Thomas Eck, Assistant Research Scientist

GEST Research Group:

Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory

GSFC Code:

614.4

Mailing Address:

Hydrological and Biospheric Sciences
Building 33, Room F426
NASA GSFC, Code 614.4
Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA

Phone:

(301) 614-6625

Fax:

(301) 614-6695

Email:

thomas.f.eck@nasa.gov

URL:

http://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/,/a>

Most Recent Publication

Eck, T. F., B.N. Holben, J.S. Reid et al. (2008), Spatial and temporal variability of column-integrated aerosol optical properties in the southern Arabian Gulf and United Arab Emirates in summer, J. Geophys. Res., 113, D01204, doi:10.1029/2007JD008944.

Research Interests:

The primary goals of AERONET are the investigation of the optical properties of atmospheric aerosols for application to studies of the effects of aerosols on the atmospheric radiation balance and climate and for the validation of satellite retrievals of aerosol properties. These ground-based remote sensing retrievals of aerosol optical properties are analyzed to better understand the dynamics of aerosol properties as a function of source region, transport, aging processes, and interaction with clouds.

Biography:

Mr. Thomas F. Eck received a BS in meteorology from Rutgers University in 1977 and an MS in meteorology from the University of Maryland (College Park) in 1982 where his major interests were in micrometeorology and atmospheric radiation. In 1981 he began work at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and has continued there (in association with the Biospheric Sciences Branch, Code 614.4) for more than 26 years, through to the present. During his career he has been involved in algorithm development and data analysis for the Nimbus-7 cloud climatology project. He was also active in instrument calibration, field instrument deployment, and data analysis for the PARABOLA instrument project (plant canopy bi-directional reflectance), and analysis of AVHRR satellite data for water vapor retrievals. Since 1992 he has carried out instrument calibration and deployment, field experimentation, data analysis, and scientific research within the global Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) project. He has authored and co-authored over 85 papers in the refereed literature with recent emphasis on studies of the optical properties of atmospheric aerosols, especially from biomass burning and fossil fuel combustion, and the attenuation of solar flux by aerosols.