. This report describes how the climate of southern New Hampshire has changed over the past century and how the future climate of the region will be affected by a warmer planet due to human activities.

Maine’S Climate Yesterday, Today, And Tomorrow, George L. Jacobson, Ivan J. Fernandez, Paul A. Mayewski, Catherine V. Schmitt

Catherine Schmitt

Recent evidence suggests that climate change is occurring at an accelerated rate as a result of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions and associated pollutants. Based on a recently completed study, the authors describe the changes Maine’s climate is likely to undergo over the next century. They suggest that while reduction of greenhouse gases is crucial, Maine needs to be prepared to adapt to the impact that our already changing climate will have on various ecosystems and economic sectors within the state

Kenyan Climate Variation Assessment Through Rainfall Anomalies And Sea Surface Temperature (Sst) Correlations, Kimberly E. Lykens

STAR Program Research Presentations

The diverse and varied climate of Eastern Africa’s Kenya is home to an agriculturally dependent populace, in which farmers and other related economic sectors make up the majority of livelihoods and gross domestic product. Recurring droughts and severe flooding are major concerns for local farmers and governmental entities. The purpose of this study is to identify and categorize differences in rainfall trends over Kenya and to examine relationships between seasonal rainfall anomalies of sea surface temperature (SST), with an ultimate goal to improve predictions of wet season rainfall amounts. The analysis began with data from 27 national and cooperative weather …

A Molecular-Level Approach For Characterizing Water-Insoluble Components Of Ambient Organic Aerosol Particulates Using Ultrahigh-Resolution Mass Spectrometry, A. S. Willoughby, A. S. Wozniak, Patrick G. Hatcher

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The chemical composition of organic aerosols in the atmosphere is strongly influenced by human emissions. The effect these have on the environment, human health, and climate change is determined by the molecular nature of these chemical species. The complexity of organic aerosol samples limits the ability to study the chemical composition, and therefore the associated properties and the impacts they have. Many studies have addressed the watersoluble fraction of organic aerosols and have had much success in identifying specific molecular formulas for thousands of compounds present. However, little attention is given to the water-insoluble portion, which can contain most of …