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Beth Tellman

@socialpixel.bsky.social

2.5K followers 230 following 100 posts

floods, satellites, maps, social justice, co-founder and chief scientist Floodbase and asst. prof University of Wisconsin-Madison and co-founder @umbela-org https://beth-tellman.github.io https://www.floodbase.com https://umbela.org

beth-tellman.github.io

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Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · Jul 8

Excited to share me and (part of!) the Social Pixel Lab has moved to University of Wisconsin-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Ill be joining new faculty also hired under the RISE-Earth cluster to strengthen sustainability science, ed and outreach at UW rise.wisc.edu/rise-earth/

RISE-EARTH

By investing in the next generation of faculty leaders through RISE-EARTH, UW-Madison will be well poised to make even greater contributions to sustainability research, education and problem-solving i...

rise.wisc.edu

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Reposted by Beth Tellman

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 1d

News that shocks no one: Carbon offsets do nothing for climate.

Carbon offsets fail to cut global heating due to ‘intractable’ systemic problems, study says

Analysis of 25 years of evidence shows most schemes are poor quality and fail to lower emissions

www.theguardian.com

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Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · 1d

another consequence of failing to take action before the shutdown- the national flood insurance program lapsed on Sept 30- which insures 5M us homes www.realtor.com/advice/finan...

www.realtor.com

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Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · 5d

Horrific and wrong we cannot let this continue to happen in our country

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 5d

According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...

‘F--- them kids’: ICE agents drag children out of bed, ransack Chicago building

YouTube video by MSNBC

www.youtube.com

Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · 5d

I know yall do and I feel so lucky to be somewhere with so many internal grants to access :) it’s why I’m writing so many!!

Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · 5d

when designing an index- check out multiple sources of data to see what converges or diverges before designing a policy. You might need multiple indices to increase your confidence you pay out in the right floods and lower your basis risk. using a simple rainfall index could fail to trigger beware!

Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · 5d

TLDR. satellite, rainfall, stream gauge data all tell you something different about floods and if you pick one for index insurance- that matters! the AI based satellite product we developed (MODIS+S1) has lower uncertainty (would could make premiums cheaper) and pays out sooner than others

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Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · 5d

great writeup U Arizona did on my student Alex Saunders' new lead authored paper with @arbennett.bsky.social @thirstygecko.bsky.social @benamie.bsky.social + S. Islam, J. Giezendanner, S. Houssain news.arizona.edu/news/u-resea... paper here: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

U of A researchers reveal the importance of data choice in effective flood insurance

After testing five sources of flood data, their analysis found that combining or comparing data could improve disaster response and recovery.

news.arizona.edu

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Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · 7d

But damn this is exhausting and maddening. I don’t do science anymore I just perma-fundraise for what was lost. Instead I could have been making flood maps and training more people and organizations to make them. But now I just beg for money to do these things. Hopefully something hits!!

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Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · 7d

Wrapping up my 8th and 9th grant since April when almost all my labs funding was terminated. $1.1M. So far got $330k funded by rewriting a grant for work I was supposedly funded to do. This is the least fun I have had in this job. I know I am sadly not alone and more important things are defunded

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Danielle Zoe Rivera @danielle-rivera.bsky.social · 7d

At Grist, Laura Mallonee has just published a critically important article on the Texas flood recovery and how unincorporated boundaries are impacting equitable recovery. I was happy to chat with Laura about my ongoing research on these issues in Texas and California.

grist.org/extreme-weat...

Texas floods showed why many rural communities feel abandoned in a crisis

Almost a third of Americans live in unincorporated communities beyond city limits, where disaster aid can confuse and frustrate.

grist.org

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Mirela G. Tulbure, PhD @mirelagtulbure.bsky.social · 12d

First NISAR images!!

www.nasa.gov/news-release...

NASA-ISRO Satellite Sends First Radar Images of Earth’s Surface - NASA

The NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) Earth-observing radar satellite’s first images of our planet’s surface are in, and they offer a glimpse of

www.nasa.gov

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Andrew Rumbach @andrewrumbach.bsky.social · 13d

Terrific investigation by the @houstonchronicle.com finds that 20% of residential properties built since Harvey in greater Houston are in a mapped floodplain, 57,000 in-all. www.houstonchronicle.com/projects/202...

65K Houston-area properties have been built in floodplains since Hurricane Harvey

Houston’s relentless push into new suburbs has overlooked flood risks, putting tens of thousands of families in harm’s way.

www.houstonchronicle.com

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Paul Robbins @earthfutures.bsky.social · 14d

Flood risk lines are mapped to keep us safe. What happens when they can be bought? Dr. Beth Tellman tells it like it is. nelson.wisc.edu/the-commons/...

The New Gerrymander: Flood Maps | The Commons Magazine

Across the United States, floodplain maps are changed every day, sometimes in ways that could hide true flood risk and put people in danger.

nelson.wisc.edu

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Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · 14d

trying to beast thru revisions on my LAST unpublished dissertation chapter. 2 babies, 3 jobs and 6 years later! data is data baby! its still an solid paper. publishing is about persistence never give up! a revise/resubmit from a good journal and worth it! pumping up myself and others if they need it

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Climate.us @climate.us · 14d

🚨 NCA5 is now LIVE! 🚨

They took it down, but we've brought it back at: nca5.climate.us

Bookmark. 👏 this. 👏 page. 👏

This is just our first step in restoring trusted science information that Americans need to understand what's happening with the climate.

