Colin price's research lab
IN THE NEWS
When it comes to climate change the insurance industry is going to be heavily impacted by increasing natural disasters. But there is also an opportunity for them to finance technological solutions needed to solve the climate crisis. Using a case study for hurricanes in the US, we show that if the climate crisis is ignored, the insurance industry could go bankrupt by 2060.
​
The danger of wildfires is often estimated using the indices like the Canadian or US Fire Weather Index (FWI). These indices use many weather and vegetation parameters to estimate the fire risk in the coming days. We have developed a new FWI using AI tailor-made for each individual country.
​
The increasing number of summer thunderstorms in the Arctic appears to be accelerating the Arctic Sea Ice melt in the summer. More storms result in more upper tropospheric water vapor (that acts like a blanket to further warm the surface, and melt the ice).
​
The increasing rate of deforestation in the Amazon is resulting in a decrease in thunderstorms. Less forests results is less evaporation and moisture in the air, leading to less thunderstorms.
​
Global thunderstorms are linked to the amount of cirrus clouds on the planet. Increases in thunderstorms will increase cirrus clouds that will cause additional warming of the climate.
​
Could humidity in the air around us be used as a future source of renewable energy?
​
Ocean acidification due to increased CO2 in the atmosphere may result in oceanic lightning becoming more powerful.
​
The most intense hurricanes in the Atlantic start off as thunderstorms over Africa
​
Could the evolution of living beings on Earth be related to the electric fields generated in the atmosphere by lightning?
​
How have thunderstorms over Africa changed over the last 70 years?
​
Can atmospheric electric fields from lightning protect heart cells?
​
Can the sensors in smartphones be used to monitor the weather and natural disasters?
​
Do shooting stars produce music as they enter the atmosphere?
​
Where are hurricanes born? Their origins are often over Africa.
​
Where are global thunderstorms located? And how many are there?
​
Radio Waves bounce of the upper atmosphere (ionosphere). Changes in these waves may provide a new way of monitoring our changing climate.
​
Will climate change lead to more intense thunderstorms around the globe?
​
Could upper atmospheric flashes call "sprites" exist on other planters like Jupiter and Saturn?
​
Is there a link between lightning and the smoke from fires in the Amazon jungle?
​
The Sun rotates around its axes every 27 days. We found a way to monitor this using lightning data on Earth.
​
Lightning activity in hurricanes peak one day before the most destructive, intense winds appear.