Earth and Environment

How much carbon is stored in the trees of Africa’s drylands? Where are major landslides most likely to happen, and how can we mitigate their impact? These are just some of the questions researchers are exploring in this fascinating field, using machine learning, satellite imagery and other advanced tools to better understand the world we all call home. 

Experts at NCSA facilitate research on supercomputers supporting projects led by NASA scientists, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Energy and many others. From monitoring the makeup of the Great Lakes to trying to predict volcanic eruptions, researchers rely on NCSA systems and expertise to support truly world-class work.

Questions about NCSA’s work in earth and environment?

Chuck Pavloski
Associate Director of Engagement
chuckp@illinois.edu

NCSA Spotlight

Kaiyu Guan photo

Kaiyu Guan,
Blue Waters Professor, Founding Director of Agroecosystem Sustainability Center

Professor Guan is an innovator creating science- and artificial intelligence-based solutions to ensure the sustainability of food security and the environment.


We are using millions of CPU/GPU hours and processing billions of satellite pixels to develop solutions of co-sustainability of food security and environmental sustainability. All is impossible without NCSA supercomputers!


Project Highlights

See how NCSA visualizations helped NASA better understand data sampled from smoke from one of the largest biomass-burning events in Indonesia on record. Camp2Ex

With funds from the Department of Energy, find out how NCSA scientists created new technologies to measure greenhouse gas emissions to increase yields through sustainable crop management.

News

A picture of a plant with data points overlaid. Meant to convey the idea of using AI in agriculture.

Transforming Agriculture with AI

Showcasing the myriad ways in which NCSA’s partner, the Center for Digital Agriculture, is harnessing the power of AI.
Participants at the International Climate Computer Summit, hosted by NCSA and CLiMAS, look up and smile for a drone photograph. (Photo credit: Darrell Hoemann.)

Building a ‘Large Hadron Collider for Climate Change’ – Together

The team behind the recent International Climate Computer Summit, co-hosted by NCSA, seeks to empower communities with the information they need to make good decisions about climate change.
NCSA researchers explore the once-flat terrain that has been reshaped following melting of the underground permafrost in Alaska.

Software, Science, Melting Permafrost in Alaska

Members of NCSA and Google worked together in Alaska as part of the Permafrost Discovery Gateway.
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