Art+Design+Science: A new approach
Designer Adrian Galvin and I have been collaborating on an exciting project that pushes the limits of what “science” can be, by using design principles (specifically the human-centered design process) to improve scientific software and, more holistically, improve the very way that science is done. Here is a recent manuscript that was published in 2021 and summarizes this work and methodology. Also, please see Adrian’s website for more info.
Sonification, Techno, and Climate Change
Collaborations with students Ilai Gilbert, Kelvin Walls, and Grant Tyler (both at SAIC) explore the ways that sound, sonification, and techno music can communicate and address the climate crisis. Kelvin’s aural investigation modified a recording of Jimi Hendrix’s iconic 1969 performance of the Star Spangled Banner by embedding a sinusoidal amplification of the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide into the song itself. Grant organized a panel comprised of DJs clubchow and ariel zetina which addressed how techno practitioners can tackle the climate crisis through record production, mixes, and conversation. And Ilai produced a multimedia experience (including an album available on Spotify and several music videos on youtube) of a future world where our cities are made from recycled plastic and float in the sea.
Kelvin’s work:
Ilai’s work: Plastic City
Grant’s work: Climate Technics: Techno as a site of activation for imagining solutions to the climate crisis
Drought & fire in Africa
Using temporally spaced, yet spatially coincident satellite and meteorological data I was able to show that anthropogenic fire aerosols in tropical Africa inhibited convective processes (i.e. rainfall) via solar absorption. This result was the first time aerosol-driven changes in cloud dynamics were resolved using observations.
This work suggests the existence of a positive feedback loop between fire and convection (see figure to the right)
This study was recently published in Geophysical Research Letters, as a follow-up to a study in J. Geophysical Research.
A press release was issued by JPL and NASA. As part of this effort, I participated in the ORACLES field campaign in Swakopmund, Namibia in summer 2016.
This was also featured as a NASA EO "Image of the Day", and in a non-science article written for the online publication The Conversation.
FIGURE: Tosca et al., "Human-caused fires limit convection in tropical Africa: First temporal observations and attribution", Copyright 2015 American Geophysical Union.
