Atmospheric Sciences Commons^™

Classification Of Aerosol Population Type And Cloud Condensation Nuclei Properties In A Coastal California Littoral Environment Using An Unsupervised Cluster Model, Samuel A. Atwood, Sonia M. Kreidenweis, Paul J. Demott, Markus D. Petters, Gavin Cornwell, Andrew C. Martin, Kathryn A. Moore

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Aerosol particle and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) measurements from a littoral location on the northern coast of California at Bodega Bay Marine Laboratory (BML) are presented for approximately six weeks of observations during the boreal winter–spring as part of the CalWater-2015 field campaign. The nature and variability of surface (marine boundary layer, MBL) aerosol populations were evaluated by classifying observations into periods of similar aerosol and meteorological characteristics using an unsupervised cluster model to derive distinct littoral aerosol population types and link them to source regions. Such classifications support efforts to understand the impact of changing aerosol properties on precipitation …

Remote Sensing Of Planetary Boundary Layer Height And Particulate Matter 2.5 In New York State Mesonet Network, Bhupal Shrestha

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract:

Coupling Between Land–Ocean–Atmosphere And Pronounced Changes In Atmospheric/Meteorological Parameters Associated With The Hudhud Cyclone Of October 2014, Akshansa Chauhan, Rajesh Kumar, Ramesh P. Singh

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

India is vulnerable to all kinds of natural hazards associated with land, ocean, biosphere, atmosphere, and snow/glaciers. These natural hazards impact large areas and the population living in the affected regions. India is surrounded by ocean on three sides and is vulnerable to cyclonic activities. Every year cyclones hit the east and west coasts of India, affecting the population living along the coasts and infrastructure and inland areas. The extent of the affected inland areas depends on the intensity of the cyclone. On 12 October 2014, a strong cyclone “Hudhud” hit the east coast of India that caused a high …

Analysis Of Land Surface Temperature Over Urban Landcover Types Using Satellite Remote Sensing And Ground-Based Applications, Makini Valentine, Justine Ginchereau

Publications and Research

Urban areas have discrete differences in their land surface temperatures (LST) compared to rural areas. These regions are covered with impermeable materials with less vegetation and moisture. Consequently, this phenomenon causes major thermal intensities of different land surfaces, negatively impact people and environment. The objective of this project is to examine and to compare land surface temperature obtained from in-situ data and satellite-based observations in order to understand the diurnal variation and heat transfer at each surface type. The study utilizes series of hand held thermal infrared cameras and one Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) infrared camera to find land surface …

Earth-Observation-Based Estimation And Forecasting Of Particulate Matter Impact On Solar Energy In Egypt, Panagiotis G. Kosmopoulos, Stelios Kazadzis, Hesham El-Askary, Michael Taylor, Antonis Gkikas, Emmanouil Proestakis, Charalampos Kontoes, Mohamed Mostafa El-Khayat

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

This study estimates the impact of dust aerosols on surface solar radiation and solar energy in Egypt based on Earth Observation (EO) related techniques. For this purpose, we exploited the synergy of monthly mean and daily post processed satellite remote sensing observations from theMODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), radiative transfer model (RTM) simulations utilizing machine learning, in conjunction with 1-day forecasts from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). As cloudy conditions in this region are rare, aerosols in particular dust, are the most common sources of solar irradiance attenuation, causing performance issues in the photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power …

Crop Residue Burning In Northern India: Increasing Threat To Greater India, S. Sarkar, Ramesh P. Singh, A. Chauhan

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Crop residue burning (CRB) is a recurring problem, during October–November, in the northwestern regions (Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh) of India. The emissions from the CRB source regions spread in all directions through long-range transport mechanisms, depending upon the meteorological conditions. In recent years, numerous studies have been carried out dealing with the impact of CRB on the air quality of Delhi and surrounding areas, especially in the Indo-Gangetic Basin (also referred to as Indo-Gangetic Plain). In this paper, we present detailed analysis using both satellite- and ground-based sources, which show an increasing impact of CRB over the eastern …

Aerosol And Meteorological Parameters Associated With The Intense Dust Event Of 15 April 2015 Over Beijing, China, Sheng Zheng, Ramesh P. Singh

