AOSC Seminar by Dr. Yolanda Shea, 4/15/2021
AOSC Seminar
Dr. Yolanda Shea
NASA Langley Research Center
Title: Identifying and Unraveling Climate Change Mysteries from Space
Abstract:
An accurate assessment of how Earth’s climate is changing and which physical processes and feedbacks are driving those changes requires highly accurate and stable measurements, stable retrieval algorithms, and measurements with sufficient information content for climate change detection and attribution. The CLARREO Pathfinder (CPF) mission will demonstrate the technologies and measurement approaches needed to obtain stable, high-accuracy measurements of reflected solar spectra to monitor changes in Earth’s climate. We have explored using spectral reflectance, such as that to be provided by CPF, as a viable complementary measurement to retrieved albedo for understanding climate system variability, given that spectral reflectance contains information about the Earth’s atmospheric composition and surface properties. To gain a better understanding of how we can exploit the wealth of information in spectrally resolved top of atmosphere reflected radiation, we have employed multivariate analysis techniques to quantify the information therein. Information content studies have also illuminated how different accuracy levels and spectral sampling impact the amount of information about the climate system available in shortwave spectral reflectance. Although observing variability in reflectance and Earth’s radiation budget is critical to understanding how Earth’s climate is changing, satellite retrievals of essential climate variables are critical because they help to address the issue of attribution of climate variability. Therefore, we have also worked to evaluate the impact of calibration accuracy and retrieval algorithm bias stability on trend detection of satellite-retrieved geophysical variables.
Bio:
Dr. Yolanda Shea is an atmospheric scientist at NASA Langley Research Center and is Project Scientist for the CLARREO (Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory) Pathfinder mission. Her research has focused on what is required for robust monitoring of Earth's changing climate. She received her B.S and PhD in atmospheric science from Cornell University and University of Colorado at Boulder, respectively. In recognition of her technical and community service achievements, she was a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2019.
Contact: Alexandra Jones
AOSC Seminar
Pre-seminar refreshment: N/A
Seminar: 3:30-4:30pm, Zoom
Meet-the-Speaker: 4:30-5:00pm, Zoom [For AOSC Students only]
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