The U.S. Department of Energy just committed $25 million over five years to the Argonne National Laboratory and community and academic leaders to study the effects of climate change in urban settings.
Steve Nesbitt, associate head of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, atmospheric sciences professors Deanna Hence and Karen Kosiba and civil and environmental engineering professor Marcelo Garcia, will lead a team of researchers to “observe the impacts of extreme weather on risk-prone neighborhoods in Chicago.”
Their research will be a part of the work happening at the soon to be established field laboratory called Community Research on Climate and Urban Science. From the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences website:
The UIUC team will use its Doppler on Wheels (DOW) radars and balloon-borne sensor facilities within Flexible Arrays of Radars and Mesonets, which is hosted by the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, to observe the evolution and hydrologic impacts of heavy rain and snow on impacted communities, and to understand how the urban area modifies the characteristics of storms.
You can read more about the study here.
Top photo from U of I College of LAS Twitter.