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The northeastern parts of China, including Beijing city, the capital of China, were hit by an intense dust storm on 15 April 2015. The present paper discusses aerosol and meteorological parameters associated with this dust storm event. The back trajectory clearly shows that the dust originated from Inner Mongolia, the border of China, and Mongolia regions. Pronounced changes in aerosol and meteorological parameters along the dust track were observed. High aerosol optical depth (AOD) with low Ångström exponent (AE) are characteristics of coarse-mode dominated dust particles in the wavelength range 440–870 nm during the dusty day. During dust storm, dominance …

Biomass Burning In The Conterminous United States: A Comparison And Fusion Of Active Fire Observations From Polar-Orbiting And Geostationary Satellites For Emissions Estimation, Fangjun Li

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Biomass burning is an important source of atmospheric greenhouse gases and aerosol emissions that significantly influence climate and air quality. Estimation of biomassburning emissions (BBE) has been limited to the conventional method in which parameters (i.e., burned area and fuel load) can be challenging to quantify accurately. Recent studies have demonstrated that the rate of biomass combustion is a linear function of fire radiative power (FRP), the instantaneous radiative energy released from actively burning fires, which provides a novel pathway to estimate BBE. To obtain accurate and timely BBE estimates for near real-time applications (i.e., air quality forecast), the satellite …

Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction Using Coral Microatolls (Sp. Siderastrea Siderea) From The Gulf Of Gonâve, Haiti, Gilman Reno Ouellette Jr.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Natural and anthropogenic climate changes present unique and serious risks to society. In order to plan and implement adaptation and mitigation strategies successfully, regional manifestations of broad-scale climate changes must be understood robustly. The Caribbean region contains part of the Western Hemisphere Warm Pool (WHWP), a major sea surface temperature (SST) feature that plays a key role in North Atlantic climate. Climate variability in the Caribbean is captured poorly by climate models, due in part to a lack of continuous, multidecadal instrumental climate records from the region. I explored three research questions in this dissertation: Does non-systematic bias exist in …

Informing Responders Using Gis And Gps, Deidre Mccarthy

CHAR

Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in August 2005 and created the single largest disaster for cultural resources that the United States has witnessed since the inception of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) in 1966. Notably, the NHPA created the National Register of Historic Places, our nation’s catalog of important cultural resources. The NHPA also stipulates that any federal undertaking which may adversely affect National Register eligible resources be mitigated. For the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Katrina created the largest compliance project ever under Section 106 of the NHPA.

Although causing a great deal of damage, Katrina also …

Keynote Address: Climate Change: From Global To New York Scale, Christopher D. Thorncroft

CHAR

This talk is concerned with the science and impacts of climate change from global to New York scales. It will provide an assessment of how the climate has changed over the past Century based on a purely observational perspective. The scientific basis for anthroprogenic climate change will be explained and discussed including a description of the “greenhouse effect” and why it is important for life on this planet. We will briefly discuss global and local consequences of a warmer climate and what we need to be prepared for going forward in the coming decades.

Thermal Radiation Anomalies Associated With Major Earthquakes, Dimitar Ouzounov, Sergey Pulinets, Menas Kafatos, Patrick Taylor

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Recent developments of remote sensing methods for Earth satellite data analysis contribute to our understanding of earthquake related thermal anomalies. It was realized that the thermal heat fluxes over areas of earthquake preparation is a result of air ionization by radon (and other gases) and consequent water vapor condensation on newly formed ions. Latent heat (LH) is released as a result of this process and leads to the formation of local thermal radiation anomalies (TRA) known as OLR (outgoing Longwave radiation, Ouzounov et al, 2007). We compare the LH energy, obtained by integrating surface latent heat flux (SLHF) over the …

The Mobile Monitoring Of Particulate Matter Through Wearable Sensors And Their Influence On Students' Environmental Attitudes, Joseph M. Abbate

DePaul Discoveries

While we have a comprehensive understanding of air pollutants, and their spatiotemporal characteristics across global, and even regional, scales, we are quite limited in our capacity to monitor neighborhood-scale emissions. The mobile monitoring of air pollution is a growing field, prospectively filling in these gaps while personalizing air quality-based tools and risk assessment. In the present study, we developed wearable sensors for particulate matter (PM); and through a citizen science approach, students of partnering Chicago schools monitored PM concentrations throughout their commutes over a five-day period. While their recorded findings would be used to explore the relationship between PM concentrations …

