Will Turner began working with the Climate Hazards Center (CHC) as an undergraduate intern at UCSB in 2013. He earned his B.S. in Physical Geography and Environmental Studies in 2017, his M.A. in Physical Geography in 2020, and his Ph.D. in Geography with an emphasis in Climate Science and Climate Change in 2025. He is now an Assistant Project Scientist with the Center.

 

Will’s work focuses on producing and validating remotely sensed products to monitor climate-related impacts on crop production and food security worldwide. He is the curator of the CHC Early Estimates, which provide timely monitoring of recent rainfall totals in historically food-insecure regions and are routinely featured in GEOGLAM Crop Monitor regional outlooks. His recent projects include developing the bias-corrected CHIRPS3-GEFS 16-day rainfall forecast, validating the USGS eVIIRS NDVI, and implementing the Water Requirement Satisfaction Index (WRSI) in IDL.