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Glacier Lake Inventory And Lake Outburst Flood Hazard Assessment In Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, Nepal, Prabish Khadka Chhetri

Theses

This study presents a comprehensive assessment of glacial lakes and land surface temperature (LST) dynamics within the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA) from 2010 to 2023. The KCA holds significant ecological importance, serving as a critical habitat for diverse flora and fauna, while also playing a vital role in regional hydrological systems. Additionally, its stunning landscapes attract tourists and mountaineers from around the world, further emphasizing the need for understanding environmental changes within the area. Utilizing medium to high-resolution satellite imagery from PlanetScope for glacial mapping and Landsat for LST analysis, the research aimed to achieve two primary objectives: creating an …

2024 May 2 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

Including Methane Emissions From Agricultural Ponds In National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Martino E. Malerba, Tertius De Kluyver, Nicholas J. Wright, Odebiri Omosalewa, Peter I. Macreadie

Climate Science Research Articles

Agricultural ponds are a significant source of greenhouse gases, contributing to the ongoing challenge of anthropogenic climate change. Nations are encouraged to account for these emissions in their national greenhouse gas inventory reports. We present a remote sensing approach using open-access satellite imagery to estimate total methane emissions from agricultural ponds that account for (1) monthly fluctuations in the surface area of individual ponds, (2) rates of historical accumulation of agricultural ponds, and (3) the temperature dependence of methane emissions. As a case study, we used this method to inform the 2024 National Greenhouse Gas Inventory reports submitted by the …

Opportunities For Urban Resilience To Climate Change: Understanding Local Climate Perceptions, Motivations, And Barriers To Green Infrastructure Use, Emmilene Berski

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Global climate change poses a substantial threat to cities in the United States, particularly through increases in flooding and extreme heat. Cities must adapt to these threats to preserve their residents’ livelihoods and prevent economic loss. One adaptation strategy is the implementation of green infrastructure (GI). The opportunity for GI to foster urban resilience to climate change necessitates a deeper understanding of the extent to which cities utilize GI as a strategy for local climate change adaptation as well as perceptions and motivations surrounding the use of GI at a local level. I sought to address this need through a …

The Role Of Climate Feedbacks, Poleward Energy Transport, And Clouds In Causing Arctic Amplification And Their Link To Sea-Ice Loss, Matthew Todd Jenkins

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Arctic amplification (AA) refers to larger warming in the Northern high latitudes than the rest of the world under increased greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations. Many processes have been suggested to influence AA such as sea-ice loss, positive climate feedbacks, enhanced downwelling longwave (LW) radiation from increased water vapor and cloud cover, or enhanced poleward energy transport. However, many of these processes are coupled with each other and with Arctic warming, making it difficult to separate and quantify their individual contributions to Arctic warming and AA. This dissertation focuses on the roles of sea-ice loss, climate feedbacks, cloud property changes, and …

Understanding The Zonal Variability In Cmip6 Projections Of Sahelian Precipitation, Emmanuel Ogwuche Audu

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

The uncertainty in model projections of future precipitation across the Sahel has persisted across many generations of Earth System Models (ESMs), with some models predicting drying and others moistening across this region. These discrepancies in future projections pose a challenge for stakeholders and decision makers. Many projections of Sahel precipitation found in the ESMs participating in the sixth phase of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) show a zonal dipole in precipitation trend, with moistening across the Central and Eastern Sahel and drying projected for the Western Sahel. Previous studies have connected precipitation variability across the Sahel to changes in various …

Polarimetric Radar Signatures In Significant Severe Left-Moving Supercells, Raychel Nelson

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

Left-moving (LM) supercells, though rarer than right-moving (RM) supercells, may produce significant severe weather. However, there are very few existing studies on LM supercells, particularly polarimetric radar analyses. The upgrade of the nationwide Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) network to polarimetric capability and subsequent studies vastly improved understanding of RM supercells, but similar efforts have largely not been made for LM supercells. This study employs an automated polarimetric radar signature detection algorithm to examine a dataset of significant severe (hail ≥ 2.00”, wind ≥ 65 kts) LM supercells to quantify their polarimetric signatures. Comparisons are made with RM supercells to …

A Dual-Polarimetric Analysis Of A Large Sample Of Left-Moving Supercells, Ben Schweigert

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

Supercells have been researched extensively since they were first described over 50 years ago. They are prolific severe weather producers, responsible for the most severe hail, severe wind gusts, and tornadoes. These rotating thunderstorms require attention from forecasters to protect life and property from their threats, most effectively done with Doppler radars. While extensive amounts of radar-based investigations have been completed, they focused almost exclusively on right-moving (RM) supercells, resulting in a knowledge gap surrounding their counter-rotating (left-moving, LM) partners. This study works to fill the void by developing a dataset of LM supercells and analyzing the dual-polarimetric features observed …

A Compilation, Analysis, And Categorization Of 403 Atmospheric And Climate Science Misconceptions, Haeli Leighty

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

The National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) has listed the inaccessibility of research related to misconceptions in atmospheric and climate science as a Geoscience Education Research Grand Challenge (Cervato et al. 2018). This project was a direct response to this call for research and consisted of three distinct steps: 1) data gathering, which included reviewing the literature for relevant misconception data, 2) a qualitative analysis, which included compiling, organizing, and categorizing the data collected, and 3) a quantitative analysis, which included determining the prevalence of each misconception across topic categories, demographic categories, and over time. A total of 403 misconceptions …

Resource Scarcity Caused By Environmental Changes: Driving Factor In Terrorism Attacks In Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Amaris Bustamante