High Resolution Spectra Of Carbon Monoxide, Propane And Ammonia For Atmospheric Remote Sensing, Christopher Andrew Beale

OES Theses and Dissertations

Spectroscopy is a critical tool for analyzing atmospheric data. Identification of atmospheric parameters such as temperature, pressure and the existence and concentrations of constituent gases via remote sensing techniques are only possible with spectroscopic data. These form the basis of model atmospheres which may be compared to observations to determine such parameters. To this end, this dissertation explores the spectroscopy of three molecules: ammonia, propane and carbon monoxide.

Infrared spectra have been recorded for ammonia in the region 2400-9000 cm^-1. These spectra were recorded at elevated temperatures (from 293-973 K) using a Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS). Comparison between …

The Role Of Sulfur Dioxide In Stratospheric Aerosol Formation Evaluated By Using In Situ Measurements In The Tropical Lower Stratosphere, A. W. Rollins, T. D. Thornberry, L. A. Watts, P. Yu, K. H. Rosenlof, M. Mills, E. Baumann, F. R. Giorgetta, T. V. Bui, M. Höpfner, P. F. Bernath

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Stratospheric aerosols (SAs) are a variable component of the Earth's albedo that may be intentionally enhanced in the future to offset greenhouse gases (geoengineering). The role of tropospheric-sourced sulfur dioxide (SO₂) in maintaining background SAs has been debated for decades without in situ measurements of SO₂ at the tropical tropopause to inform this issue. Here we clarify the role of SO₂ in maintaining SAs by using new in situ SO₂ measurements to evaluate climate models and satellite retrievals. We then use the observed tropical tropopause SO₂ mixing ratios to estimate the global flux of …

Evaluating Hourly Rainfall Characteristics Over The U.S. Great Plains In Dynamically Downscaled Climate Model Simulations Using Nasa-Unified Wrf, Huikyo Lee, Duane E. Waliser, Robert Ferraro, Takamichi Iguchi, Christa D. Peters-Lidard, Baijun Tian, Paul C. Loikith, Daniel B. Wright

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Accurate simulation of extreme precipitation events remains a challenge in climate models. This study utilizes hourly precipitation data from ground stations and satellite instruments to evaluate rainfall characteristics simulated by the NASA-Unified Weather Research and Forecasting (NU-WRF) regional climate model at horizontal resolutions of 4, 12, and 24 km over the Great Plains of the United States. We also examined the sensitivity of the simulated precipitation to different spectral nudging approaches and the cumulus parameterizations. The rainfall characteristics in the observations and simulations were defined as an hourly diurnal cycle of precipitation and a joint probability distribution function (JPDF) between …

Determination And Analysis Of Dscovr-Eipc Satellite-Retrieved Radiance From Cloud Geometric And Optical Properties, Emily Christine Morgan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Using simulations and numerical fitting, this work sought to describe the satellite-retrieved radiance of clouds as a function of their thermodynamic and optical properties. Subsequently, this understanding can then be used in a look-up-table to determine the properties of clouds imaged by the EPIC sensor in the NASA DSCOVR satellite. In this study, background oxygen absorption was modeled in a radiative transfer model and convolved with EPIC filter functions for two absorption-reference pairs for Oxygen A- and B-band. This absorption profile was established as the primary vertical coordinate in this study, leveraging the similarity principle to allow for intercomparison of …

Remote Sensing Observation Of Annual Dust Cycles And Possible Causality Of Kawasaki Disease Outbreaks In Japan, Hesham El-Askary, Nick Lahaye, Erik J. Linstead, William A. Sprigg, Magdi Yacoub

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a rare vascular disease that, if left untreated, can result in irreparable cardiac damage in children. While the symptoms of KD are well-known, as are best practices for treatment, the etiology of the disease and the factors contributing to KD outbreaks remain puzzling to both medical practitioners and scientists alike. Recently, a fungus known as Candida, originating in the farmlands of China, has been blamed for outbreaks in China and Japan, with the hypothesis that it can be transported over long ranges via different wind mechanisms. This paper provides evidence to understand the transport mechanisms …

