UCLA Atmospheric Science Research: Unveiling Earth's Secrets
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) stands as a prominent institution in atmospheric and oceanic sciences, driving advancements in our understanding of Earth's complex systems. Through groundbreaking research, dedicated faculty, and innovative approaches, UCLA contributes significantly to the global scientific community. This article delves into the various facets of UCLA's atmospheric science research, highlighting key areas of focus, notable figures, and the impact of their work.
Comprehensive Resources for Atmospheric Research
UCLA's commitment to atmospheric science research is supported by a wealth of resources. Researchers have access to comprehensive databases and digital libraries that cover a wide range of topics, including:
- Earth, Atmospheric, and Oceanic Sciences: Scholarly journals, trade and industry journals, magazines, technical reports, conference proceedings, and government publications are readily available. This includes access to Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), Oceanic Abstracts, and the Meteorological & Geoastrophysical Abstracts (MGA).
- Astronomy, Earth Science, Heliophysics, Physics, and Planetary Science: A dedicated digital library portal provides researchers with access to a vast collection of resources in these related fields.
- Meteorology, Atmospheric Chemistry, and Physics: Worldwide literature from 1974 to the present is indexed, covering these crucial areas and related environmental sciences.
- Government Technical Reports: Indexing and open access are provided to a collection of over two million historical and current government technical reports archived by the National Technical Information Service (NTIS).
- Chemical Literature and Related Sciences: SciFinder-n offers the most comprehensive index to chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, and nanotechnology, including access to millions of article, patent, and conference references, as well as chemical substances and reactions.
- Multidisciplinary Research: A multidisciplinary database with searchable author abstracts covers the journal literature of most disciplines, indexing major journals with all cited references captured.
Leadership and Expertise: Vice Chancellor Wakimoto
A key figure in UCLA's atmospheric science research is Vice Chancellor Wakimoto, an accomplished atmospheric scientist specializing in mesoscale meteorology, severe convective storms, and radar meteorology. He returned to UCLA's Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences in 2017, after previously serving as a faculty member from 1983 to 2005 and as its chair from 1996 to 2000. His extensive experience includes serving as the director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Earth Observing Laboratory from 2005 to 2010 and as director of NCAR from 2010 to 2013. Vice Chancellor Wakimoto's contributions to the field are significant, with numerous publications and service on various panels, committees, and boards for research organizations. He holds degrees from San Jose State University and the University of Chicago, and has held professorships at UCLA and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Groundbreaking Research Areas
UCLA's atmospheric science research spans a wide range of areas, including:
Climate Projection
UCLA's Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences is at the forefront of research aimed at predicting the effects of human interaction with the atmosphere on our global climate.
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Seafloor Effects on Melting Glaciers
Ken Zhao, a PhD candidate in UCLA’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS), published phenomenal research on seafloor effects on melting glaciers.
Machine Learning Applications
Professor Jacob Bortnik illustrates the diverse ways to apply machine learning to Earth and space sciences in his Eos publication.
The Impact of Grounding (Earthing) on Inflammation and Health
Multi-disciplinary research has revealed that electrically conductive contact of the human body with the surface of the Earth (grounding or earthing) produces intriguing effects on physiology and health. Such effects relate to inflammation, immune responses, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Grounding or earthing refers to direct skin contact with the surface of the Earth, such as with bare feet or hands, or with various grounding systems. Subjective reports that walking barefoot on the Earth enhances health and provides feelings of well-being can be found in the literature and practices of diverse cultures from around the world.
Various grounding systems are available that enable frequent contact with the Earth, such as while sleeping, sitting at a computer, or walking outdoors. These are simple conductive systems in the form of sheets, mats, wrist or ankle bands, adhesive patches that can be used inside the home or office, and footwear. These applications are connected to the Earth via a cord inserted into a grounded wall outlet or attached to a ground rod placed in the soil outside below a window. For the footwear applications, a conductive plug is positioned in the shoe sole at the ball of the foot, under the metatarsals, at the acupuncture point known as Kidney 1. From a practical standpoint, these methods offer a convenient and routine, user-friendly approach to grounding or earthing.
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Recently, a group of researchers has been studying the physiological effects of grounding from a variety of perspectives. This research has led to more than a dozen studies published in peer-reviewed journals. While most of these pilot studies involved relatively few subjects, taken together, the research has opened a new and promising frontier in inflammation research, with broad implications for prevention and public health.
Grounding reduces or even prevents the cardinal signs of inflammation following injury: redness, heat, swelling, pain, and loss of function.
The main hypothesis is that connecting the body to the Earth enables free electrons from the Earth’s surface to spread over and into the body, where they can have antioxidant effects. Specifically, mobile electrons create an antioxidant microenvironment around the injury repair field, slowing or preventing reactive oxygen species (ROS) delivered by the oxidative burst from causing “collateral damage” to healthy tissue, and preventing or reducing the formation of the so-called “inflammatory barricade”. We also hypothesize that electrons from the Earth can prevent or resolve so-called “silent” or “smoldering” inflammation.
