EAS Press Releases
Below are listed press release articles and EAS news articles beginning with the most recent:
Expert: Storm was predictable
By Tanya Brown
tbrown@journalandcourier.com
For Jeffrey Vitter, dean of the College of Science at Purdue University, Hurricane Katrina was personal.
Vitter, whose family migrated to New Orleans from France in the 1840s, watched the scenes unfolding on the Gulf Coast with a sense of dread. He, better than most, knew what the general public in Indiana did not know -- that officials in the city had been warned of such a storm often.
On Tuesday, he introduced Matthew Huber, a Purdue atmospheric scientist, to an audience of about 350 students and community members in Stewart Center. <more>
Quicktime Version of Talk (16MB)
Welcome to the our new faculty members
Why so many new faculty?
All of our 29 current faculty are continuing and, as you will see below, we are adding 12 tenure-track faculty as full and joint appointments. The department is expanding as part of Purdue’s strategic growth in key areas, which for us includes our departmental focus areas (Atmosphere-Surface Interactions; Geodynamics and Active Tectonics; Climate and Extreme Weather) and our strong participation in interdisciplinary College and University focus areas such as Climate Change and Computational Science. This exciting major expansion of our department will continue with additional searches this coming academic year.
Wen-wen Tung - Asst Prof - at Purdue since Jan 2005 |
| Keywords: Tropical Meteorology and Cloud Systems |
Dev Niyogi - Asst Prof and State Climatologist - at Purdue since Feb 2005 |
| Keywords: Land Surface Processes, Micro-, Meso- and Continental scale Land - Atmosphere Interactions |
John Cushman - joined EAS as a distinguished professor in March 2005 |
| Keywords: Geohydrology, porous media physics, spatial variability, applied math and statistics |
Kevin Gurney - Asst Prof starting Aug 2005 |
| Keywords: Global carbon cycle, ozone depletion, climate change policy |
Jennifer Haase - Asst Prof starting August 2005 |
| Keywords: GPS remote sensing, earthquake seismology, atmospheric moisture observations and assimilation in numerical weather prediction |
Lucy Flesch - Asst Prof starting August 2005 |
| Keywords: Geophysics and Geodynamics |
Saad Haq - Visiting Asst Prof starting August 2005 |
| Keywords: Tectonics and structural geology |
Greg Michalski - Asst Prof starting August 2005 |
Qianlai Zhuang - Asst Prof starting August 2005 |
| Keywords: Ecosystems and biogeochemical dynamics and feedbacks between these dynamics and the climate and society |
Dongbin Xiu - Asst Prof starting August 2005 |
Maarten de Hoop - Prof and Director of Center for Computational and Applied Mathematics starting August 2005 |
| Keywords: Inverse Problems, Seismology, Microlocal Analysis |
Gabriel Bowen - Asst Prof starting January 2006 |
| Keywords: Stable isotope geochemistry, paleoclimatology, and ecology |
Brenda Beitler Bowen - Asst Prof starting August 2007 |
| Keywords: Sedimentary Geology and Diagenesis |
Hersh Gilbert - Asst Prof starting August 2006 |
Atmosphere may cleanse itself better than previously thought
A research team from Purdue University and the University of California, San Diego has found that the Earth’s atmosphere may be more effective at cleansing itself of smog and other damaging hydrocarbons than was once thought.
Scientists, including Joseph S. Francisco, have learned that some naturally occurring atmospheric chemicals react with sunlight more effectively than previously thought to produce substances that "scrub" the air of smog. This group of chemicals, after absorbing energy from sunlight, is able to break down smog and other pollutants into far less harmful components. <Full Story>
New EAS Courses
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Extreme Weather and Climate Seminar - EAS591X <more>
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Spatial Statistics with Application to Geophysics <more>
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Aerosols, Clouds and Climate - EAS591C <more>
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Global Environmental Change - EAS591G <more>
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Oil! - EAS 191A <more>
As world warms, vegetation changes may influence extreme weather
A Purdue University climatologist has found that vegetation can significantly affect extreme weather, a discovery that could add a new piece to the global warming puzzle.