Tornado Density And Return Periods In The Southeastern United States: Communicating Risk And Vulnerability At The Regional And State Levels, Michelle Bradburn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tornado intensity and impacts vary drastically across space, thus spatial and statistical analyses were used to identify patterns of tornado severity in the Southeastern United States and to assess the vulnerability and estimated recurrence of tornadic activity. Records from the Storm Prediction Center's tornado database (1950-2014) were used to estimate kernel density to identify areas of high and low tornado frequency at both the regional- and state-scales. Return periods (2-year, 5-year, 10-year, 25-year, 50-year, and 100-year) were calculated at both scales as well using a composite score that included EF-scale magnitude, injury counts, and fatality counts. Results showed that the …

Technique Comparisons For Estimating Fragility Analysis In The Central Mid-West, Kimberly Ann Walker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Climate change studies and examinations of increasing sea levels and temperatures show storm intensity and frequency are increasing. As these storms are increasing in intensity and frequency, the effects of these storms must be monitored to determine the probable damages or impacts to critical infrastructure [2, 35]. These storms suddenly create new demands and requirements upon already stressed critical infrastructure sectors [1]. A combined and interdisciplinary effort must be made to identify these stresses and to mitigate any failures. This effort is needed so that the 21st Century Smart Grid is robust and resilient enough to ensure that the grid …

Air Quality Related Values (Aqrvs) For Northern Great Plains Network (Ngpn) Parks, Effects From Ozone; Visibility Reducing Particles; And Atmospheric Deposition Of Acids, Nutrients And Toxics, Timothy J. Sullivan

United States National Park Service: Publications

Summary

This report describes the Air Quality Related Values (AQRVs) of the Northern Great Plains Network (NGPN). AQRVs are those resources sensitive to air quality and include streams, lakes, soils, vegetation, fish and wildlife, and visibility. This report also describes air pollutant emissions and air quality in NGPN, and their effects on AQRVs. The primary pollutants likely to affect AQRVs include nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) compounds (nitrate [NO₃^-], ammonium [NH₄⁺], and sulfate [SO₄^2-]); ground-level ozone (O₃); haze-causing particles; and airborne toxics.

The 13 parks that are included in …

A Model Of The Effects Of Deforestation On Local Climate In The North Cascades, Monica R. H. Jasper

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Changes in areal extent of land cover types may lead to alterations in the surface energy budget that contribute to anthropogenic climate forcing. This study examines the effects of deforestation in the Cascade Range on local temperature. Temperature sensors were installed in 14 forest stands, taking measurements for one year. Estimated tree age, circumference, and species were recorded to calculate stand density index. Satellite imagery was used to calculate shade fraction from spectral mixture analysis, which is a proxy for canopy structure and density. These data were used to construct seasonal cycles of temperature to model variation with stand density …

The Use Of Remote Sensing Technologies And Models To Study Pollutants In Pdn Region, Suhail Mahmud

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Using a suite of modeling techniques and instrumentation we study the atmospheric pollutants in the PdN Region. The first objective of this work was to measure hemi-spherically integrated, spectrally resolved solar photon flux (actinic flux) between the wavelengths 300 and 700 nm, and use the measured actinic flux to improve air quality simulations. Actinic flux was measured in the PdN region in order to calculate photolysis rate coefficients for different pollutants. The improved photolysis rate coefficients were then integrated into a photochemical air quality model (CAMx) in order to improve air quality forecasting. We present the simulations performed for a …

Short-Tailed Temperature Distributions Over North America And Implications For Future Changes In Extremes, Paul C. Loikith, J. David Neelin

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Some regions of North America exhibit nonnormal temperature distributions. Shorter-than-Gaussian warm tails are a special subset of these cases, with potentially meaningful implications for future changes in extreme warm temperatures under anthropogenic global warming. Locations exhibiting shorter-than-Gaussian warm tails would experience a greater increase in extreme warm temperature exceedances than a location with a Gaussian or long warm-side tail under a simple uniform warm shift in the distribution. Here we identify regions exhibiting such behavior over North America and demonstrate the effect of a simple warm shift on changes in extreme warm temperature exceedances. Some locations exceed the 95th percentile …

