Goddard Applied Sciences
Connecting NASA researchers with interagency activities and partnerships to facilitate practical and innovative uses of Earth observations for societal benefit in six thematic areas:
Air Quality and Health
Chesapeake Bay
Climate and Environmental Health
Disasters
Mission Applications
Towards a Dynamic Data Driven Wildfire Digital Twin: Impacts on Deforestation, Air Quality, and Climate
Prof. Milton Halem, PhD | University of Maryland, Baltimore County
04.15.24 @ 1 p.m. ET
HYBRID – 33/H114 or Teams
Recent persistent droughts and extreme heatwave events over the western U.S., Canada, and Eurasia are creating highly favorable conditions for explosive and broader wildfire events, worldwide. Human generated fires in the Amazon have been well documented as a potential climate tipping point. Natural wildfires caused by climate change in the global Arctic Boreal forests are generating increases in CO2 emissions that may lead to an even earlier potential climate tipping point as a result of climate feedback. Prof. Halem will present case studies employing a WRF-SFire Wildfire Digital Twin (WDT) of the largest recorded wildfire in California history, the August Complex (2020), the summer Boreal Canadian Wildfires (2023) dispersing dense smoke over large areas of the East Coast of the U.S., as well as the Texas Smokehouse Creek prairie fire (2024), the largest in Texas history. The SFIRE module has now been integrated into the NASA Unified Weather Regional Forecast Model (NUWRF) for coupling with land surface models and is a unique contribution of WDT, enabling fire spread, plume interaction with the atmosphere and the tracking of smoke aerosols from mega fires across the U.S. into the planetary boundary layer. Early results towards a data driven, machine learning, high-resolution (0.25o) Nvidia based Regional FourCastNet simulation will be presented, as well as results of machine learning predictions of global seasonal and annual Arctic Boreal temperatures for a potential annual CO2 emission forecast. Finally, Prof. Halem, drawing on his expertise in computational science, will discuss the potential of AI technologies like machine learning and quantum computing to radically advance Earth science applications.
Prof. Milton Halem joined NASA in 1971 at the Goddard Institute of Space Studies as the GARP Project scientist and came to the Goddard Space Flight Center in 1977, where he rose from Branch Head of the Modeling and Simulation Facility to Assistant Center Director of Information Science and Chief Information Officer. After retiring from NASA in 2002, he joined the University of Maryland, Batimore County in 2003 as a Research Professor in the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Department, where he still teaches and conducts research. He holds a PhD in Mathematics from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and an honorary Doctorate from Dalhousie University.
Past Seminars
Toward a Livable Planet Observatory
Nagaraja Rao Harshadeep, PhD | The World Bank
03.11.24
►Recording is available upon request. Contact helen.m.amos@nasa.gov
50 Years and Counting: The Landsat Legacy and New Capabilities Offered by Landsat Next
Bruce Cook, PhD | NASA Goddard
02.12.24
► Click here to view a recording of this seminar.
Current State of Climate Research in Economics and Finance
Francisco E. Ilabaca, PhD | U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Financial Research
01.22.24
► Click here to view a recording of this seminar.
Earth Action: Updates to the Directive on Project Applications Programs
Christina Moats-Xavier | NASA Headquarters
12.04.23
► Click here to view a recording of this seminar.
Applications of inventories and remote sensing to balancing greenhouse gas budgets: examples from North America
Dr. Ben Poulter | NASA Goddard
11.27.23
► Click here to view a recording of this seminar.
The Role of Climate Science in Catalyzing a More Resilient Future
Dr. Sarah Kapnick | NOAA
10.23.23
► Click here to view a recording of this seminar.
The Future of Earth-System Data Infrastructure
Dr. Ryan Abernathey | Columbia University
09.25.23
► Click here to view a recording of this seminar.
Updates from the GSFC Strategic Partnerships Office
Darryl Mitchell and Julie Breed | NASA Goddard
08.28.23
► Click here to view a recording of this seminar.
GSFC Space Weather Activities and Connections to Earth Science
Dr. Yaireska (Yari) Collado-Vega and Dr. Katherine Garcia-Sage | NASA Goddard Space Weather Laboratory
06.12.23
►Recording is available upon request. Contact helen.m.amos@nasa.gov
Goddard Applied Sciences: Updates, Recent Changes, Outlook
Dr. Stephanie Schollaert Uz | NASA Goddard Applied Sciences
05.15.23
►Recording is available upon request. Contact helen.m.amos@nasa.gov
Perspectives on U.S. Carbon Mitigation Opportunities from Industrial Fibers
Dr. Michael Long | Renaissance Fiber
04.17.23
► Click here to view a recording of this seminar.
The Uniquely Government Role in Helping Decision-makers Solve Practical Problems through the Use of Earth Observations
Dr. Ann M. Bartuska | Resources for the Future (RFF)
03.20.23
►Recording is available upon request. Contact helen.m.amos@nasa.gov
Climate READi: Power - A Common Framework for Physical Climate Risk Assessment
Morgan Scott and Laura Fischer | EPRI
02.27.23
► Click here to view a recording of this seminar.
Perspective from Industry on Public-Private Collaborations for Societal Benefit
Dr. Raha Hakimdavar | Zyon Space
01.24.23
►Recording is available upon request. Contact helen.m.amos@nasa.gov
