so how does this work? in an interview, maarten ambaum, the lead meteorologist in this research, explained exactly how we can merge the water droplets. 

“as soon as you have electric charge on something, you get a force between them,” he said. “what we’ve shown in our paper is that this force is always positive, as in it’s always attractive. so that is what the paper is really about –– trying to show that this is an all natural circumstance and that charge will always help the drops to attract each other.”

in order to charge up the clouds, the research team has done tests with drones in the united kingdom, but their main goal is to get this working in the united arab emirates in the middle east, where they have a very severe water shortage. the uae is very involved in this research.

“what we’re aiming for is can we make the clouds that they have (in the uae) –– because they have plenty of clouds –– produce more rain. the clouds that they have don’t produce rain, because the middle east is very dusty, however it has what we call it the high aerosol loading. that means that it’s very easy to produce cloud drops there, so as soon as clouds get formed they produce small drops. the problem with small drops is that small drops are not rain, and so the only class that is left really is could we make instead of small drops into big drops,” ambaum said.

many people have their doubts about this research, however. they worry that it is tampering too much with natural processes. however, ambaum assures that this is not creating new rain, but expediting the process of collision coalescence.

“the kind of modification we can achieve of actual weather systems is minimal,” said ambaum. “so what we can hope for with the kind of techniques that we are exploring is that a cloud that is present over a particular area, we might stimulate it to produce a bit more rain or produce rain on a shorter timescale. that is quite far removed from changing the cause of a weather system. i fully agree with the thoughts that it is a shady area in terms of ethics, but i also know what can be achieved with the kind of work that we’re doing. it’s nowhere near geoengineering or weather modification. we’re talking about rainfall enhancement, not weather modification.”

the next steps for ambaum and his team over the next two to three years will be building charging emitters that are suitable to be placed in cloud seeding aircrafts and working on charge injections to make cloud seeding operations more efficient. then, one day, they may be able to help targeted areas that are struggling with droughts or wildfires, changing the way we react to these sorts of disasters.

“marine sediment cores act as an archive of sea surface temperatures, past environments, including past temperatures, and general environmental factors, such as past global ice volume,” she said of the single-celled, shelled organisms she studies at columbia’s lamont-doherty earth observatory high in the palisades outside new york city. “i examine these proxies, which can be biological or chemical or physical, and then using them i reconstruct oceanographic conditions in the past helping craft record of the el niño-southern oscillation (enso).”

climate change threatens el niño and other ages-old weather systems with severe disruptions. enso varies on 2–7 year timescales and has major influences on temperature, wind patterns, biological productivity and rainfall across the tropical pacific and far beyond. this also includes crop yields, floods and droughts at multiple locations, said jerry mcmanus, field researcher and professor at columbia’s department of earth and environmental sciences, and lamont-doherty. understanding the baseline influences on this system is key to gauging how it may be altered through climate changes.

the latest report from the u.n.’s international panel on climate change expresses continued uncertainty about how the el niño-southern oscillation will respond to continued warming, although the consequences that play out in the global water cycle are likely to be greater (more rain and flooding in some areas, with increased drought in others). south american countries such as peru rely on the periodic el niño to bring warmer ocean waters and rainfall. the uncertainly over el niño is unsettling.

pallone is seeing how she can reconstruct the oceanography of the eastern equatorial pacific ocean (the region of the open ocean directly south of mexico and central america) during a particularly interesting time in earth’s past as she reported at the annual comer climate conference, an international gathering hosted in southern wisconsin but held virtually this fall.

el niño is an oceanic climate pattern that characterizes unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern tropical pacific ocean. considered the warm phase of a larger phenomenon called the el niño-southern oscillation, the system marks a periodic warming of ocean surface temperatures. its opposite, la niña, is marked by an unusual cooling of oceanic surface temperatures. el niño brings drier warmer weather to the northern united states and wetter conditions to the south.

“if you have a strong el niño event, that might be followed by a strong la niña event as well –– but it is a consistent oscillation that we’ve observed,” pallone said.

el niño/la niña’s hydrological effects are the most important implications on the human population. it can affect rainfall patterns impacting agriculture or even flooding and monsoonal seasons. with satellite measurements of sea surface temperature since the 1980s, there are historical records that indicate the same kind of variability that we observe today suggesting that the enso system has been occurring for certain at least the past several thousand years, perhaps even more.

