Travis A. O'Brien

On February 21, 2026, Indiana University successfully launched its first radiosondes as part of a new weather balloon program! The radiosondes, which are equipped with sensors to measure atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind speed, were released from the IU campus in Bloomington. Read more at earth.indiana.edu, IDS News, and B Square Bulletin.

Three new publications appeared in final form in September:

Ethan joins us as an M.S. student in the Atmospheric Science program (co-advised by Prof. Paul Staten), and Russell Broshears and Delaney Kamstra join us as undergraduate researchers: welcome!

IU received a $726K award for “Coastal Fog: Basic Science, Water Resources, and Future Change”, with O’Brien as PI for the next five years.

Dr. Quagraine successfully completed the requirements for a Doctor of Philosophy in Atmospheric Sciences. We wish him all the best as he starts his postdoctoral journey at Texas A&M University working with Dr. Kelly Ocasio!

Congratulations to Diya Kamnani for the publication of her first Ph.D. paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres! This work, titled “Regional and Temporal Variability of Atmospheric River Seasonality: Influences of Detection Algorithms and Moisture Transport Dynamics,” shows that (1) the seasonal patterns of atmospheric rivers (ARs) vary significantly by region, with some areas experiencing consistent peak seasons while others face considerable year-to-year fluctuations; and (2) inconsistencies in AR patterns are influenced by both detection algorithms and the dynamics of moisture transport in the atmosphere.

Congratulations to Kwesi Quagraine for the publication of his second Ph.D. paper in Environmental Research: Climate! This work, titled “Assessing changes in atmospheric rivers under stratospheric aerosol injection using ARISE-SAI-1.5,” investigates how atmospheric rivers (ARs)—key players in global moisture transport—might change under different climate scenarios, including a warming scenario (SSP2-4.5) and a stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) scenario (ARISE-SAI-1.5).

Congratulations to Kwesi Quagraine for the publication of his first Ph.D. paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres! This work, titled “Similarities in Meteorological Composites Among Different Atmospheric River Detection Tools During Landfall Over Western Coastal North America,” investigates the performance of various atmospheric river detection tools and their ability to capture key meteorological features during landfalling events. This work shows that on the US West Coast, AR detectors broadly agree that detected ARs are associated with extratropical cyclones.