Noah S. Diffenbaugh has found that extreme weather events, such as storms and heat waves, can vary substantially in frequency and severity in a region depending on how vegetation responds to global warming. This is believed to be the first study to indicate that as vegetation responds to climate change, those changes in ground cover may affect where and how often extreme weather events occur. While climate scientists have theorized that this relationship exists, Diffenbaugh said, this study gives further credence to the idea that interactions among land, air and sunlight are more complex than we might imagine. <Full Story>
Purdue scientists unravel Midwest tornado formation
A Purdue University study of tornado formation indicates that twisters can develop in unexpected ways and at unexpected times and places, a discovery that presents a new twist to weather watchers across the country.
Although tornadoes are often conceived of as arising from springtime storms that develop in early evenings out of isolated weather cells, a new study spearheaded by Purdue's Robert "Jeff" Trapp indicates those conceptions often fail to hold, especially in the Midwest. Although far from the so-called "Tornado Alley," a region that falls generally in the plains of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, the Midwest still experiences a high number of the storms every year.
After examining data on more than 3,800 U.S. tornadoes, Trapp's team has found that many twisters develop within the line-shaped storm fronts that often sweep across the country. The twist is that these are tornadoes that are more likely to form late at night and in colder months. <Full Story>
e-Stadium
Fans have the game in the palms of their hands
It began as a pilot project in 2003 and has exploded into an interactive fan experience offering everything from instant replays to a restaurant locator to weather reports.
E-Stadium is a collaboration involving the Center for Wireless Systems and Applications, Information Technology and Intercollegiate Athletics.
Fans in the Ross-Ade Pavilion can borrow one of 70 personal digital assistants from the project team control desk located in the Shively Stadium Club. Fans carrying their own PDAs into Ross-Ade Stadium can access e-Stadium by directing their 802.11b-equipped handheld devices to estadium.purdue.edu/estadium. From there, they need only click to the various features to enjoy the experience.
At the e-Stadium splash page, fans will see, in addition to rotating images of Boilermakers in game action, this summary: "Welcome to e-Stadium at Ross-Ade. You have entered a world of invention and entertainment that takes the fan experience to a new dimension. By giving fans video instant replays in the palms of their hands and dynamically reformatting data generated by statisticians in the Ross-Ade press box, e-Stadium provides an array of real-time information, hyperlinked to players' and coaches' biographical information. Besides up-to-the-minute statistics and play-by-play, fans will find the latest updates of other games, as well as diversions such as food locator, restaurant locator, trivia, the history of the Boilermakers, weather reports and more."
Project manager Ronald Glotzbach, assistant professor of computer graphics technology, and his students developed several new applications and uses for the third year of the ongoing project.
Using drop-down menus to choose distance from the stadium and cuisine, fans can locate restaurants to visit on their way from the game. A similar application provides a locator for hotels and motels in Greater Lafayette.
For weather updates, fans will see the latest forecast provided by the Purdue Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. <more>
Professor John Cushman appointed University Distinguished Professor
Professor John Cushman was appointed as a University Distinguished Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences by the Board of Trustees. Professor Cushman came to Purdue in 1978 as Assistant Professor of Agronomy. In 1995 he joined the Department of Mathematics with a courtesy appointment as a Professor, and earlier this year he accepted a joint appointment in the Departments of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences and Mathematics.
Professor Cushman is an expert in microporous systems and nanofilms, porous media physics, applied mathematics, statistical mechanics, stochastic modeling, multiphase transport in swelling polymers, fate and transport of chemicals in the environment, and genetic evolution in microbial populations.
