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AOSC Seminar by Pengwang Zhai, 10/15/2026

     
3:30 p.m.
Atlantic Building Room 2400 & Zoom

AOSC Seminar by Pengwang Zhai, 10/15/2026

AOSC Seminar

 

Pengwang Zhai

UMBC

 

Title

Seeing the Earth in Polarized Light: Radiative Transfer, Polarimetry, and Remote Sensing

 

Abstract

Light interacting with the Earth’s atmosphere, ocean, and land surface carries a wealth of information about our planet. Extracting this information, however, requires a quantitative understanding of how photons are scattered and absorbed as they propagate through complex natural environments. In this talk, I will introduce the fundamental role of light scattering and radiative transfer in remote sensing of the Earth system, with particular emphasis on the additional information provided by polarization. I will discuss advances in polarized radiative transfer modeling and their applications to the retrieval of aerosol and ocean properties from satellite observations. Recent developments in multi-angle polarimetry and hyperspectral measurements, including observations from NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission, provide new opportunities to simultaneously characterize the atmosphere and ocean with unprecedented detail. I will highlight some of our recent efforts to connect fundamental radiative-transfer physics with these emerging remote-sensing capabilities and discuss opportunities and challenges for the next generation of Earth observations.

 

Bio

Dr. Pengwang Zhai received his Ph.D. in Physics from Texas A&M University (TAMU), where he subsequently worked as a postdoctoral research associate for two years. He then joined NASA Langley Research Center as a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow. From 2009 to 2014, he worked as a senior research scientist at Science Systems & Applications, Inc., before joining the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
 
Dr. Zhai’s research focuses on light scattering by irregular particles, vector radiative transfer in the Earth systems, and remote sensing of aerosols and hydrosols. His work seeks to understand how the optical properties of atmospheric and aquatic particles influence remote-sensing observations and to develop algorithms for retrieving their physical and optical properties from satellite and other measurements. He is particularly interested in advancing polarized radiative transfer and multi-angle polarimetric remote sensing for studying the Earth system.

 

Contact

Maria Molina

 

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AOSC Seminar

Pre-seminar refreshment: N/A
Seminar: 3:30-4:30pm, Room: ATL 2400(only when in-person)
Meet-the-Speaker: 4:30-5:00pm, Room: ATL 3400(only when in-person) [For AOSC Students only]

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