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November 6, 2009 | NCAR postdoctoral researcher Isabelle Ruin studies how
people and organizations respond to extreme weather events—in particular, flash
floods. Flash floods are already on average the leading cause of
weather-related fatalities in the United States and second most common
worldwide. Scientists expect that floods will become more widespread and
threatening as the planet heats and rainfall intensifies due to climate change.
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October 15, 2009 | Preliminary research at NCAR suggests that biological particles may contribute significantly to
the mass of organic carbon stored in atmospheric aerosols. The study is
an important step for scientists who are just beginning to quantify the role
that these biological particles play in the atmosphere.
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October 1, 2009 | When it comes to global air pollution, what goes around
comes around. Air pollution from factories, traffic, and power plants in Asia
wafts over the Pacific Ocean to the United States, while pollutants produced in
the United States wind up in Europe.
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September 14, 2009 | In 2006, a team of NCAR researchers convened
in Mexico City for MIRAGE (Megacity Impacts on Regional and Global
Environments), a study of the chemical and physical transformation of air
pollution in urban areas and its impact on air quality, ecosystems, and
climate.
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September 10, 2009 | In 2008, NCAR scientist Sean Swenson used data from twin
satellites named GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) to measure the
mass of water in the region around east Africa's Lake Victoria, revealing
that human management—not just drought—was responsible for declining water
levels.
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August 27, 2009 | A team of researchers in NCAR’s Earth Observing Laboratory led by
postdoctoral researcher Jacob Fugal is developing and testing a
specialized instrument that uses digital holography to measure tiny
cloud droplets. The instrument, Holographic Detector for Clouds 2
(HOLODEC 2), will be used on the Gulfstream V.
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July 28, 2009 | Observing System Simulation Experiments, known as OSSEs, are studies that quantify just how useful a particular observation is for answering a given science question. Scientists have used this technique for some time to test if incorporating new measurements improves weather forecasts.
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July 2, 2009 | An experimental
modeling study by a team of scientists that includes NCAR’s Hanli Liu
(High Altitude Observatory) points to the propagation of waves upward
from the lower atmosphere as a driver for variability in the
ionosphere. The research is an important step toward better
understanding space weather.
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June 8, 2009 | Researchers in
ESSL/CGD are studying whether the eruption of Indonesia’s Mt. Toba
supervolcano about 70,000–75,000 years ago may have cooled Earth enough
to initiate an ice age and potentially alter the course of human
evolution.
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May 20, 2009 | A new technique
developed at NCAR will help asteroseismologists learn about stars from
their oscillations, or “starquakes.” These variations in the brightness
of stars reveal information about their internal structures, in much
the same way that earthquakes are used for studying Earth’s inner
structure.
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