Jeffrey Basara wearing a blue shirt and dark blue coat and smiling at the camera.

Jeffrey Basara, Ph.D.

Chair, Professor

College
Kennedy College of Sciences
Department
Environmental, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
Phone
978-934-3918
Office
Olney Hall, Room 201C
Email
jeffrey_basara@uml.edu
Links

Expertise

Weather and Climate Extremes, Hydrometeorology, Hydroclimatology

Research Interests

I am interested in the complex challenges at the intersection between weather, climate, water, and ecosystems with specific focus on the processes that drives hydrometeorological and hydroclimatological extremes and impacts from local to global scales.

Education

  • Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.): Meteorology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, 2001
  • Master of Science (MS): Meteorology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahima. 1998
  • Master of Business Administration (MBA): University of Massachusetts Lowell, 2026
  • Bachelor of Science (BS): Atmospheric Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 1994

Biosketch

I am a professor and serve as chair of the Department of Environmental, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. I am deeply passionate about teaching and mentorship. My goal is to provide outstanding instruction and meaningful educational experiences that empower students to become future leaders and difference makers in the environmental sciences.

My research examines phenomena such as droughts, flash droughts, flash floods, pluvial periods, severe and extreme weather events, heat waves, cold air outbreaks and cascading environmental events. Additional research interests include planetary boundary layer evolution, surface-atmosphere exchange, and urban-atmosphere interactions. Addressing these challenges requires strong interdisciplinary collaboration, and I value partnerships that bring together scientists, educators and stakeholders across multiple fields.

Selected Awards and Honors

  • 2019 USDA Research Education Economics (REE) Under Secretary’s Award
  • 2019 USDA-NIFA Multistate Partnership Award
  • 2014 Named a Kavli Fellow of the United States National Academy of Sciences.