Professor Cushman is a member of the Society for Industrial and Applied Math, the Society of Engineering Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Materials Research Society. He is a Fellow of both the American Geophysical Union and the Soil Science Society of America. In 1995, he received Purdue's Herbert Newby McCoy Award, given to the faculty member who made the most significant contribution to science during the previous year. He serves on the editorial boards of numerous professional journals.
He has authored four books, one novel, more than 170 papers and book chapters, and has given 120 invited presentations. He has served as a reviewer for programs at Oak Ridge National Lab, Los Alamos National Lab, Pacific Northwest National Lab, and Argonne National Lab.
Heat wave?
Scientists seek ways to counter environmental impact of global warming
Agricultures Magazine
By Susan Steeves
Native birds vanishing, crab shells thinning and ice melting under polar bears may not cause alarm in the Midwest, but flooded basements, the threat of West Nile virus, and higher fruit and vegetable prices are side effects that make climate change hit closer to home.
Climate change—often linked to increased accumulations of greenhouse gases that hold in the earth's radiated heat—may contribute to all of these things and more. Scientists at the Purdue Climate Change Research Center (PCCRC) are studying the causes and long-term implications of new weather patterns and seeking management strategies for the fluctuation, which is already being felt worldwide. <Full Story>
Spring Fest Success!
Spring Fest 2005 was a huge success for the College of Science and EAS. Over the two days, we had hundreds of visitors stop by the tent and enjoy the EAS activities such as sitting in the Earthquake simulation chair, spinning up a vortex in soda bottles, watching aluminum cans being crushed, learning about the portable weather station, making cotton ball clouds, participating in soil erosion experiments, having their photos taken in a tornado or hurricane and digging up dinosaurs. Check out the Spring Fest Photos!
State weatherman an experienced researcher, official
By Dan Shaw , Journal and Courier
A new state climatologist is working at Purdue University, but he's still getting settled in. Dev Niyogi , 33, is in the midst of moving to a renovated office at the university's agronomy department. It should be ready in about a week, he said. The state climatologist is responsible for collecting information on weather from across Indiana. Yet it's hard to limit the task to such set boundaries, Niyogi said. The weather here depends greatly on what happens elsewhere in the country, he said. <Full Story>
Antarctic iced over when greenhouse gases shifted
A longstanding theory that provides much of the basis for our understanding of climate change - that the mile-thick ice sheet covering Antarctica developed because of a shift in ocean currents millions of years ago - has been challenged by Purdue University scientists. Full Story
Purdue Center to probe climate changes
While the recent movie The Day After Tomorrow magnifies the effects of global warming to absurd proportions, the underlying theory that the Earth's climate will get dangerously warmer unless mitigating steps are taken is based on sound science, according to Purdue researchers. So sound, in fact, that Purdue is launching a new, multidisciplinary Climate Change Research Center . The goal is to make Purdue a leader in understanding how and why the Earth's climate is changing, what the regional impacts will be, and what can be done to predict and mitigate those changes. » Full story .
Cloud Microphysics Group just returned from Antigua and Barbuda
The Cloud Microphysics Group has just returned from participating in the Rain in Cumulus over the Ocean (RICO) field campaign, held in Antigua and Barbuda from November 2004- January 2005. The group's interest in RICO was to collect radar and aircraft data on trade wind cumulus evolution and precipitation formation. These clouds are prevalent over the world's oceans, and often precipitate although they are quite shallow (< 1 km). Their evolution is important not only for improving our understanding of the warm rain process, but also for understanding shallow tropical convection and improving its representation in weather and climate models. The Cloud Microphysics Group was funded by the National Science Foundation to participate in the data collection, and to perform data analysis and modeling, with an emphasis on precipitation acceleration mechanisms. (Photo above by B. Stevens, UCLA).
Purdue scientist sees clues to tomorrow in Earth's past
By Rick Callahan, The Associated Press
Matthew Huber spends hours each week at a Starbucks on Purdue University's campus, hunched over a laptop with a cup of java as he ponders the ancient calamities that repeatedly altered Earth's climate.
