A team of 25 scientists, including ATMS and GEOL professor Cristian Proistosescu, has made progress on a 40-year old question: How much will the Earth warm if human activity doubles the concentration of atmospheric Carbon Dioxide? This number, called Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity, traces its history to the first comprehensive assessment of the effects of carbon dioxide on...
The subseasonal timescale, residing between the time scales of weather forecasts and seasonal outlooks, has long been considered a “predictability desert.” Prediction on this timescale is important for decision makers in a variety of sectors. While most research on subseasonal prediction has focused on temperature and precipitation, emergency management would greatly benefit from skillful...- The following three undergraduates: Brandon Garcia, Kaylee Heimes, and Zach Chalmers, have been offered appointments to the NOAA Office of Education, Class of 2020 Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship Program. This prestigious program provides financial...
IMPACTS is happening! The Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS) Field Campaign is now flying! Illinois participants include Prof. Bob Rauber and Graduate students Troy Zaremba, Andrew Janiszeski, Megan Varcie and Rose Miller. IMPACTS is a focused research program to study mesoscale processes in winter cyclones,...
The date for the 4th edition of the Midwest Student Conference on Atmospheric Research (MSCAR) has been set: September 26-27, 2020. This conference is organized and run by Illinois ATMOS students. In 2019, +70 students, from 12 different institutions across the Midwest, presented their cutting-edge research. Stay tuned for more details! @...
For most of us, tornado sirens and severe thunderstorm warnings mean that it’s time to hunker down and hope that the damage is minimal. Fortunately, there are people such as (Robert) Jeff Trapp, head of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, who are trying to learn as much as possible about these intense weather events. Trapp’s research is being used by scientists, policy makers, and forecasters...
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A team of Midwestern climate scientists has released a new report with grim predictions about the impact of climate change on the Great Lakes region. The report foresees a growing trend of wetter winters and springs, with increases in heavy rain events leading to flooding, particularly in urban areas with hard surfaces that cannot absorb the excess water. Rural areas will likely...
On Dec. 5, the Global Carbon Project published the Global Carbon Budget 2018, giving world leaders access to data on atmospheric carbon concentrations, emissions and trends. Illinois atmospheric scientist Atul Jain was among the many scientists worldwide who contributed data to the report. Jain talked about the carbon budget and this year’s findings with News Bureau...
Atmospheric scientists at Illinois are headed to Argentina this November to lead an international team of researchers in a $30 million field campaign to research the most intense thunderstorms in the world. As springtime rolls into Pampas, a vast plains region spreading from the foothills of the Andes Mountains in Argentina to the Atlantic Ocean in Brazil, the 50 million residents of the region...
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The effects of global climate change taking place in the Arctic may influence weather much closer to home for millions of Americans, researchers report. The United States has experienced many changes in severe-weather behavior over the past decade, including fewer tornado touchdowns than in the past. A new study suggests that atmospheric circulation changes that coincide with a...
Encircling Antarctica, the Southern Ocean is a strange and beautiful place. Full of penguins, icebergs, giant squids, and beset by intense storms, even its clouds are brighter—really. It helps explain why Bob Rauber and Sonia Lasher-Trapp, professors of atmospheric sciences, were recently flying over the area in a research plane. The Southern...
Last month, the Midwest experienced record-breaking cold temperatures and many are wondering how, when the climate is experiencing an unprecedented warming trend, we can still experience such frigid cold. News Bureau physical sciences editor Lois Yoksoulian asked University of Illinois atmospheric sciences professor ...
Scientists know a lot about weather. However, there is still one aspect that isn’t totally understood: the initiation and development of thunderstorms. That’s why atmospheric scientists at Illinois are soon heading to a small, geographical area in western Argentina to study what are considered the most intense thunderstorms on the planet. Illinois is leading the $30 million ...
Now and then a science story comes along that challenges what you’ve been told since you were a kid. This is one of them. For starters, water doesn’t necessarily freeze below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s been recorded in liquid form in clouds as cold as 22 degrees below zero. This scientific phenomenon is more than a rebuttal to popular belief—it’s the basis for a research effort underway by...
MARCH 10, 2023 BY ISABELLA ZARATE | LAS “Exhausting, hard work, and muddy,” are the words atmospheric sciences graduate student Leanne Blind-Doskocil uses to describe the Propagation, Evolution, and Rotation in Linear Storms (PERiLS) campaign. “But so worthwhile,” Blind-Doskocil added, recently. Imagine one day...