Northern Illinois University

Department of Geography

Mace Bentley

Associate Professor
Ph. D. University of Georgia

Research Emphasis: Mesoscale Meteorology and Climatology,
Synoptic Meteorology, Weather Hazards, Regional Climate Change

Specific Research Endeavors
My research focuses on feedbacks between human-induced land cover changes and the distribution of thunderstorms. More specifically, I examine the underlying controls on the distribution of lightning in urbanized areas and examine thunderstorm augmentation due to urbanization and land cover change. The alteration of our land cover and feedbacks into the thunderstorm distribution shape the risks associated with urban weather hazards.

Other research interests include examining environments favorable for producing convectively-induced, long-track windstorms known as derechos and in utilizing remotely sensed data for analysis of thunderstorms and their associated hazards.

Meteorology Laboratory

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