While students chat nearby, he might run a simulation of the dinosaur-slaying global winter believed to have followed an asteroid impact 65 million years ago.
Or, he might focus on trying to explain why the Earth, after eons as a tropical world, abruptly cooled about 34 million years ago to a milder place.
"That's the kind of thing I do -- think about the end of the world, the beginning of the world," Huber jokes during a coffee break in Purdue's Student Union Building. <Full Story>
Professor explains tsunami misconceptions
Professor Lawrence Braile of the department of earth and atmospheric sciences spoke Monday on the tsunami catastrophe in Southeast Asia. Braile gave scientific explanations of how tsunamis form and explained common public misconceptions regarding tsunamis in general. "A couple of reports initially talked about the fact that tsunamis aren't normal in the Indian Ocean," said Braile. "That was really a mistake." Braile demonstrated that earthquake activity and tsunamis are actually very common in Indonesia and nearby areas, which have a 20 to 50 percent greater chance of experiencing the weather phenomena than the rest of the world. Full Story
Study spurs debate on global warming
Ignore the snow, the world is getting warmer.
The results of a study on global warming have thrust the topic back to the forefront of environmental discussion.
The study, done by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at Sand Diego, analyzed millions of oceanic temperature readings and provides strong evidence to support global warming. Global warming is the theory that greenhouse gases released during the burning of fossil fuels trap heat in the earth's atmosphere, raising global temperatures.
Noah Diffenbaugh, assistant professor of earth and atmospheric sciences, is convinced global warming is a problem that needs to be addressed. <Full Story>
Antarctic iced over when greenhouse gases shifted
A longstanding theory that provides much of the basis for our understanding of climate change - that the mile-thick ice sheet covering Antarctica developed because of a shift in ocean currents millions of years ago - has been challenged by Purdue University scientists. Full Story
Purdue researchers tackle environmental fate of nanoparticles
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Materials made from particles one-millionth the size of a fine-point pen tip are touted daily for their current uses and dreamed of possibilities, but a pressing question remains as to the environmental impact of manufactured nano-sized materials.
Purdue University scientists are investigating the interactions between these tiny, many-sided structures and the environment. To further this research, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have awarded grants totaling nearly $2 million to the Purdue Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team and a colleague from the University of Minnesota.
"This is one of the first major studies solely interested in the environmental fate of carbon-based manufactured nanoparticles," said Purdue's Ron Turco, principal investigator on the project. "We will test Buckyballs and other manufactured nanomaterials in all types of soil and in water to determine their effect on the environment, including any toxicity toward bacteria and fungi that are key indicators of damage to the ecosystem." Full Story
Purdue Center to probe climate changes
While the recent movie The Day After Tomorrow magnifies the effects of global warming to absurd proportions, the underlying theory that the Earth's climate will get dangerously warmer unless mitigating steps are taken is based on sound science, according to Purdue researchers. So sound, in fact, that Purdue is launching a new, multidisciplinary Climate Change Research Center . The goal is to make Purdue a leader in understanding how and why the Earth's climate is changing, what the regional impacts will be, and what can be done to predict and mitigate those changes. Full story .
Dark days doomed dinosaurs, say Purdue scientists
Though the catastrophe that destroyed the dinosaurs' world may have begun with blazing fire, it probably ended with icy darkness, according to a Purdue University research group.
By analyzing fossil records, a team of scientists including Purdue's Matthew Huber has found evidence that the Earth underwent a sudden cooling 65 million years ago that may have taken millennia to abate completely. The fossil rock samples, taken from a well-known archaeological site in Tunisia, show that tiny, cold-loving ocean organisms called dinoflagellates and benthic formanifera appeared suddenly in an ancient sea that had previously been very warm. While some scientists have long theorized that a meteorite's fiery collision with Earth was in some way responsible for the mass extinction of many dinosaur species, the discovery provides the first physical evidence of the global cooling that likely followed the impact. Full story.
