Avelino Arellano

Ave Arellano is an Associate Professor at University of Arizona (UArizona) Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences (HAS). He is also a faculty member of UArizona Graduate Interdisciplinary Program (GIDP) on Remote Sensing and Spatial Analysis (RSSA) and on Applied Mathematics. As a professor on data assimilation and atmospheric chemistry, his research at UArizona is directed towards improving our capability to assess, monitor, and predict the changes in the state of our Earth system by exploiting constraints from observational (ground-based to satellite remote-sensing) and modeling (local to global scale) along with correlative ancillary datasets (e.g., socioeconomic indicators).

His current work focuses on determining the changes in atmospheric composition across major megacities in the world through satellite data analysis and chemical transport modeling. Urban agglomeration is expected to continue growing over the coming decades. This is especially problematic as it is in these cities where human (anthropogenic) activities are most intense accompanied by immense energy consumption, mainly in the form of fossil-fuel combustion. This leads to enhanced emissions of air pollutants, greenhouse gases, and waste energy and subsequently impacting air quality, climate, and ecosystems. Atmospheric measurements of combustion products like CO, CO2, NOX, CH4 and aerosols offer opportunities to fingerprint the impacts of energy usage on our environment.

His group, in collaboration with scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and faculty at UA, is also developing tools that integrate various types of data into Earth system models. These tools can be used to: a) assess the impacts of new combustion technologies on our environment, b) monitor effectiveness of air pollution control strategies and regulation, c) predict the impacts on air quality from potential changes of fuel usage in the future, and d) improve the skill of meteorological and chemical weather forecasts.

Ave received his Ph.D. in Environment from Duke University Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, M.Engg. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from National University of Singapore, and B.S. in Mining Engineering from the University of the Philippines. Prior to graduate school, he worked as a Production Engineer in one of the cement manufacturing plants in the Philippines.