“if we can kind of identify periods that had recurrent warming episodes, for example, or a really large range of temperature variability, we can associate those periods with stronger or more frequent el niño events,” pallone said.

pallone’s research is tri-fold. she uses multiple methodologies to reconstruct the surface and subsurface oceanography of the eastern equatorial pacific ocean during a particularly interesting time in earth’s past, according to mcmanus.

“she makes many measurements of the oxygen isotope ratios in individual specimens of surface-dwelling planktonic foraminifera shells preserved in deep-sea sediments deposited at that time to learn about the temperature each one experienced during its month or so lifetime, and to compare the range of temperatures that characterized different intervals in the past,” he said. “that tells us something about el niño-southern oscillation (enso) variability.”

another piece of her research is an analysis of multiple specimens of foraminifera species that live at a range of depths below the sea surface to assess their shells and biology as a way to assess where and how fast the temperature changes beneath the surface ocean, hallmarks of el niño and la niña events.

ultimately, by combining methods, this enables pallone to make a richer and more robust reconstruction of the ocean state in the eep at different times throughout history.

“because of the global circulation of the atmosphere in the ocean, if you have an event happening in the equatorial pacific, for example, you’ll have effects in other parts of the world,” pallone said.

pallone started her research thinking that by using the foraminifera as a proxy and the mis5 time period, she could create a good analog for modern warming.

“if we can reconstruct the environment during (mis5), maybe it will inform about what changes could be coming in the future,” she said. “this, with most comparisons between the paleo record and the modern, we’re going to have kind of changes in temperature that might have been or that might be quicker than anything that we’ve seen in the past. but the past is still a useful analog for what could happen in the system.”

for the future, global efforts are needed to curb climate change. at the 2021 glasgow climate conference, the united nations called for a worldwide response to accelerate climate action to limit global temperature rise at a 1.5 degree c tipping point. the goal called for cutting global fossil fuel emissions by 45% compared to 2010 levels and doing so by 2030. the goal was not adopted.

pallone’s research is a small but crucial step in reaching toward this goal.

“el niño events are the dominant source of like this kind of decades scale climate variability today,” pallone said. “it’s unsettling that we’re not so confident in what could happen to them in the coming years or in the coming century.”

humans can only hear a finite range of the sound spectrum. sounds that are above the frequency of human hearing are referred to as “ultrasound.” whereas sounds that are below human hearing are called “infrasound.”

the ncpa, located on the university of mississippi’s campus in oxford, has developed a method to detect tornados using infrasound, sounds below the frequency of human hearing.  

there has never been a perfect method for detecting tornadoes. in fact, only one method works on a consistent basis.

“the easiest way to detect a tornado, in this day in age, is through people’s eyes and calling in their locations,” said dr. roger waxler, senior scientist and group leader for the infrasound research.  

waxler holds a phd in physics from columbia university, and has a professional background at numerous renowned institutions in the field.

the infrasound group at the ncpa are getting a better grasp on when tornados form, where they land, and where they move to, to provide more accurate information for the public before a tornado hits and to provide more images of these, he said. in addition to affecting the area of the midwest traditionally known as “tornado alley,” the southern united states, including mississippi, also is often hit hard by tornadoes.  

according to noaa and the national weather service’s storm prediction center, mississippi averages 45.1 tornado touchdowns a year. this number comes from certain features that the tornado produces, and forecasters are trained to look for these distinguished features.

the state ranks in the top 10 nationally for number of tornado touchdowns each year, with a variety of serious and non-serious effects. they usually hit the worst between the months of january and may, and can occur all the way through november.

ncpa scientists have been researching the use of sensor arrays, which they developed on campus, to pick up sound and pinpoint the tornadoes and track them through infrasound.  with their new technology, they have also been able to pick up information, through doppler radars, identifying wind speed and rotation of the tornado, within thunderstorms.  

“we get to go trounce around in national forests, putting out sensors, and we have a lot of fun,” dr. craig hickey, interim director of the ncpa, said with a laugh. the sensors he is referring to are placed in an array.  by measuring the time at which a signal arrives at each array placement, scientists can determine the direction of the signal.

dr. hickey, dr. waxler, and the rest of the researchers at the ncpa are optimistic about the direction of the tornado research.  

