That is changing as scientists increasingly understand that climate change is leading to periods of more severe weather, including extreme drought. Elizabeth Klovenski, a Ph.D. student at the University of Houston, has received a three-year $165,000 NASA fellowship to support her proposal to incorporate predictions of how emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds from trees and other vegetation will be affected by extreme drought into a climate model developed by the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the GISS ModelE.
The Advanced STEM Training and Research Fellowship is intended to help develop the next generation of scientists while encouraging work on NASA priorities. Klovenski’s award includes the opportunity to work at Goddard for eight weeks each year.
“We just don’t understand how earth systems will work under extreme drought conditions, how the different aspects of land and atmosphere will interact,” she said.