Environmental Geoscience
Hydrology and Ecohydrology
Studying how groundwater responds to the effects of climate and landscape change and how these perturbations propagate through aquifers impacting surface water ecosystems is an important focus of our faculty.
Environmental Chemistry
Studying the chemical processes that couple the lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere, and their impacts on human activities and the environment, is the focus of select EAPS faculty and students.
Soils and Sediments
The weathering and erosion of soils, and how these processes support and change life on Earth, is a key research theme for our environmental geoscience faculty.
Environmental Biogeochemistry
Environmental geoscience faculty and students conduct various experiments that help further the study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment.
Environmental Geoscience News
New twists on tornadoes: Earth scientist studies why U.S. has so many tornadoes
06-28-2024
PURDUE NEWS — Across the Midwest during the warmer months, studying the sky for signs of storms and tornadoes becomes one of the most popular pastimes. Dan Chavas, an associate professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University’s College of Science, takes it further: All day every day, he studies what makes tornadoes tick. Working at the intersection of climate science and meteorology, he looks at the big picture of what causes severe storms and tornadoes — and what dictates where they occur.
A Global Push Fixed the Ozone Hole. Satellites Could Threaten It.
06-25-2024
NEW YORK TIMES — A sharp increase in hardware orbiting Earth could mean more harmful metals lingering in the atmosphere, according to a new study. This study cites work from Prof. Dan Cziczo, of Purdue EAPS, who says this study jumped to conclusions not supported by his own research by applying the incorrect size, composition and chemistry to the particles that exist in the atmosphere.
The Local Impact of Climate Change
06-14-2024
WFYI — Climate change is directly impacting Indiana farms. The growing season in Indiana is getting harder to evaluate. The data, going in some cases back to 1895, show clear trends, and there are no signs of them stopping or reversing. Indiana will continue to warm, more precipitation will fall, and extremely hot days will be common in many parts of the state. Prof. Matthew Huber, of Purdue EAPS and the director of the Purdue Institute for a Sustainable Future, discusses the local impacts of climate change.
Hurricane forecast points to a dangerous 2024 Atlantic season, with La Niña and a persistently warm ocean teaming up to power fierce storms
05-28-2024
THE CONVERSATION — If the National Hurricane Center’s early forecast is right, the North Atlantic could see 17 to 25 named storms, eight to 13 hurricanes, and four to seven major hurricanes by the end of November. That’s the highest number of named storms in any NOAA preseason forecast. Jhordanne Jones, NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellow with Purdue EAPS, wrote about these predictions in The Conversation.
Satellites and space junk burning up in the atmosphere is a new kind of pollution
05-28-2024
CBC — Scientists doing high-altitude sampling of material deposited when meteorites burn up in the atmosphere are seeing a shift in the material they've been collecting. In a recent study in the journal PNAS, scientists found that increasingly the particles contain material that could have only come from vaporized space junk, such as the upper stages of rocket boosters and re-entering satellites. Daniel Cziczo, an atmospheric scientist at Purdue University, said they're now trying to find out what kind of impact this in material in the stratosphere may have on things like the ozone layer and global warming. He is interviewed on Quirks and Quarks radio by CBC.