“there’s still a lot of questions [to be answered], and progress to be made, but the information we do have is certainly promising,” said waxler.

interviews:

dr. craig j. hickey (geophysics)

interim director of the national center for physical acoustics

senior research scientist ii

research associate professor of geological engineering and physics

662-915-5963

chickey@olemiss.edu

dr. roger waxler

senior research scientist ii

research associate professor of physics & astronomy

662-915-5963

rwax@olemiss.edu

according to the u.s. census bureau, from 2000-2011, the city of knoxville, tennessee grew 3.09%, a growth rate that knocked it into second place for fastest growing in the state, right behind nashville. the increase in population came with an increase in employment opportunities, but johnson saw that the city’s problems were far from over.   

“you have skill sets that people need before they can get jobs,” johnson said. he added that the high school dropout rate in the four major high schools in the inner city is about 20%. with those kinds of numbers, he says, the outlook isn’t good.

then, there are people living in old housing stock built in the early 20th century, complete with poor insulation and even lead-based paint in some cases. johnson says it’s all most people in the area can afford, but their utility bills cost around 20-40% of their disposable income.

“none of their houses were properly insulated,” johnson said. “that was the cause of a lot of wasted energy and, of course, a lot of high utility bills.”

finding solutions

this is when johnson put two-and-two together. he realized that knoxville needed to be more sustainable, not only for the environment’s sake, but for the residents.

“if we cut back on our energy consumption that means we have to burn less fossil fuels to get the energy to the people,” johnson said.

people like pearl paige, who works at a local nursing home and lived in her home for 23 years before seeed helped her get it weatherized, would have toughed it out in extreme weather or paid pricey utility bills.

“if it wasn’t for that program, my house would probably be really cold right now,” paige said. “it’s saving me money on my utilities.”

the contractors that worked with knoxville’s community action committee renovated the ductwork and insulation and patched up holes in paige’s walls, as well as installed a brand new a/c unit. paige was one of the lucky people who qualified for one of 1,300 free home weatherizations provided by knoxville extreme energy makeover.

a study by the u.s. department of energy of the weatherization assistance program found that weatherization saved households around 12% in energy costs. this savings can make a difference for the 25.7% of people in knoxville living below the poverty line.

the neighborhood where paige lives is a tight-knit community, one where three months worth of renovations attracts interest and questions. paige took advantage of that interest to try to help out her neighbors and get them to seeed’s workshops and events that focus on simple energy saving techniques.

“i’ll stop and talk to my neighbors,” she said. “because what they did to my house, it wasn’t anything more than a blessing from the lord.”

paige admitted that at times it was difficult to get people to come to the workshops. people sometimes had been working all day, but she felt that seeed could help so many people that she had to keep spreading the word.

the people who paige sent to the program also had a chance to escape the food desert using the community garden and healthy food preparation classes. over 52 fruit trees and plants are growing in the garden and the program encourages people to grow their own crops when they can.

sustainable jobs for sustainable energy

as for the young people who help make the the energy saving possible, they are getting the basic skills needed for jobs after they graduate seeed’s career readiness program.

former students kasey williams and kaija guydon said in a video testimony that seeed helped them develop their communication skills. they informed the community about the program through canvassing campaigns.

“when i started seeed, i was homeless.” williams said. “once i got out of seeed, i had my own place.”

seeed also partners with contractors to give young people jobs helping to weatherize homes like pearl paige’s, so that jobs are created right in the community that way the residents do not have to rely on inconvenient public transportation to get to jobs on the other side of the city.

maddie stevens, a student at the university of tennessee who volunteered at seeed for martin luther king day of service last year, was surprised that a city like knoxville faced these problems.

“it’s crazy to think that somewhere i call my home, i didn’t even know these simple things that affect so many people in our community,” stevens said.

in the final episode of this semester’s sciencecast: climate change series, we talk to dr. jonathan martin, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the university of wisconsin-madison. dr. martin helps us recap our series and enlighten us on mid-latitude weather systems, as well as decipher between global warming and climate change.

furman university traces its history of strong leadership on environmental issues back thirty years. more recently, in 2007, president david e. shi led the campus to become a charter signatory to the acupcc. this commitment set in motion a campus-wide conversation that has resulted in the deep, broad commitment to sustainability that exists today.