Selected Publications

  • Fellman, B. J., J. B. Basara, J. I. Christian, and M. R. Tye, 2025: Flash Drought Timing and Winter Wheat Productivity in the Southern Great Plains of the United States. J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol., 64, 637–652, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-24-0144.1 .
  • Fallah, A., Barlow, M. A., Basara, J., Kooperman, G. J., Kohane, C., & Skinner, C. B., 2025: The impact of CO2-driven vegetation changes on the future of flash drought in the Northern Hemisphere. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 130, e2025JD043882. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JD043882
  • Edris, S., A. McGovern, J. B. Basara, J. I. Christian, J. C. Furtado, H. Olayiwola, and X. Xiao, 2025: Evaluation of Flash Drought Identification with Machine Learning Techniques. Part I: Traditional Machine Learning Algorithms. Artif. Intell. Earth Syst., 4, 240068, https://doi.org/10.1175/AIES-D-24-0068.1.
  • Edris, S., A. McGovern, J. B. Basara, J. I. Christian, J. C. Furtado, H. Olayiwola, and X. Xiao, 2025: Evaluation of Flash Drought Identification with Machine Learning Techniques. Part II: Neural Network Algorithms. Artif. Intell. Earth Syst., 4, 240069, https://doi.org/10.1175/AIES-D-24-0069.1.
  • Bakar, S., H. Kim, J. Basara, V. Lakshmi, 2025: Observational Analysis of Long-term Streamflow Response to Flash Drought in the Mississippi River Basin. Weather and Climate Extremes, 48, 100762.
  • Bakar, S., H. Kim, J. Basara, V. Lakshmi, 2025: Investigating the vulnerability and resilience of different land cover types to flash drought: A case study in the Mississippi River Basin. Journal of Environmental Management, 380, 125079.
  • Christian, J., T. Grace, T., B. Fellman, D. Mesheske, S. Edris, H. Olayiwola, J. B. Basara, B. Fuchs, and J. Furtado, 2024: The Flash Droughts Across the South-Central United States in 2022: Drivers, Predictability, and Impacts. Weather and Climate Extremes, 46, 100730.
  • Grace, T., K. Pegion, and J. B. Basara, 2024: Atmospheric and Surface Dynamics During Winter Warm Spells in the Southern Great Plains: Insights from the 2021 Case Study. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 129, e2024JD040856.
  • Foskey, S., N. Sakaeda, J. B. Basara, J. Furtado, 2024: The Impact of the Madden-Julian Oscillation on Extreme Winter Weather over the Contiguous United States. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. 150, 4915-4932.
  • Puxley, B., E. Martin, J. B. Basara, J. I. Christian, 2024: The wildfire impacts of the 2017-2018 precipitation whiplash event across the Southern Great Plains. Environmental Research Letters, 19, 074029.
  • Zhang, Y., M. Cai, X. Xiao, M. Migliavacca, J. B. Basara, S. Zhou, Y. Deng, 2024: Immediate and lagged vegetation responses to dry spells revealed by continuous solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence observations in a tall-grass prairie. Remote Sensing of Environment, 305, 114080.
  • Brauer, N. S., P. E. Kirstetter, J. B. Basara, S. Hristova-Veleva, S. Tanelli, and F. Joseph Turk, 2024: Precipitation microphysics in tropical cyclones: A global perspective using the NASA global precipitation measurement mission dual-frequency precipitation radar. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 129, e2023JD038709.
  • Celis, J. X. Xiao, P. Wagle, J. Basara, H. McCarthy, L. Souza, 2024: A comparison of moderate and high spatial resolution satellite data for modeling gross primary production and transpiration of native prairie, alfalfa, and winter wheat. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 344, 109797.
  • D. Woods, P.-E. Kirstetter, H. Vergara, J. A. Duarte, J. Basara, 2023: Hydrologic Evaluation of the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission over the U.S.: Error Budget Analysis, Journal of Hydrology, 130212.
  • Wakefield, R.A., D.D. Turner, T. Rosenbeger, T. Heus, T.J. Wagner, J. Santanello, and J.B. Basara, 2023: A Methodology for Estimating the Energy and Moisture Budget of the Convective Boundary Layer Using Continuous Ground-based Infrared Spectrometer Observations. J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol., 62, 901–914, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-22-0163.1.
  • Christian, J., E. Martin, Basara, J. B., Furtado, J., Otkin, J., L. Lowman, Hunt, E., V. Mishra, Xiao, X., 2023: Global Projections of Flash Drought in a Warming Climate, Nature Communications Earth & Environment, 4, 165. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00826-1
  • Celis, J., Xiao, X., Basara, J. B., Wagle, P., McCarthy, H., 2023. Simple and innovative methods to estimate gross primary production and transpiration of crops: a review. Digital Ecosystem for Innovation in Agriculture. 125-156, DOI: 10.1007/978-981-99-0577-5_7.
  • Edris, S. E., J. B. Basara; J. I. Christian; E. D. Hunt; J. A. Otkin; S. T. Salesky; B. G. Illston, 2023: Decomposing the Critical Components of Flash Drought Using the Standardized Evaporative Stress Ratio. Agriculture and Forest Meteorology, 330, 109288.
  • Paudel, S. N. Gomez-Casanovas, E. H. Boughton, S. D. Chamberlain, P. Wagle, B. L Peterson, R. Bajgain, P. J Starks, J. B. Basara, C. J Bernacchi, E. H. DeLucia, L. E Goodman, P. H. Gowda, R. Reuter, J. P. Sparks, H. M Swain, X. Xiao, and J. L Steiner, 2023: Intensification differentially affects the delivery of multiple ecosystem services in subtropical and temperate grasslands. Agriculture, Ecology & Environment, 108398.
  • Woods, D., P.-E. Kirstetter, H. Vergara, J. A. Duarte, and J. Basara, 2023: Hydrologic evaluation of the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission over the U.S.: flood peak discharge and duration. Journal of Hydrology, 129124.
