For years scientists have known that hurricanes get their strength from ocean heat, but the extent to which sea spray affects storm intensity remains a mystery. A boat-sized buoy developed by Will Drennan, associate professor of applied marine physics, could help unlock the puzzle.
During the 2007 hurricane season, Drennan and his team first deployed the 20-foot-long buoy in “hurricane alley,” 250 miles off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, where the device’s high-tech instruments recorded valuable information during a storm. The readings they collected and are interpreting could improve tropical storm and hurricane forecasting. The buoy will be redeployed in the Atlantic next year, and in 2010 it will be sent to Taiwan as part of a U.S. Navy-funded experiment to gather data on typhoons.
With most of the international scientific community in agreement that human activities have induced global warming, research efforts are now being focused on making reliable predictions about how much climate will change over the next century—and one of the Rosenstiel School’s best climate change experts is at the forefront of this effort. Through the use of satellite observations and mathematical models of the Earth’s climate, associate professor of meteorology and oceanography Brian Soden strives to better understand the role of atmospheric hydrologic processes in governing climate and climate change. “Many of the most profound societal and ecological impacts of a warming climate are directly tied to changes in the hydrological cycle,” he says.
Coral reefs around the world are under siege, as mass coral “bleaching” events caused by global warming wreak havoc on their health. But two UM scientists could help save these delicate ecosystems.
Focusing on coral reef disturbance ecology in the equatorial eastern Pacific, professor of marine biology and fisheries Peter W. Glynn has documented the causative relationship between El Niño-Southern Oscillation sea-warming events and the coral bleaching and death that results. He received a Charles Darwin Award for his sustained, significant coral reef research.
Meanwhile, assistant professor Andrew C. Baker, the recipient of a prestigious 2008 Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation, is working on a groundbreaking technique that could help corals withstand warming ocean temperatures. He is developing methods to boost the natural abundance of heat-tolerant symbiotic algae inside coral reefs, a technique he plans to use in the field as a way to help coral survive climate change.
A University of Miami- produced film is teaching the world about the growing crisis surrounding one of its most precious, life-sustaining resources: water.
Shot in 14 countries, One Water documents the crisis, showing how people all over the world struggle daily to find enough water to satisfy basic needs.
A collaborative project of the School of Communication, College of Engineering, and Frost School of Music, the film also examines what must be done to solve the problem. School of Education faculty
also are developing curricular materials related to the project.
“We can’t assume anymore that everyone has access to clean and safe water,” says School of Communication Vice Dean Sanjeev Chatterjee, who wrote, produced, and directed the film. “What is required is a transformation in the way we think about water as a resource.”
Amy Clement, associate professor of meteorology and physical oceanography—the recipient of a prestigious Meisinger Award from the American Meteorological Society—takes a different approach in investi-gating climate change. She focuses not only on what today’s climatic conditions are like but also on the paleoclimate record from hundreds of thousands of years ago.
How does your method of analyzing the paleoclimate record and using mathematical models to project future changes in the Earth’s climate differ from that of other scientists?
Climate models can help provide an understanding of the physical mechanisms that play a role in climate change, but there are also large uncertainties associated with certain processes—for example, how clouds form. Paleoclimate observations are able to show what actually happened. One can get a more complete understanding by combining these tools.
What does your study of the paleoclimate record tell us about global warming and its causes?
The most important lesson is that the climate system is extremely
sensitive. All examples of past climate changes have shown us that if you perturb the climate system in even some small way, the consequences can be large and global. This raises a big red flag about how we may be affecting the climate by adding greenhouse gases.
Have you and your husband, Kenneth Broad, an assistant professor of marine affairs and policy at the Rosenstiel School, found opportunities for collaboration?
We have developed a course on climate change, which addresses the physical side of climate change, the impacts on society, and implications for policy.
