Dissertation Defense, PhD Geography & Geoinformation Science

PhD Thesis Defense Announcement

Candidate: Khawla Alhebsi

PhD of Science in Earth Systems and Geoinformation Sciences

Department of Geography and Geoinformation Science

PhD Thesis Title: Investigating Climate Change, Extreme Weather, Dust Storm, and Solar Energy Nexus over the United Arab Emirates

Date: Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Time: 2:00 PM

Location: GGS Conference Room-Exploratory Hall 2304 (To join the Zoom meeting, please click on the following link: https://gmu.zoom.us/j/4903953200 )

PhD Committee:

Dr. John J. Qu, Dissertation Director

Dr. Donglian Sun, Committee Member

Dr. Michael Summers, Committee Member

Dr. Ruxin Yang, Committee Member

Abstract: Climate change has had a significant impact on the world's weather conditions. The impact of climate change on global weather patterns has resulted in a rise in temperature, more intense heatwaves, and droughts, as well as extreme weather events. Dust storms caused by aerosols, including those originating from sand and biomass, are one of the many effects of climate change on the weather system. Dust events can impact meteorological variables such as temperature, which can be monitored using remote sensing tools such as NASA's MODIS. The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of dust storms on solar energy production in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), particularly during the extreme weather events that have become more prevalent due to climate change. The study utilizes MODIS AOD and Dark Target-Deep Blue data to validate against AERONET AOD in selected locations over the UAE, with the ultimate goal of contributing to a better understanding of the climate change-extreme weather-dust storm-solar energy nexus system.