Professors Jimmy Adegoke and Jejung Lee, UMKC College of Arts and Sciences‘ Department of Geosciences, are part of a team of researchers that recently received a $1.4 million Interdisciplinary Research in Earth Science (IDS) grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The three-year grant supports new research on the interactions and feedbacks between biomass burning and water cycle dynamics across the northern sub-Saharan African region (NSSA). The NSSA region represents a critical variable in the global climate change equation because it plays a prominent role in the genesis of global atmospheric circulation and the birth of such major (and often catastrophic) events as hurricanes and the distribution of Saharan dust to other parts of the world.

The researchers will analyze the effects of recent biomass burning by monitoring and assessing multiple regional surface, atmospheric and water cycle processes. This research will provide insights into the causes of the rapid depletion of water resources in the NSSA region, as exemplified by the dramatic drying of Lake Chad, which was prominently featured in Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” movie.

This NASA grant will support and significantly advance the ongoing Lake Chad Basin (LCB) research by faculty and students of the Department of Geosciences and the UMKC Center for Applied Environmental Research (CAER). UMKC’s previous efforts in the LCB have been supported by grants from the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) of Nigeria and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

For more information about NASA’s Earth Science Program, visit http://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), one of four University of Missouri campuses, is a public university serving more than 14,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. UMKC engages with the community and economy based on a four-part mission: life and health sciences; visual and performing arts; urban issues and education; and a vibrant learning and campus life experience.