Profile:

Monteverde earned a Bachelor’s in Physical Geography from the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB). She is fifth-generation native San Diegan and hopes to continue her education by pursuing a PhD from SDSU's Joint Doctoral Program with UCSB. Her goal is to continue learning about the complexities of climate modeling.

---

NERTO Research Project Title:

Analysis of regional changes in evapotranspiration on sub-seasonal to multi-year forecasting in Southern California with societal benefit analysis of impacts on high value crops (grapevines).

---

NERTO Project Details :

NERTO Synopsis: The student will work under the guidance of Alexander Tardy at the NOAA/NWS San Diego office on a project aimed at assessing the impacts of changes in evapotranspiration (ET) on subseasonal to multi-year forecasting, and perform societal benefit analysis on grapevine agricultural productivity in Southern California. The project will employ observational data analysis and high-resolution modeling techniques to estimate changes in air temperature, wind, and precipitation to ultimately project potential impacts to ET and one of the staple crop productivity in the region. A crucial component of the project is the verification of changes in the above-mentioned meteorological parameters over the past 30 years in the study region, which will serve as benchmarks for predicting sub-seasonal to multi-year forecasts. To accomplish this, the student will work under the guidance of Dr. Tardy to process and analyze historical climate data, to investigate relationships between climate change and variability on ET and societal benefit analysis on high crop impacts. His expertise on the region’s microclimates and experience on local observational data processing and analysis will be fundamental for the student’s success and overall project completion.

We expect that changes in air temperature, wind, and precipitation patterns will affect ET rates and reduce crop productivity, as grapevines are especially susceptible to changes in temperature.

---

NERTO Outcomes:

I have become familiar with remotely-sensed and observational tower data, I learned how to use a statistical software program, and my skills working in a linux-based operating system have improved. I was able to test MODIS satellite data performance against Eddy Flux Tower data, simulate a historical climate normal with an advanced climate model, and conduct preliminary analysis of geoviticulture indices for a climate-sensitive crop.

---

Value of NERTO to the Line Office:

NWS gained verification of changes in evapotranspiration over the past 30 years in Southern California, which will be used a benchmark for predicting sub-seasonal to multi-year forecasts.

---

NERTO Skills:

1) Statistical analysis with R software 2) Use of a linux-based operating system 3) HDF-EOS data manipulation 4) Regional Climate Modelling