Grounding appears to improve sleep, normalize the day-night cortisol rhythm, reduce pain, reduce stress, shift the autonomic nervous system from sympathetic toward parasympathetic activation, increase heart rate variability, speed wound healing, and reduce blood viscosity.
One of the first published grounding studies examined the effects of grounding on sleep and circadian cortisol profiles. The study involved subjects who were in pain and had problems sleeping. They slept grounded for weeks using a system consisting of a cotton sheet with conductive carbon or silver threads woven into it. The threads connect to a wire that leads out the bedroom window or through the wall to a metal rod inserted into the Earth near a healthy plant. Alternatively, it can be connected to the ground terminal of an electrical outlet. Sleeping on this system connects the body to the Earth. A frequent report from people using this system is that sleeping grounded improves the quality of sleep and reduces aches and pains from a variety of causes.
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The results of the experiment led to these conclusions: 1) grounding the body during sleep yields quantifiable changes in diurnal or circadian cortisol secretion levels that, in turn, 2) produce changes in sleep, pain, and stress (anxiety, depression, and irritability), as measured by subjective reporting. The cortisol effects are particularly significant in the light of recent research showing that prolonged chronic stress results in glucocorticoid receptor resistance. Such resistance results in failure to downregulate inflammatory responses, which can thereby increase risks of a variety of chronic diseases.
A pilot study on the effects of grounding on pain and the immune response to injury employed delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS). DOMS is the muscular pain and stiffness that takes place hours to days after strenuous and unfamiliar exercise. DOMS is widely used as a research model by exercise and sports physiologists. The soreness of DOMS is caused by temporary muscle damage produced by eccentric exercise. Healthy subjects performed an unfamiliar, eccentric exercise that led to pain in their gastrocnemius muscles. All subjects ate standardized meals at the same time of day, and adhered to the same sleep cycle for days. Some of the subjects had conductive grounding patches adhered to their gastrocnemius muscles and the bottoms of their feet. They rested and slept on grounding systems. They remained on the grounded sheets except for visits to the bathroom and meals. As controls, subjects followed the same protocol except that their patches and sheets were not grounded. Pain was monitored with two techniques. The subjective method involved morning and afternoon use of a Visual Analog Scale. In the afternoon, a blood pressure cuff was positioned on the right gastrocnemius and inflated to the point of acute discomfort. The pain was documented in terms of the highest pressures that could be tolerated.
The DOMS grounding study report contains a summary of the literature on the changes in blood chemistry and content of formed elements (erythrocytes, leukocytes, and platelets) expected after an injury. The immune system detects pathogens and tissue damage and responds by initiating the inflammation cascade, sending neutrophils and lymphocytes into the region. As expected, the white cell counts increased in the ungrounded or control subjects. Comparisons of lymphocyte counts, pretest versus post-test for each group.
Normally, neutrophils rapidly invade an injured region in order to break down damaged cells and send signals through the cytokine network to regulate the repair process. Neutrophils’ production of ROS and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) is termed the “oxidative burst”. While ROS clear pathogens and cellular debris so that the tissue can regenerate, ROS can also damage healthy cells adjacent to the repair field, causing so-called collateral damage. The fact that the grounded subjects had fewer circulating neutrophils and lymphocytes could indicate that the original damage resolved more quickly, collateral damage reduced, and the recovery process accelerated.
The working hypothesis features this scenario: mobile electrons from the Earth enter the body and act as natural antioxidants; they are semi-conducted through the connective tissue matrix, including through the inflammatory barricade if one is present; they neutralize ROS and other oxidants in the repair field; and they protect healthy tissue from damage.
The inflammatory pouch is widely used in studies of inflammation.
While there may be other explanations, it is suggested that rapid resolution of inflammation takes place because the Earth’s surface is an abundant source of excited and mobile electrons. It is further proposed that skin contact with the surface of the Earth allows Earth’s electrons to spread over the skin surface and into the body. One route to the body interior could be via acupuncture points and meridians. The meridians are known to be low resistance pathways for the flow of electrical currents. Another pathway is via mucous membranes of the respiratory and digestive tracts, which are continuous with the skin surface. Sokal and Sokal found that the electrical potential on the body, on the mucosal membrane of the tongue, and in the venous blood rapidly drop. When the body is disconnected from the Earth, the potential is quickly restored.
The hypothesis is that electrons can be semi-conducted across the barrier, and can then neutralize reactive oxygen species (free radicals). A semiconducting collagen pathway or corridor may explain how electrons from the Earth quickly attenuate chronic inflammation not resolved by dietary antioxidants or by standard medical care, including physical therapy. The concept that the inflammatory barricade forms from collateral damage to healthy tissue surrounding an injury site is supported by studies published along with his description of the granuloma or Selye pouch. Moreover, research in cell biology and biophysics reveals the human body is equipped with a system-wide collagenous, liquid-crystalline semiconductor network known as the living matrix, or in other terms, a ground regulation system.
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