Laura Harrison is a Specialist and Operations Analyst for the CHC. Laura’s professional activities include monitoring and forecasting climate impacts on agriculture and examining historical variability and change, primarily in food insecure regions of Africa. She is an active user of Earth observation data for her work with FEWS NET and helps support CHC data products and operations. 

 

Laura is also a science writer for the GEOGLAM Crop Monitor. The CHC provides regional outlooks for areas of concern based on assessments of recent conditions and short and long-term weather forecasts. She has a Master's and Ph.D. in Geography from UCSB. Some of her published research has examined drivers of East Africa precipitation trends, hazards to maize production related to increasing temperatures, and evaluation of weather and seasonal climate forecasts in support of drought early warning and seasonal precipitation monitoring.