AOSC Seminar by Dr. Ben Zaitchik, 2/29/2024
AOSC Seminar
Dr. Ben Zaitchik
Johns Hopkins University
Title
Studies in climate impacts: process, propagation, and preparedness
Abstract
In this seminar I will introduce a set of projects that all engage in some way with challenges of extreme climate events. First, I will present studies in which we apply statistical analysis, remote sensing, and dynamically-based models to characterize flash droughts in the United States. Our goal is to develop a predictive understanding of how vegetation-mediated processes contribute to the onset and intensification of these rapid drought events. Next, I will describe a set of projects in which we link hydroclimate modeling to an economically-based food systems model. The purpose of these studies is to move from a biophysical understanding of climate impacts to a network-based understanding of how a food production shock like a severe drought can propagate through markets to affect human outcomes across a food system. The geographic focus of these studies is Ethiopia. Finally, I will offer an overview of the Baltimore Social-Environmental Collaborative (BSEC) Urban Integrated Field Lab. BSEC is a partnership of researchers and community members working to generate the climate science needed for equitable climate action. As such, it takes physically-based understanding of climate processes along with systems models of the human impacts of climate change—that is, the kinds of research addressed in the first two-thirds of this seminar—and embeds them in a co-designed participatory decision framework that we hope will provide a new approach to collective climate preparedness across the city.
Bio
Ben Zaitchik is a Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. He studies fundamental climate processes and applies this knowledge to problems of social concern. In this context, he leads several projects on the propagation of climate stresses through complex natural-human systems, including work co-designed with community members. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Zaitchik worked as a Research Associate at NASA and a AAAS Fellow at the US Department of State.
Contact
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AOSC Seminar
Pre-seminar refreshment: N/A
Seminar: 3:30-4:30pm, Room: ATL 2400(only when in-person)
Meet-the-Speaker: 4:30-5:00pm, Room: ATL 3400(only when in-person) [For AOSC Students only]
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