Closing in on African drought prediction thanks to climate and vegetation data

What might happen if droughts were predicted months ahead of time? Food aid and other humanitarian efforts could be put together sooner and executed better, say UC Santa Barbara geographers Chris Funk, Greg Husak, and Joel Michaelsen. After over a decade of gathering and analyzing climate and vegetation data from East Africa, the researchers, who are part of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET), say there is enough evidence to associate climate conditions in the region with projected rainfall deficits that could lead to food shortages.

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Tiny air samplers new tool in improving climate models

Miniscule air samplersAn air sampler the size of an ear plug is expected to cheaply and easily collect atmospheric samples to improve computer climate models.

“We now have an inexpensive tool for collecting pristine vapor samples in the field,” said Sandia National Laboratories researcher Ron Manginell, lead author of the cover story for the Review of Scientific Instruments, the often-cited journal of the American Institute of Physics.

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