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Climate change, resource scarcity, and terrorist attacks are ever-growing crises that disproportionately impact different states. They are crises that can impact the stability and resilience of humanity in the following decades if they are not addressed and mitigated. This study addresses the impact of resource scarcity caused by climate change that can then serve as a driving force in terrorist attacks in climate-sensitive and conflict-prone states. The objective of this mixed-methods study is to identify the correlation between climate changes that lead to resource scarcity such as rainfall and surface temperatures with terrorist attacks when taking into consideration other demographic, …

El Nino Prediction At 1- And 3- Year Lead Times Driven By The Western North Pacific Precursor And Their Impacts, Krishna Borhara

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a climate variability characterized by fluctuations in the atmospheric and upper ocean conditions of the tropical Pacific Ocean that result in either warmer- or colder-than-average sea surface temperatures (SST) in the tropical eastern Pacific. These changes cause variations in weather and climate in distant locations through large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns. These variations often manifest in form of adverse effects or extremes such as heat waves, droughts, or floods, making efforts towards improving ENSO prediction critical in mitigating its impact on various sectors. This dissertation focuses on how interactions between the atmosphere and ocean in …

Bay Water Level Influences On Inundation And Morphological Changes Of A Semi-Connected Barrier Island During A Hurricane, Sydney D. Goodman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations (2019 - present)

This research aims to identify flooding and erosion changes along a semi-connected barrier island system due to varying bay water levels during storm conditions. The numerical model XBeach is used to simulate Hurricane Michael conditions and the resulting inundation and morphological change near Tyndall Air Force Base (Tyndall AFB). The installation is located 12 miles southeast of Panama City Beach along the panhandle of Florida and is vulnerable to flooding due to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), Saint Andrew Sound and Saint Andrew Bay. A land bridge connects the barrier island to the mainland of Tyndall AFB …

Lake Mead: A Living Museum, Marley Salveter

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Lake Mead, the largest man-made water project in the nation and a prolific source of electricity, irrigation, and recreation for much of the western population, is currently experiencing a drastic transformation. Amid the ongoing water crisis parching the west, the once overflowing reservoir is consistently shrinking, descending into depths historically uncharted.

While serving as a bleak demonstration of climate change’s effects, the body of water is simultaneously assuming an alternative role that may be less apparent to the public. As water levels decline, Lake Mead is actively metamorphosing into a “Living Museum”, by gradually unveiling previously submerged artifacts. As a …

Consequences Of The Megafauna Extinction: Changes In Food Web Networks On The Edwards Plateau Across The Pleistocene–Holocene Transition, Quentin A. Smith Jr.

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

We are experiencing biodiversity loss due to climate change and human impacts, which is not only harmful to the environment but can also alter the composition of communities and interactions among species. The late Pleistocene experienced a loss of large-bodied mammals which resulted in significant changes in community structure due to changes in body size, diet, and species associations. The impact of these changes on species interactions and community structure across the Pleistocene-Holocene transition remains poorly understood. Using a robust data set of species composition, stable isotopes, body size, and climate variables, we constructed and compared ecological networks of mammal …

2024 May - Tennessee Monthly Climate Report, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Monthly Reports

No abstract provided.

Developing A Suitability Model And Feasibility Report For The Tennessee Mesonet, Tristan Holmes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mesoscale networks, also known as Mesonets, are advanced environmental monitoring systems that consist of multiple high-quality weather stations that collect meteorological data at frequent intervals (5 minutes or less). Tennessee currently lacks a Mesonet system, and this study identifies suitable and feasible locations for stations in all 95 counties. Layers needed to develop the suitability model included land cover, road centerlines, elevation, flood zones, building footprints, and hydrologic soil types. Geospatial analysis techniques were used to process and combine these layers to identify suitable areas. Once suitable areas were determined, a feasibility assessment that examined land ownership, accessibility, and cell …

Net Fluxes Of Broadband Shortwave And Photosynthetically Active Radiation Complement Ndvi And Near Infrared Reflectance Of Vegetation To Explain Gross Photosynthesis Variability Across Ecosystems And Climate, Kanishka Mallick, Joseph Verfaillie, Tianxin Wang, Ariane Arias Ortiz, Daphne Szutu, Koong Yi, Yanghui Kang, Robert Shortt, Tian Hu, Mauro Sulis, Zoltan Szantoi, Gilles Boulet, Joshua B. Fisher, Dennis Baldocchi

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

A significant challenge in global change research is understanding how vegetation interacts with the environment to influence ecosystem gross primary productivity (GPP) through carbon assimilation. One emerging objective is to consistently predict GPP fluctuations worldwide by establishing a robust scaling relationship between GPP measured at flux towers and satellite spectral reflectance data. However, a major hurdle in achieving this goal is the discrepancy in spatial resolution between early satellite measurements and eddy flux measurements. By using a large set of growing season data covering 100 site-years in North and Central America, we explored the potential of transforming incident and reflected …

Seagrass Conservation And Restoration To Mitigate Ocean Acidification And Climate Change, Tori Benson, Emi Wagner, Jaeger Reed

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

For millennia, various seagrass species have been sequestering and anchoring aquatic carbon into oceanic sediment. The crucial role of seagrasses involves helping mitigate climate change, which emphasizes the urgent need to conserve, sustain, and manage them as part of global climate action efforts. Restoration and conservation studies have shown significant reversal of potential damaging effects, however human activity continues to set back efforts faster than they can proceed. Multiple studies have concluded that there has been a decline in seagrass meadows in previously dense areas; and due to this, surrounding pH levels have declined and rising atmospheric carbon poses a …

2024 April 25 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

2024 April 18 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.