Michael Town (he/him)
Affiliate Assistant Professor
Research Scientist - Earth and Space Research, Seattle, USA
Office: Earth and Space Research
Email: [javascript protected email address]
Website: https://www.esr.org/staff/michael-town/
Interests: Surface energy budget, Stable boundary layer, Snow pack processes, Clouds, Polar meteorology, Stable water isotope,Mountain meteorology, Avalanches, Education Equity
My climate research efforts have historically focused on polar regions. I have used remote sensing and in situ field observations to retrieve cloud occurrence and examine the surface energy budget in stable boundary layers. I have also used advanced modeling and machine learning techniques to simulate the energy and isotopic content of the near-surface snow. I now work to improve the understanding of melt events in Greenland, and to improve stable water isotope climate interpretation on different time scales. These are complementary surface energy and mass budget problems, local and regional.
My education efforts have been focused developing an equitable teaching methodology in which students learn real-world skills by solving real-world problems. This effort has many facets including (but not limited to):
1) a focus on educators collecting and learning from equity-relevant data in their classrooms,
2) curating data sets and collaborations that draw the outside world into the classroom,
3) putting students at the center of the problem-solving, learning, and celebrations.
Highlights from these education efforts are:
1) An autonomous temperature array network deployed and analyzed by students on Mt. Baker, WA, USA
2) Student assessment of operational trends in Northwest Avalanche Center forecasts,
3) Analysis of Antarctic ice shelf and sea ice conditions.