the acupcc as catalyst and benchmark

an audit this year of sustainable furman, the university’s comprehensive sustainability master plan, revealed that the university has completed more than half of the plan’s original 140 strategies. examples range from the launch of a sustainability science academic major, to installation of large-scale geothermal systems to reduce campus energy use, to development of a sustainability division within heller service corps to promote student volunteerism.

by fy2013, furman had reduced its gross emissions by more than 7% from baseline fy2007. this reduction was achieved despite construction of an expanded science center and acquisition of a 182-unit apartment complex. the university sustainability planning council continues to research and refine recommendations regarding energy efficiency measures, investments in renewable energy infrastructure, and development of offsets that will be required to meet our commitment of carbon neutrality by 2026. the progress furman has made in reducing its footprint is especially noteworthy in a region of the country where energy is relatively inexpensive and the regulatory framework limits investments in renewable energy.

sustainability as educational framework

furman’s david e. shi center supports the university’s academic sustainability efforts and coordinates meaningful, robust partnerships on campus and in the greater greenville community. its mission is to promote interdisciplinary research and teaching in support of sustainability. the center, now in its sixth year, has raised approximately $10 million in grants/gifts for the university. last april, an external review team labeled the center “best in class” nationally. the center has 54 faculty affiliates (over 20 % of furman’s faculty) and has hosted 125 funded student fellows. the center has supported faculty-student teams in their desires to conduct locally-based research and faculty to develop innovative community-based courses including those examining conservation, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and community-partner based research. the center has partnered with over 85 nonprofit, private, and governmental organizations.

centering sustainability:  the community conservation corps story

the shi center for sustainability spearheaded discussions about the ccc in 2009 when furman was looking for ways to create its own carbon offsets to meet acupcc-driven goals. the program ignited interest across campus due to the ways in which it would benefit the greater community. the nature of the program was a perfect way for the campus community to learn about the breadth and depth of what sustainability really means – connecting environmental, social, and economic concerns; taking the long view; and being problem-based and solution-driven.  

there were many early questions in setting up a first-of-its-kind program in south carolina.  what should a university’s role be in setting up a program like this? what should the scope of the program be (how many homes could be worked on at a time, which homes, where)? who should qualify (home owners, income level, etc.)? how would this all be funded (each home would take between $3000 and $5000 to weatherize assuming some volunteer labor)? how would energy audits be effectively conducted? how could students perform volunteer work that does not pose any significant risk?

in a mere four years, the ccc has not only answered the above questions, but has become a gem in the greater community and for the university – weatherizing more than 50 homes in the community to date, benefitting from 1,500 volunteer hours, and saving homeowners between 15-35% on their energy bills (most of whom live at or below the poverty line).

although university interest in the program was initially driven by its ability to generate carbon offsets, the many cascading benefits have become the heart of the ccc.  student center for sustainability fellows, volunteers, and classes have met and helped individuals that they were unlikely to interact with otherwise; have had opportunities to learn how to analyze electricity data and calculate economic, environmental, and social benefits; and have had real and positive impact in the community. students have conducted senior research and thesis work on the program impact through the university’s sustainability science major as well as other majors including economics.  the ccc has led to development of new courses, such as one on conservation and renewable energy. the ccc has provided an important means for furman to enrich town-gown relationships, through individual impacts and formal partnerships with entities like habitat for humanity of greenville county and the city of greenville, sc.

it is the university’s hope that others will see the “win-win” value in the ccc and consider developing programs that meet pressing needs in their own campus and greater communities.

no matter where you live, there are ways your city or town can “go greener” through the innovative use of your science, technology, engineering and math (stem) skills.

planet connect and staples want high school students to demonstrate in a 30 – 120 second video how one or more of the elements of stem can help green your city or town. what have you learned in the classroom about how science, technology, engineering, or math could be used to help make your town or city greener, more sustainable and a model for 21st century living?

planet connect has partnered with staples to host the third get green video contest, a national contest designed for high school students, aged 14 to 19, to display their creativity and environmental/stem knowledge while helping to inspire the public and their peers. prizes include cash, a samsung galaxy tab, a netbook, and an hd camcorder! this year’s get green video contest winners will also have the opportunity for their videos to be broadcast on national television, through the eco company tv show! the deadline to enter is 3 pm est on december 8, 2011.

for more contest information, visit http://planetconnect.org/getgreenvideocontest

for the george washington university’s freshman day of service, gw students conducted volunteer energy audits around washington dc, educating homeowners on the value of weatherization.