Grand Challenges: The Climate Resilience Network

From coastal flooding that increasingly damages Eastern Shore farmland to the flash flooding that took lives and devastated Old Ellicott City twice in the past decade, Maryland sits in the crosshairs of changing climate and increasingly volatile weather.

The scientists of the Climate Resilience Network, funded by UMD’s Grand Challenges Grants Program, work with state and federal agencies to protect Marylanders and their livelihoods.

The team oversees Mesonet, a statewide weather-tower network that warns of approaching storms and provides climate data to farmers, and the growing Hydronet sensor system that monitors coastal flooding. Its researchers also take to the air and local roadways to track air pollutants and greenhouse gases, and study rivers and streams to document rising salinity levels threatening ecosystems and even human health.

Learn about one of 50 projects that make up the $30 million Grand Challenges Grant Program, dedicated to advancing solutions to humanity’s most pressing issues through education, research, scholarship, creative activities and service.