On July 23, 2024, members of GESTAR II leadership, UMBC leadership, and NASA Goddard leadership came together for the GESTAR II Open House, which featured earth scientists and posters, along with remarks from leadership. This presented GESTAR II scientists the opportunity to discuss their research with attendees, including sponsors, civil servants, and interns, as well as those who visited the event, which was held at NASA Goddard in Bldg. 33, Room H114. Additionally, food and refreshments were provided. Thank you to all who organized and participated and to those who stopped by!

Photo Gallery:

Dr. Andy Sayer (616/UMBC), Dr. Charles Ichoku (Director, GESTAR II), Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum (Director, Earth Sciences Division at NASA Goddard), and Dr. Karl Steiner (V.P., Office of Research and Creative Achievement, UMBC).

The ROSES proposal titled “Landslide Mapping and Forecasting in Nepal,” of which Thomas Stanley (617/UMBC) is PI, has been selected for funding by the Science Mission Directorate’s Earth Science Division. The project team includes Pukar M. Amatya (617/UMBC), and Dalia B. Kirschbaum (610). The period of performance is 10/1/25-9/30/27.

Mr. Stanley provided the following detailed information about this grant:

Among the compilation was the visualization, "Ocean Color Countdown with PACE," which included Ivona Cetinic' (616/MSU), who contributed as a writer and scientific consultant. (She also makes a brief appearance!) From the video summary: "We explore just five different ocean colors around the globe and find out what those colors tell us." 

To view the gallery, which includes the 2024 Summer Film Festival playlist, click here. Enjoy!

Dr. Maina provided the abstract for more detailed information: 
"In the Southern Hemisphere, the Andes represent the most important mountain ranges, storing more than 99% of the tropical glaciers and sustaining the life of millions of people located in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, etc. South America is one of the most freshwater abundant regions on Earth contributing to around 30% of the global runoff and home to Earth’s greatest biological treasure, the Amazon River basin, which has a substantial influence on regional and global climates. The continent’s natural water towers are threatened by climate change that accelerates glaciers’ mass loss and changes the hydrological balance. In addition to climate change, population growth represents a threat to the environment and the ecosystem and may exacerbate difficulties to provide drinking water and food. Despite the observed changes in climate over the Andes, there is still a considerable lack of knowledge about the hydrology of the region, and especially its responses to climate change. Nevertheless, understanding the responses of hydrology to climate change is important for evaluating the future availability of water resources. In this work, we aim to develop a multidecadal (from 1980 to the present) high-resolution reanalysis over South America from latitude 41.2deg South to latitude 9deg North and longitude 82.6deg West to longitude 59deg West. The proposed reanalysis will provide a better understanding of the changes in terrestrial water storage over South America as well as the different components of water storage such as soil moisture, groundwater, streamflow, seasonal snow, etc."

Join us for a virtual seminar by Dr. Daniel Tong, George Mason University (GMU). His talk is titled "Climate Change, Dust Storms, and Social Vulnerabilities in the United States."

Date and Time: Thursday, July 11, 2024 at 11:00am EST

Join us via Teams.

Abstract: 

During the past month, GESTAR II members have published as both lead authors and co-authors in various publications. Select citations are below.

Under UMBC’s Strategic Awards for Research Transitions (START) program, the proposal titled “Space Weather Effects on Ionospheric E-region Electron Density as observed by Global Navigation Satellite System Radio Occultation Missions” was selected for funding. The PI is Jude Salinas (613/UMBC), with collaborators Dong Wu (613/NASA), Jae N. Lee (613/UMBC), Nimalan Swarnalingam (675/CUA) and Daniel Emmons (Air Force Institute of Technology). The period of performance is July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025.

Dr. Salinas’ research specialty is in atmospheric and space physics, and this encompasses research in both Earth Sciences (atmospheric physics) and Heliophysics (space physics/weather) Divisions. He explained to us that "there is a sub-field that actually combines atmospheric and space physics, called "atmosphere-ionosphere coupling". Wind patterns (e.g. gravity waves, planetary-scale waves) triggered near the surface (e.g., meteorological/terrestrial weather) can actually propagate up to the ionosphere. These winds along with the stronger influence of Earth’s magnetic field can then move ionized species (e.g., electrons) in the ionosphere. This motion isn’t straightforward though because they are governed by the laws of electrodynamics. Hence, some of these movements are actually referred to as "electric currents".  Simultaneously, influence from solar and geomagnetic phenomena also affects these ionized species, albeit mostly through chemical reactions. For a long time, the prevailing theory was that most of the variability in the ionosphere must solely be driven by solar and geomagnetic phenomena because it is just too high for any lower atmospheric influence. But in recent decades and through the help of a number of NASA missions, it has become clear that space weather does involve both solar/geomagnetic phenomena and terrestrial weather." 

The ionosphere is divided into three layers, with auroras in the E- and F-regions (but not D-); additionally, the major source of electrons in the E-region is NO+ and O2+. One of the outstanding issues of space weather is the lack of observations and knowledge of the E-region ionosphere (~90 km to ~120 km) and its response to geomagnetic activity. Through funds from START, the team aims to quantify the climatological average of E-region electron density’s response to the current level of geomagnetic activity. This will be done by analyzing and quantifying the dependencies of E-region electron density on geomagnetic indices as observed by past and current GNSS RO measurements.

Congratulations!