Prof. Sebastian Eastham

Eastham's work is focused on understanding and reducing the atmospheric impacts of anthropogenic emissions using high-resolution computational models of the atmosphere in concert with Earth observations. This ranges from high-fidelity local simulations of single exhaust plumes up to global-scale numerical models of the atmosphere. His research also benefits from the application of machine learning methods to Earth observation data, such as ongoing work to identify and characterize aircraft condensation trails – and from there quantify their climate impacts – in geostationary satellite imagery. The long-term goal of his work is to enable near real-time integration of observational (monitor, aircraft, and satellite) data into computational models of the environment, supporting unprecedented accuracy and insights with regards to environmental decision making for impact mitigation and environmental justice.

At the Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment (LAE), Dr. Eastham’s work is focused on understanding, quantifying, and mitigating the environmental impacts of anthropogenic emissions using computational models and aerospace assets. This includes the climate impacts of supersonic aviation, the atmospheric chemistry of aircraft emissions, possible unintended consequences of geoengineering, and the formation and effects of aircraft condensation trails (“contrails”).