William Turner

Biography

Will Turner began working with the UCSB Climate Hazards Center as an undergraduate intern in June 2013. In 2017, Will graduated from UCSB with a B.S. in Physical Geography and Environmental Studies and was hired to the Center as a full-time Junior Specialist. Now, Will is a Ph.D. student in the Geography Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara, working with Dr. Charles Jones (Earth Research Institute), and Drs. Greg Husak and Chris Funk. William's interests encompass the use of remotely sensed climate data (precipitation and evapotranspiration) to monitor crop-water demands and drought-related food insecurity in eastern and southern Africa. Notably, Will helped to implement the Water Requirement Satisfaction Index (WRSI) to be used in IDL.

Selected Publications

Shukla S, Husak G, Turner W, Davenport F, Funk C, Harrison L, & Krell, N. (2021) A slow rainy season onset is a reliable harbinger of drought in most food insecure regions in Sub-Saharan Africa. PLoS ONE 16(1): e0242883. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242883