https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj daily 0.75 2025-08-28 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/like-pumpkin-spice-season-im-back monthly 0.5 2025-08-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60be3cdb027205168cd2df11/0bfcbe92-2bd6-4363-af76-5eac65abf38a/Starbucks_Pumpkin_Spice_Latte_%2838404428942%29.jpg Blog - Like pumpkin spice season, I’m back - Make it stand out I don’t actually consume PSLs (AKA pumpkin spice lattes) as I am allergic to an important ingredient. But y’all know it is pumpkin spice season again. Or did it ever leave? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60be3cdb027205168cd2df11/a42031ce-49b9-4ab5-8669-134103f75a19/Pyrocumulus_cloud_produced_by_the_Dixie_Fire_on_July_22-5865.jpg Blog - Like pumpkin spice season, I’m back - Make it stand out The Dixie Fire in Plumas County and Butte County produces a pyrocumulus (PyroCb) cloud in summer 2021. PyroCbs form when smoke and strong winds caused by a wildfire meet moisture in the atmosphere, and punch above the tropopause . Image by Frank Schulenburg - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=107802721 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/long-time-no-see monthly 0.5 2022-07-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60be3cdb027205168cd2df11/b1b0b944-480f-4d11-8e61-7f9398e848ed/marjan-blan-marjanblan-6bXvYyAYVrE-unsplash.jpg Blog - Long time, no see - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/black-carbon-and-sea-ice-deposition monthly 0.5 2021-08-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60be3cdb027205168cd2df11/1628782247726-DL1P2NR2Y9OIBRP7U8FF/image08072021_main.jpg Blog - Black carbon and the North Pole - Make it stand out This MODIS Aqua images from 7 August 2021 shows extent of smoke over Sakha Republic, Russian Federation. In the write-up to this post, it is mentioned that this documented smoke transport to the Arctic Ocean and the North Pole is “a feat that appears to be a first in recorded history”. URL: https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-08-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60be3cdb027205168cd2df11/1628782543131-ZVABOD40GN0LAHKKWRVT/BCArcticTransportAMAP.png Blog - Black carbon and the North Pole - Make it stand out The science of how black carbon deposition occurs is very mature. Here, a figure from the 2011 Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme’s (AMAP) report on black carbon shows how that happens. URL: https://www.amap.no/documents/doc/the-impact-of-black-carbon-on-arctic-climate/746. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60be3cdb027205168cd2df11/1628782716355-WVP06E7LK4TD93RIVUZP/nicolas-lafargue-a4nfipTEUCs-unsplash.jpg Blog - Black carbon and the North Pole - Make it stand out Photo by Nicolas Lafargue on Unsplash. Reindeer eating lichen through the snow, near Tromsø, Norway (Sami Arctic reindeer, sekundær fylkesvei 53, krokelvdalen, norvège). https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/so-i-testified-in-front-of-a-us-congressional-committee monthly 0.5 2021-07-08 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60be3cdb027205168cd2df11/1625778051863-7VC5OT3JSAOTC8D0W7PM/Understory-Fire_PantherNWR-FL_Wildfire0306+.jpg Blog - So, I testified in front of a U.S. Congressional Committee… - Make it stand out An example of an understory fire in the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, a part of the United States National Wildlife Refuge System. Image from: https://forest-atlas.fs.fed.us/shapes-fires.html. Creator: Josh O'Connor - USFWS, Copyright: Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/convincing-climate-change-communication-actions-louder-than-words monthly 0.5 2021-06-17 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/project-one-sbjyx monthly 0.5 2021-06-11 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/Policy monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/Science monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/Climate+Action monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/Smoke monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/Wildfire monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/environment monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/future monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/Black+Carbon monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/Fire monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/science monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/Family monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/fire monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/Reindeer monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/family monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/Arctic monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/category/policy monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/tag/open+burning monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/tag/wildfire monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/tag/black+carbon monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/tag/farming monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/tag/Siberia monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/tag/smoke monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/tag/fire monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/tag/Arctic monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/tag/science+communication monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/tag/parenting monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/tag/air+quality monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/blogbyj/tag/climate+change monthly 0.5 https://jmccartygeo.org/about daily 0.75 2021-06-08 https://jmccartygeo.org/home daily 1.0 2025-08-25 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60be3cdb027205168cd2df11/1623083387790-MM52ROHZ8CKMSOZNDYG0/McCartyHeadshot2020PNG_Final.png Home - This website was started to showcase me as a scientist. To learn more about my day-to-day research, follow me on BlueSky at ‪@jmccartygeo.bsky.social‬, contact me via LinkedIn, or read my archived private tweets on Twitter , or see what I have to say on this blog. As an employee of NASA, my research is publicly-funded and publicly-available. Wanna work for NASA - especially in earth science and/or geospatial applications? I will post new job opportunities at my LinkedIn account. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60be3cdb027205168cd2df11/1623080955592-MAME49QDJ2QHFVQJSZWX/Fig1_NGS-2020-07-01596A_png.png Home - I will not be updating this website as much, as my day job is with NASA, and whew, boy am I busy. But I plan to do monthly-to-seasonal updates, like a curated ice cream shop does with flavors. As an Associate Professor of Geography at Miami University, I led NASA and USDA-funded projects on land change science, food security, and fire using satellites and geospatial science. Before that I was a research scientist on soft-money for a lab in Ann Arbor. Before that I worked at a university in Kentucky, was a graduate student at the University of Michigan, and even an intern/hourly worker with the USFS. But my first jobs was as an agricultural worker and selective timber harvesting for my family’s farm and our relatives and friends. Caveat: I maintain an Adjunct Associate Professor of Geography position with Miami University through Spring 2026, but am no longer advising students or teaching. This website is an archive of my academic career and can help others find my personal social media accounts.