  • Brauer, N. S., A. A. Alford, S. M. Waugh, M. I. Biggerstaff, G. D. Carrie, P. E. Kirstetter, J. B. Basara, D. T Dawson, K. L. Elmore, J. Stevenson, and R. W. Moore, 2022: Hurricane Laura (2020): A comparison of drop size distribution moments using numerous ground and radar remote sensing retrievals methods. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 127, e2021JD035845.
  • Christian J. I., J. B. Basara, L.E.L. Lowman, X. Xiao, D. Mesheske, and Y. Zhou, 2022: Flash Drought Identification from Satellite-Based Land Surface Water Index. Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, 26, 100770.
  • Millin, O. T., J. C. Furtado, J. B. Basara, 2022: Characteristics, Evolution, and Formation of Cold Air Outbreaks in the Great Plains of the United States. J. Climate. 35, 4585-4602. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-21-0772.1
  • Christian, J., Basara, J. B., Hunt, E., Otkin, J., Furtado, J., Xiao, X. and R. Randall, 2021: Global Distribution, Trends, and Drivers of Flash Drought Occurrence. Nature Comms., 12, 6330 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26692-z.
  • Deng, J., S. Frolking, R. Bajgain, C. R. Cornell, P. Wagle, X. Xiao, J. Zhou, J. Basara, J. Steiner, C. Li, 2021: Improving a Biogeochemical Model to Simulate Microbial-mediated Carbon Dynamics in Agroecosystems. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 13, e2021MS002752, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021MS002752.
  • Wakefield, R. A., J. B. Basara, N. S. Brauer , J. Furtado, J. M. Shepherd, J. Santanello, 2021: The Inland Maintenance and Re-intensification of Tropical Storm Bill (2015) Part 1: Contributions of the Brown Ocean Effect. Journal of Hydrometeorology. 22, 2675-2693. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-20-0150.1.
  • Krueger, E., T. E. Ochsner, M. R. Levi, J. B. Basara, 2021: Grassland Productivity Estimates Informed by soil moisture measurements: statistical and mechanistic approaches. Agronomy Journal. 113, 3498-3517, DOI:10.1002/agj2.20709.
  • Wang, J., X. Xiao, J. Basara, X. Wu, R. Bajgain, Y. Qin, R. B Doughty, B. Moore, 2021: Impacts of juniper woody plant encroachment into grasslands on local climate. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 307, 108508, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2021.108508
  • Otkin, J., Y. Zhong, E. Hunt, J. Christian, J. Basara, H. Nguyen, M. Wheeler, T. Ford, A. Hoell, M. Svoboda, M. Anderson, 2021: Development of a Flash Drought Intensity Index. Atmosphere, 12, 741, https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12060741.
  • Chen, W, R. T. Pinker, Y. Ma, G. Hulley, E. Borbas, T. Islam, K.-A. Cawse-Nicholson, S. Hook, C. Hain, J. Basara, 2021: Land Surface Temperature from GOES-East and GOES-West, J. of Atmos. and Oceanic Tech., 38, 843-858.
  • Shepherd, J.M., A. Thomas, J. Santanello, P. Lawston, J. Basara, 2021: Evidence of Warm Core Structure Maintenance Over Land: A Case Study Analysis of Cyclone Kelvin. Environmental Research Communications, 3 045004, https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/abf39a
  • Celis, J., H. Moreno, J. Basara, R. McPherson, M. Cosh, T. Ochsner, X. Xiao, 2021, From Standard Weather Stations to Virtual Micro-meteorological Towers: Real-time Modeling Tool for Surface Energy Fluxes, Evapotranspiration, Soil Temperature and Soil Moisture Estimations. Remotes Sensing, 13, 1271, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13071271.
  • Homeyer, C. R., A. O. Fierro, B. A. Schenkel, A. C. Didlake, G. M. McFarquar, J. Hu, A. Ryzhkov, J. B. Basara, A. Murphy, J. Zawislak, 2021: Polarmetric signatures in landfalling tropical cyclones. Monthly Weather Review. 149, 131-154. https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-20-0111.1
  • Bajgain, R. X. Xiao, P. Wagle, Y. Zhou, J. S. Kimball, C. Brust, J. B Basara, P. Gowda, P. Starks, J. P. S. Neel, 2021: Comparing Evapotranspiration Products of Different Temporal and Spatial Scales in Native and Managed Prairie Pastures. Remote Sensing, 13, 82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2020.108137
  • Christian, J., Basara, J. B., Hunt, E., Otkin, J., and X. Xiao, 2020: Flash drought development and cascading impacts associated with the 2010 Russian Heatwave. Environmental Research Letters, 15, 9. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab9faf
  • Bajgain, R. X. Xiao, J. B Basara, R. Doughty, X. Wu, P. Wagle, Y. Zhou, P. Gowda, J. Steiner, 2020: Differential responses of native and managed prairie pastures to environmental variability and management practices. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 294, 108137, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2020.108137
  • Hunt, E. D., J. I. Christian, J. B. Basara, L. Lowman, J. A Otkin, J. Bell, K. Jarecke, R. A. Wakefield, R. M. Randall, 2020: The Flash Drought of 1936. Journal of Applied and Service Climatology, 4. doi.org/10.46275/JOASC.2020.11.001.
  • Brauer, N., Basara, J. B., Homeyer, C. R., McFarquhar, G., Kirstetter, P.-E. (2020). Quantifying Precipitation Efficiency and Drivers of Excessive Precipitation in Post-Landfall Hurricane Harvey. Journal of Hydrometeorology ,21, 433–452.
  • Jennrich, G.C., J.C. Furtado, J.B. Basara, and E.R. Martin, (2020). Synoptic Characteristics of 14-Day Extreme Precipitation Events Across the United States. J. Climate, 33 (15): 6423–6440 ,https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0563.1
  • Niraula, R., Saleh, A., Bhattarai, N., Bajgain, R., Kannan, N., Osei, E., Gowda, P., Neel, J., Xiao, X., Basara, J. B. (2020). Understanding the effects of pasture type and stocking rate on the hydrology of the Southern Great Plains. Science of The Total Environment, 708, 134873. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134873.