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Recent research has highlighted a spatial shift in the Corn Belt. While the spatial expansion to the northwest in the Corn Belt is evident, it was not clear if there has also been a corresponding shift in the highest yielding areas over time. During the 2012 flash drought that affected almost all of the traditional United States Corn Belt, there seemed to be media consensus that the highest yields will eventually be in states like Minnesota and South Dakota. Therefore, we extended previous work to determine whether such a hypothesis about the northward shift in the highest yielding districts has been concurrent with the spatial expansion of the Corn Belt. We found that northward shift in the highest yields is consistent with the overall shift in the Corn Belt, but what may have gone unnoticed is the equally significant westward shift in the highest yields. This short report quantifies some of the changes that have been observed over the Corn Belt since the early 1960’s.

Atmospheric and Environmental Research Inc. (AER) is proud to announce its important contributions to the upcoming 98th American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting in Austin the week of January 7, 2018. AER researchers across a number of weather-related disciplines, along with co-authors at other top research institutions, will present their work in the poster and oral papers listed below (AER authors in bold type), including research in advanced data assimilation, radiative transfer modeling, environmental remote sensing, algorithm and ground system development, and numerical weather prediction.

Atmospheric and Environmental Research Inc (AER) is pleased to announce its participation in the 2017 AGU Fall Meeting in New Orleans the week of December 11. AER researchers across a number of geophysical disciplines, along with co-authors at other top research institutions, will present their work in the poster and oral papers listed below (AER authors in bold type), including research in flood mapping, physical oceanography, seasonal forecasting and climate, environmental remote sensing, air quality, and greenhouse gas transport, modeling, and monitoring.

At AER, we have been deeply engaged for decades in advancing many aspects of the fundamental scientific understanding of weather and climate. Our work is widely known as a definitive set of methods for evaluating the radiative properties of current and future atmospheres, and these methods are used every day in the world’s major weather forecast centers.

AER will present results from ongoing research in supporting Department of Defense modeling and simulation at the IMAGE 2017 conference in Dayton, OH, 27-28 Jun.

97th American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting Bob Morris, January 20, 2017

AER's Dr. Christopher Piecuch was recently interviewed by NPR on the topic of his sea-level rise research. The full interview can be experienced here: http://news.wgbh.org/2016/12/02/science-and-technology/explaining-sea-level-rise-northeast-presents-scientific-challenge

American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting 2016

Sea level changes are a matter of serious concern for coastal communities, effecting recurrent flooding, beach erosion, saltwater intrusion, and wetland loss. Therefore, understanding the causes of past sea level changes, in order to more confidently predict sea level changes in the future, has been a major goal in climate science.

A revolution in geosynchronous meteorological satellite (GEO MetSat) capability is just beginning. 2015 saw the transition to operations of the Japanese Himawari H8 satellite, hosting as a primary instrument the Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI). Soon to follow are US satellites in the GOES-R series with a very similar instrument, the Advanced Baseline Imager – launches beginning in late 2016. And after that MetSats will be launched hosting instruments with similar capabilities from Korea (GEO-KOMPSAT) and Europe (EUMETSAT’s Meteosat Third Generation series).