This project provides the first facility-level analysis of indirect carbon emissions from EAF steel plants in the US. As the US steel industry seeks to decarbonize and promote green steel, understanding the Scope 2 emissions of EAF steel production is essential. The calculated emissions and emissions intensity for each steel plant are available in a public dataset as well as an interactive Tableau dashboard.
Health centers are vulnerable to unreliable power supplies during natural disasters & blackouts. This team created educational flyers, infographics, and a video to help engage & encourage health center staff to transition to solar through Community Energy Company.
Through this project, the capstone team created a reproducible workflow to streamline data entry for the MPS Tracker, as well as a data visualization tool to summarize and highlight trends. These deliverables allow WildAid Marine to increase their efficiency in monitoring and improving MPA enforcement, and successfully share progress with donors and stakeholders.
The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) network uncovers unique findings only possible through its long term approach to science. However, many are not aware of its contributions. This team created a video series on the benefits of the LTER network & the scientific insights it can offer.
This project contributes to the larger Building Resilience to Wildfires initiative by presenting a process for creating these potential climate scenarios by stitching together pieces of existing climate model projections. To build each piece of a climate scenario, or each ‘segment’, climate models are searched for pieces that match the specified climate criteria of interest for that very segment. Once all desired segments are built, segments are then stitched together to make one continuous time-series: a ‘climate scenario’.
Regenerative agriculture offers unique environmental benefits that conventional agriculture cannot. This team created targeted papers to certifying bodies and ranchers, and a short film on how regenerative agriculture works for White Buffalo Land Trust.
Adding solar PV to existing wind energy sites can boost profits and minimize the need for new transmission infrastructure. This study used a nonlinear optimization model to size solar PV additions at over 1,300 U.S. wind projects, ranking sites by environmental impact and cost efficiency.
Abandoned or lost fishing gear can be dangerous to sea life, and the Ocean Defender’s Alliance (ODA) is dedicated to removing it. This team created a short film on the collaboration between ODA and local fishers to make a big difference in the marine environment by removing fishing debris.
The ecology of giant kelp is complex and the formation of kelp forests is impacted by many factors, including ocean nutrient concentrations, water depth, sea surface temperature, and seafloor habitat. The Santa Barbara Channel has been home to many long-term research projects that collect data on these factors. Unfortunately, this information is in many formats and data structures making it challenging for researchers to easily incorporate it into their work. This project creates a shortcut for acquiring and using these data by synthesizing a data set of nutrient concentrations, water depth, sea surface temperature, seafloor habitat, kelp area, and kelp biomass.
In this project, we conduct a case study of Zambia to demonstrate a recently developed machine learning pipeline. We use the “Multi-task Observations using Satellite Imagery & Kitchen Sinks” (MOSAIKS) machine learning approach. In this approach, we use processed numerical data from satellite images and agricultural survey data to develop machine learning models that predict various agricultural variables over time.
Generating a multi-scale model of habitat connectivity for mountain lions in a California coastal preserve, with the intent to inform future wildlife corridor designs for conservation.
This in-depth yet accessible report for Protect Our Winters (POW) highlights the impact that climate change has on outdoor sports and access to recreation spaces. It is meant to stimulate advocacy for climate policy among “summer sports" enthusiasts.
Mitigating the environmental impacts of this agricultural practice by developing either an alternative to plastic mulch or providing an end-of-life solution for the plastic waste.
Harmonizing the NCEAS global footprint of food systems data with human welfare data to analyze patterns of environmental inequities in livestock, crop, aquaculture, and fishery production in the US.
This short film highlights snow monitoring and hydrologic research at CUES (Cold Regions Research and Energy Laboratory & UCSB), a shared snow research site utilized by UCSB, CRREL, and Desert Research Institute (DRI).