A One Year Landsat 8 Conterminous United States Study Of Cirrus And Non-Cirrus Clouds, Valeriy Kovalskyy, David P. Roy

GSCE Faculty Publications

The first year of available Landsat 8 data over the conterminous United States (CONUS), composed of 11,296 acquisitions sensed over more than 11 thousand million 30 m pixel locations, was analyzed comparing the spatial and temporal incidence of 30 m cloud and cirrus states available in the standard Landsat 8 Level 1 product suite. This comprehensive data analysis revealed that on average over a year of CONUS observations (i) 35.9% were detected with high confidence cloud, with spatio-temporal patterns similar to those observed by previous Landsat 5 and 7 cloud analyses; (ii) 28.2% were high confidence cirrus; (iii) 20.1% were …

Remote Sensing And Modeling Of Atmospheric Dust And Studying Its Impact On Environment, Weather, And Climate, Hesham El-Askary, Seon K. Park, Slobodan Nickovic, Mian Chin

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

An overview of the 2015 volume of Advances in Meteorology, which was co-edited by Chapman faculty member Dr. Hesham El-Askary.

On The Detection And Monitoring Of The Transport Of An Asian Dust Storm Using Multi-Sensor Satellite Remote Sensing, Hesham El-Askary, S. K. Park, M. H. Ahn, A. Prasad, Menas Kafatos

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Dynamical and physical features of a long range transported dust event originating in China affecting Korea early March 2008 are examined using an integrative multi-sensor and multi-algorithm approach. Aerosol loadings and their size mode were analyzed over both ocean and land surfaces using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aerosol optical depth (AOD), employing standard dark target (DT) and deep blue (DB) algorithms, and the Ångström exponent (AE). Anthropogenic absorbing aerosols and smoke were found to be significant over the Indochina Peninsula, the Philippines and southern China, while a mixture of dust and pollution were predominant over central to northern …

Intra- And Inter-Seasonal Variability Of Supra-Glacial 1 Streams And Lakes Over The West Greenland Ice Sheet 2 From High-Resolution Satellite Optical Data, Michael Gregory Brown

Dissertations and Theses

The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) is one of the largest glacial ice masses on Earth, second only to the Antarctic ice sheet. The surface hydrology of the GrIS plays a crucial role on the surface energy and mass balance budgets of the ice sheet as a whole. Surface water, known as supra-glacial water, is seasonally found in the ablation zone and feeds the en-glacial and sub-glacial hydrological environments of the ice sheet. The spatial distribution of surface streams is poorly understood and their temporal variability is (to our knowledge) unknown. One of the reasons for the lack of knowledge on …

Impact Of Soil Moisture–Atmosphere Interactions On Surface Temperature Distribution, Alexis Berg, Benjamin R. Lintner, Kirsten L. Findell, Sergey Malyshev, Paul C. Loikith, Pierre Gentine

Geography Faculty Publications and Presentations

Understanding how different physical processes can shape the probability distribution function (PDF) of surface temperature, in particular the tails of the distribution, is essential for the attribution and projection of future extreme temperature events. In this study, the contribution of soil moisture–atmosphere interactions to surface temperature PDFs is investigated. Soil moisture represents a key variable in the coupling of the land and atmosphere, since it controls the partitioning of available energy between sensible and latent heat flux at the surface. Consequently, soil moisture variability driven by the atmosphere may feed back onto the near-surface climate—in particular, temperature. In this study, …

Spatiotemporal Analysis Of The January Northern Hemisphere Circumpolar Vortex Over The Contiguous United States, Thomas J. Ballinger, Michael J. Allen, Robert V. Rohli

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

January 2014 will be remembered for the sensationalized media usage of the term "polar vortex" which coincided with several polar air outbreaks. A United States polar vortex (USPV) perspective is presented to better understand the January spatial and temporal variability of this regional component of the Northern Hemisphere circumpolar vortex. Use of the monthly mean 5460 m isohypse to represent the location of the USPV extent and area revealed that the spatial features of the January 2014 USPV were not extreme relative to certain 1948–2013 Januaries. Furthermore, the Arctic Oscillation (AO), Pacific-North American (PNA) Pattern, and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) …