Wolman Seminar: Watching the Grass Glow: Why we need remote observations of urban vegetation to better understand carbon emissions in cities
Department & Center Events
Watching the Grass Glow: Why we need remote observations of urban vegetation to better understand carbon emissions in cities
February 20 @ 3 p.m., GILMAN 132 & Via Zoom
Speaker: Taylor Jones, PhD, Assistant Professor, Earth Commons, Georgetown University
About the speaker: Taylor Jones is an environmental scientist, engineer, and assistant professor at the Earth Commons. His research focuses on innovative ways to measure and model concentrations of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, particularly in cities, and methods for using this data to help policymakers and other stakeholders better understand carbon emissions. He uses data from self-designed low-cost sensor networks, remote sensing satellites, and everything in between. Dr. Jones also studies the role that urban vegetation plays in regulating local temperature as well as carbon and water cycles.
Talk Summary: Cities around the world are responsible for more than 70% of greenhouse gas emissions. Although many cities want to take action to reduce their carbon footprints, they need atmospheric data to show them what their emissions are and to track their progress. Urban trees and grasses complicate these efforts by cycling carbon through photosynthesis and respiration, and these processes are difficult to quantify at scale. New remote sensing products such as solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) show promise in helping to solve this problem. Here we present analysis of satellite SIF data and local measurements from custom-built sensors in and around the city of Boston.