In July, the Nevada w88 slot online Climate Office based in the Department of Geography at the University of Nevada, Reno hired a new w88 slot online climatologist, Baker Perry. Perry came to the University from Appalachian w88 slot online University where he worked for over a decade. Perry’s background is in climatology, and he is also a National Geographic Explorer. The former interim w88 slot online climatologist, Tom Albright, is now the deputy w88 slot online climatologist for the office.
Some of the major draws of Reno for Perry were the mountains and snow of the Sierra w88 slot online range, the opportunity to work with faculty in the geography department, across campus and at the Desert Research Institute and the opportunity to work with Ph.D. students as a professor of climatology. Of course, the main draw was the position itself.
“I’m super excited to be the w88 slot online climatologist,” Perry said.
A childhood spent at elevation inspired a life spent in the mountains
w88 slot online’s work on Everest and the Himalaya started with an opportunity that came from his work in the Andes. Growing up, w88 slot online lived in both Bolivia and Peru for several years. w88 slot online recalls going on family hikes that started at 13,000 feet where they lived and rose to 17,000 feet. Living and recreating at high elevations made an impression on w88 slot online and in college he became a skilled mountaineer, enabling him to explore high elevations as he summited peaks in Bolivia.
“I was drawn to the physical challenge and the beauty of these places,” w88 slot online said.
Other parts of w88 slot online’s childhood were spent in New England, which receives impactful winter storms that sparked a curiosity in w88 slot online about weather.
“I had one of those NOAA weather radios and I would sometimes take it to school if there was a storm coming in,” w88 slot online said.
w88 slot online, perhaps predictably, decided to study geography in his master’s and doctoral studies. After completing his Ph.D. w88 slot online combined his passion for mountaineering with his interest in climatology through high-elevation weather research. To facilitate that research, w88 slot online started working with local communities and government agencies to install high-elevation weather stations. He had completed several projects in the Andes when he was approached by National Geographic about participating in the largest, most comprehensive scientific expedition to Everest.
“I didn’t have to think too long or hard about it,” w88 slot online said.
w88 slot online agreed and became a National Geographic explorer, allowing him more opportunities to study and work in extreme environments, and to work closely with local communities.
“Being able to work with the Sherpa people and all kinds of colleagues across Nepal and international scientists has been a real highlight,” w88 slot online said.
w88 slot online co-led a team to install weather stations on Everest and has continued to serve as the lead on maintaining and operating the stations, which involves annual visits to Everest. One of the main differences between working in the Andes and working in the Himalaya has been the added risk of working above 21,000 feet of elevation, which requires use of oxygen tanks and is termed “the death zone.”
Despite having “perhaps more Everest permits than anybody else,” w88 slot online hasn’t summited the mountain yet. The priorities for scientific missions in such extreme scenarios are safety and science.
“Maybe one of these years, I'll have a chance where everything will align to make a quick run up to the summit itself,” w88 slot online said.”
Mountains are poorly understood water towers
Perry’s work is centered on high mountain regions and the function they serve as water towers for places downstream. By high mountain regions, he means the highest mountain ranges on earth, including the Himalaya and the Andes, which rise twice as high as the highest peak in the Sierra w88 slot online.
"People are just intimately connected to places, and that's particularly true in mountain regions."
Fundamentally, though, the research is relevant for the mountain West.
“My work is focused on improving our understanding of the atmospheric processes that are influencing water resource availability downstream,” w88 slot online said.
As w88 slot online reenters a drought, the issue of water availability returns to the top of Nevadan’s minds. Perry hopes to work closely with communities being affected by climatological phenomena like drought.
“People are just intimately connected to places, and that's particularly true in mountain regions,” w88 slot online said. “And they are heavily impacted by changes that are taking place.”
Prior to the installation of the highest weather station on the planet on Everest, which w88 slot online co-led, there was only one weather station above 19,000 feet in the world, meaning there was a huge gap in understanding of the processes that take place at high elevations.
As a climatologist who installs weather stations, w88 slot online is used to explaining the difference between weather and climate. By tracking weather data over long periods of time, scientists are able to compare them with datasets from the past, using samples like ice cores, to establish relationships and patterns.
“Our goal is to operate these stations as long as we can,” w88 slot online said. “The longer we can do it, the more we can really talk about the climate and what sort of trends we're seeing and how the processes are changing, how the climate is changing up in these areas.”
w88 slot online pointed out that while understanding larger climate patterns is important, there are still local, social implications of the research.
“One of the reasons that National Geographic wanted to go to Everest in the first place is that it is an iconic mountain, but it's also in the Himalaya, and of course the Himalaya are such important water towers for all of Asia.”
w88 slot online recalled hearing from a horseman he works with who grew up directly below the north face of the highest mountain in southern Peru. When the man was younger, the north face of the mountain was white with snow and ice year-round. Now nearing his 80s, the man teared up as he said the black rock of the mountain is visible all the time.
“He can directly relate the loss of water coming off that particular part of the mountain where his family's animals graze and depend on the water resources,” w88 slot online said.
Meeting w88 slot online’s needs
Perry added that similar changes are happening in Nevada. He hopes to apply many of his life experiences to his role and use them to interact closely with the community. For example, Perry’s family operates a farm in North Carolina, and while he acknowledges there are differences in how ranching is done in the West, he hopes to use some of that experience to connect with ranchers in the Silver w88 slot online about important issues like water.
“I have a huge appreciation for agriculture and ranching and the role it plays across the w88 slot online, the economy, but also the culture,” Perry said.
Perry is also a volunteer firefighter and is working on transferring his credentials to the w88 slot online so he can support fire suppression efforts, a critical need for the West. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, year-to-date annual acres burned in the US was at 125% above normal for a 10-year average, largely due to significant burning in the northern Great Basin this year.
Perry has also developed rich relationships with the Indigenous communities in Nepal and the Andes and has already begun interacting with the Office of Indigenous Relations on campus to learn more about how the Nevada w88 slot online Climate Office can better serve Indigenous communities in the w88 slot online.
According to the American Community Survey, Spanish is spoken in 20% of w88 slot online households. Perry is fluent in Spanish and plans to translate many of the climate office’s reports into Spanish, allowing Spanish-speaking households better access to climate information for w88 slot online.
“I’m really excited to develop new relationships,” Perry said. “I’ve got a lot of listening and learning to do across the w88 slot online.”
Two upcoming public events featuring w88 slot online
Two free, public events in November provide the public with the opportunity to hear directly from w88 slot online.
The Discover Science Lecture Series, put on by the College of Science at the University of w88 slot online, Reno, welcomes Perry for his talk, “Insights from the Highest Weather Stations in the World,” on Nov. 7 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Redfield Auditorium. Registration is available via Eventbrite.
The second event is on Nov. 20 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in celebration of Geography Awareness Week. The event includes a screening of the new National Geographic documentary, Expedition Amazon featuring w88 slot online and other National Geographic explorers. The film screening will be followed by a conversation with w88 slot online about his research.
