Lead Researcher

Marshall Shepherd

Research Summary

Although it is hyperbole to suggest that “rain followed the plow” during the settling of the central US plains (Worster, 1979), scientific studies have established the physical basis for how human activity in urban environments shape spatio-temporal evolution and distribution of convection, precipitation, and lightning. We propose an integrated, interdisciplinary study that employs a multi-scale approach to advance fundamental conceptualization and prediction of what Shepherd et al. (2010) called the “urban rainfall effect.” The Research tasks proposed herein (1) enable NASA research capacity to address this important topic, (2) fill gaps in conceptual understanding of the physical processes, (3) leverage NASA resources to expand analyses to under-studied regions of the globe or multiple spatial scale, and (4) advance the transfer of knowledge for prediction or applications.