August 20 Meeting Recap!

On Thursday evening, weather enthusiasts and meteorologists from around the world (yes, that's right), gathered virtually to discuss geophysics and geomagnetism. The Blue Ridge CVAAMS chapter also joined in on the fun! However, the results of the CVAAMS chapter elections were presented first. Our CVAAMS President will be Peter Effertz, our Vice President will be Tom Drake, and Secretary-Treasurer will be Dan Salkovitz for the upcoming year. Congratulations to all!

Richard Griffith, a fellow with the Royal Meteorological Society and a COL (Climatological Observers Link) gave a brief presentation from the UK on the vast network of amateur meteorologists collecting weather data, including temperature, wind, rainfall, and more. This data is valuable to see trends over time and to get a better understanding of micro climates in various regions of the United Kingdom. Richard stayed awake until 1 am to be with us, so thank you Richard!

Our next presentation was by Dr. Jeffrey Love, a research geophysicist who works at the United States Geomagnetic Survey. His presentation was on the "Geomagnetic History Recorded at Fredericksburg, Virginia". During the presentation, Dr. Jeffrey Love talked about his research on geomagnetic monitoring data and magnetotelluric survey data (electromagnetic geophysical method for inferring the earth's subsurface electrical conductivity from measurements of natural geomagnetic and geoelectric field variation at the Earth's surface) to evaluate geoelectric hazards that are a concern to the electric-power grid industry. Interestingly enough, the central Virginia area was under one of the greatest risk areas for electrical interefence in the entire lower 48 due to unfavorable rocks beneath the surface. Thank you Jeffrey for that deeply interesting presentation!

The recorded Zoom meeting will be posted here once that becomes available.

Our next meeting will be October 10th, 2020, presumably via Zoom. A speaker and time has not been decided yet, so stay tuned for updates via email from Dan Salkovtiz!

See you at our next meeting!