ECo Talks: Three Case Studies in Greenhouse Gas Emissions with Scot Miller
Scot Miller, assistant professor at the Dept. of Environmental Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, will present his talk, “Three Case Studies in Greenhouse Gas Emissions – new insights provided by an expanded atmospheric observing network,” as part of the new ECo Talks series produced by the Earth Commons.
About the Speaker: Scot Miller is originally from Fargo, North Dakota. He completed a PhD in Earth and Planetary Sciences (Harvard) in 2015 and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Dept. of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution for Science. He is now an assistant professor at the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins. When not in the office, Scot spends most of his free time cycling and climbing mountains.
About the Talk: The global record of greenhouse gas measurements is growing rapidly with the launch of several new satellites and an expansion of ground-based monitoring. This new era of big data is set to transform scientific understanding of greenhouse gas emissions, but the volume of new data creates numerous computational challenges for inverse or emissions models that were originally designed for a small number of ground-based observing stations.
The beginning of the talk will focus on new, transformative approaches to understand emissions using massive satellite datasets. Then, we will apply these techniques to three different case studies in greenhouse gas emissions. The first case study will focus on carbon dioxide sources and sinks estimated using NASA’s OCO-2 satellite. Using this data, we find that most existing biogeochemical models underestimate the seasonal amplitude of the global carbon cycle, and we argue that the impacts of climate change on this aspect of the carbon cycle may be larger than previously believed.
The second part of the talk focuses on methane emissions from China, the world’s largest emitter of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. We specifically use satellite observations to evaluate the success of China’s methane emissions policies.
Lastly, we will discuss an often-overlooked greenhouse gas called sulfuryl fluoride, which has surprising and unexpected implications for greenhouse gas emissions targets within the US.
Event Details: Light refreshments will be provided. Free and open to all. No RSVP required.
About the Series:ECo Talks feature scholars, leaders and innovators sparking conversation, sharing knowledge, and spurring change. ECo Talks are presented by the Earth Commons Fridays 11:30 am – 12:30 pm in Arrupe Hall Conference Room. Learn more about the series >>