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Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · 19d

I spy Ufuoma Ovienmhada postdoc at @uarizona.bsky.social @uazenvironment.bsky.social on this list re: her work on The Toxic Prisons Mapping Project and amazing environmental justice coproduction work- lucky for me shes an affiliate of the Social Pixel Lab! congrats-so deserved- a true inspiration!

Grist @grist.org · 19d

Big Reminder

The 2025 #Grist50 is here! 🎉
50 leaders, thinkers, and doers who are shaping the future — from community organizers to artists to innovators redefining
what climate action looks like.

Meet the full class → grist.org/fix/grist-50...

#Climate #Food #Farming #Business #Policy #Politics

Introducing the 2025 Grist 50 list

Climate solutions are more important now than ever. Read about 50 leaders shaping the future of climate progress.

grist.org

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Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · 20d

Major bummer

Ian Hall @ianhall.bsky.social · 20d

🌊 >70% of W. Atlantic coral reefs will transition into net erosional states by 2040. If warming >2°C (SSP2–4.5+), 99% eroding by 2100.

Sea level will rise 0.3–0.5 m above reefs by 2060, 0.7–1.2 m by 2100, boosting coastal flood risk

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Reduced Atlantic reef growth past 2 °C warming amplifies sea-level impacts - Nature

An analysis of coral reefs in the tropical western Atlantic suggests that nearly all will be eroding by 2100 if global warming exceeds 2 °C, which will worsen the effects of sea-level rise.

www.nature.com

Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · 22d

neat paper using AI to improve flood forecasts in the US for discharge- more accurate that the National Water Model and Google's Flood Model- agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

AI Improves the Accuracy, Reliability, and Economic Value of Continental‐Scale Flood Predictions

A novel hybrid model boosts forecast accuracy 4–6 times for flood predictions compared to the National Water Model (NWM) The hybrid model offers up to four times higher economic value for decisio...

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Paul Robbins @earthfutures.bsky.social · Aug 21

A group of Indigenous and settler scholars (including Hilary H. Hunt and the incomparable @moreorloess.bsky.social) have created these AMAZING educational modules on dispossession. While of interest to US Land Grant institutions, they are universally relevant. campushistory.wisc.edu/education/in...

Indigenous Lands Dispossession In Wisconsin and Beyond Education Modules

These educational materials are a resource for students, faculty, instructors, and staff to learn about and engage with the Morrill Act of 1862 in Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin, established i...

campushistory.wisc.edu

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adam mahoney (he/him) @adamlmahoney.bsky.social · Aug 29

NEW: Last week, oil literally rained down on a Black town in rural Louisiana where 60% of folks live in poverty.

The company isn’t taking responsibility & the federal + state governments are saying residents have to clean it up themselves. capitalbnews.org/louisiana-oi...

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Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · Aug 26

Nice article re @floodbase.bsky.social flood insurance program with amwins for California municipalities www.governing.com/resilience/h...

How AI Helped a California City Insure Against Flood Risk

Floods are frequent, unpredictable and expensive. Fremont, Calif., is one of the first cities to secure flood insurance designed using AI.

www.governing.com

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Beth Tellman @socialpixel.bsky.social · Aug 26

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/n...

Quoted in nytimes today re flood net- this neat network of sensors detecting water height all over nyc (which I am not involved with but really admire!)

The Street-Corner Sensors That Track Flooding in Real Time

www.nytimes.com

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ProPublica @propublica.org · Aug 20

Researchers found that moisture lost to evaporation and drought, plus runoff from pumped groundwater, now outpaces the melting of glaciers and the ice sheets of either Antarctica or Greenland as the largest contributor of water to the oceans.

By @abrahm.bsky.social

“Staggering” Water Loss Driven by Groundwater Mining Poses Global Threat

A new study finds that freshwater resources are rapidly disappearing, creating arid “mega” regions and causing sea levels to rise.

www.propublica.org

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Lauren Rosenthal @laurenthal.bsky.social · Aug 5

Scoop: The U.S. billion-dollar disaster database is set to return this fall over at @climatecentral.org. They've hired the former NOAA scientist who ran the project for 10+ years www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Researchers Are Resurrecting Billion-Dollar Disaster Tool Trump Killed

Nonprofit Climate Central has hired the scientist behind a key database of costly weather disasters to rebuild it.

www.bloomberg.com

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Mikhail Zinshteyn @mzinshteyn.bsky.social · Aug 1

NEW: Trump's suspensions of UCLA's research grants is around 800 -- the ~300 we knew about for NSF and *500* NIH grants. That's according to a memo a UCLA administrator sent to the campus's researchers with grants two hours ago.

Mikhail Zinshteyn @mzinshteyn.bsky.social · Aug 1

I chased this all day:

UCLA research grants suspended after Trump administration faulted campus for antisemitism

calmatters.org/education/hi...

UCLA research grants suspended after Trump administration faulted campus for antisemitism

The Justice Department issued UCLA a notice of violation for not responding “adequately” to complaints about antisemitism.

calmatters.org

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