Seminar: Dr. Charles Ichoku on "In Search of Lake Chad"

Topic: In Search of Lake Chad: Africa’s Great Lake

Speaker: Dr. Charles Ichoku, Professor, GES and Director, GESTAR II, UMBC

Abstract:  Lake Chad, located near the center of Africa, is shared by four countries and is the main source of water supply and livelihood for more than 30 million inhabitants. Because of severe droughts along the African Sahel in the 1970s and 1980s, the lake’s surface water coverage went down by more than 90%. Scientists have been studying this phenomenon to understand its causes and predict the lake’s future, in order to recommend possible scientific approaches to mitigate any adverse impacts on the population that depends on it for survival. In this presentation, I will share: (1) some of the research we have conducted on this topic over the last decade using mostly satellite and ground-based observational datasets; and (2) some of the potential solutions proposed to mitigate the hardships suffered by the communities that depend on Lake Chad.

Speaker Bio: Dr. Charles Ichoku is a Professor in the Department of Geography & Environmental Systems at UMBC and Director of GESTAR II, a research consortium between UMBC, NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center and multiple other universities and organizations. Dr. Ichoku came to GESTAR II from concurrent roles as Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Howard University and as the Distinguished Scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Science Center in Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology (NCAS-M). Prior to that, he served at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland for 20 years in various research and management roles. He earned his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the Pierre & Marie Curie University, Paris, France, after earning both his M.S. in Remote Sensing and his B.S. in Surveying from the University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus.

 

Dr. Ichoku’s research program focuses on applying remote sensing—collecting data from a significant distance, most often from satellites orbiting Earth—and other data to study large-scale processes that affect the environment on land, weather, and air quality. His work is influenced by his youth in West Africa, and focuses on phenomena that especially affect that region. For example, frequent agricultural fires send various particles into the atmosphere, which can affect air quality, precipitation, and more. A few years ago, Ichoku joined with colleagues to initiate the U.S.-West African Coastal Resilience Research Consortium (CRRC). In addition, he recently played an important role  in the inauguration of the African Meteorological Society (AfMS), where he serves as chair of the Diaspora and Friends of Africa Committee. The committee involves a significant number of colleagues who are similarly passionate about the advancement of scientific research and applications in Africa – including GESTAR II’s inaugural director, Belay Demoz, whose research is similarly inspired by experiences with drought, displacement, and resulting conflict during his youth in East Africa.