Annual Report (pdf file)

GEST Final Annual Report (covering May 11, 2010 through May 10, 2011) (9.6Mb PDF file)

10th Annual Report (covering May 11, 2009 through May 10, 2010) (9.3Mb PDF file)

9th Annual Report (covering May 11, 2008 through May 10, 2009) (8.4Mb PDF file)

8th Annual Report (covering May 11, 2007 through May 10, 2008) (7.1Mb PDF file)

7th Annual Report (covering May 11, 2006 through May 10, 2007) (3.6Mb PDF file)

6th Annual Report (covering May 11, 2005 through May 10, 2006) (6Mb PDF file)

5th Annual Report (covering May 11, 2004 through May 10, 2005) (11Mb PDF file)

4th Annual Report (covering May 11, 2003 through May 10, 2004) (9.2Mb PDF file)

3rd Annual Report (covering May 11, 2002 through May 10, 2003) (2Mb PDF file)

GEST Newsletter (pdf file)

Please email information for the Newsletter to Brie Lewis.

Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view pdf files. Please go to http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

Who to Contact

To initiate a new research activity:
Danita Eichenlaub

Faculty with grant questions (proposal, budget, report):
Mary Dawson, Margo Young

Task funding status:
Mary Dawson, Margo Young

Technology transfer:
Wendy Martin

For assistance with ITAR and EAR issues:
Dean Drake

Faculty with travel requests or claims:
Cathy Manalansan

Faculty with payroll questions:
Kevin Mooney

Educational programs:
Valerie Casasanto

Faculty leave:
Margo Young

Faculty badge (security clearance) requests:
Brizjette (Brie) Lewis

Inventory control:
Kevin Mooney

Purchases over $5,000:
Cathy Manalansan

Purchases below $5,000:
Brizjette (Brie) Lewis

General Inquiries:
Danita Eichenlaub

GEST's 10th Anniversary Gala

Seminars at UMBC

Physics Department Seminar Series (Wednesdays at 3:30 pm in Room 401, Physics).

The Center for Urban Environmental Research and Education Seminar Series (Fridays at 2:00 pm in the TRC Room 206).

UMBC Weather

Michael Studinger (Code 614.1), (now with JCET) and NASA's Operation IceBridge were featured in a write-up in the latest UMBC Magazine.

Thomson Reuters published an interview in January 2011 between ScienceWatch.com and Dr. Ignazio Ciufolini regarding the paper "A Confirmation of the General Relativistic Prediction of the Lense-Thirring Effect" written by Dr. Ciufolini and Dr. Erricos Pavlis (GEST/JCET). This paper was published in Nature in October 2004 and is recognized as the most cited paper in the field. The interview, which also refers to the upcoming launch of the LARES satellite, can be read here.

In a Fall 2010 issue of the Goddard View, Marci Delaney (now with JCET) is featured on the cover, engaging students in an interactive experiment that shows how craters are made. Marci and others at GSFC participated in the "Middle School Takeover" (see page 3 of the Goddard View) that occurred in October, part of a push to stimulate interest in STEM activities among middle school students.

Follow NASA's Operation IceBridge airborne mission, which launched its 2010 Antarctic Campaign this week. For the next five weeks, crew and scientists will be stationed in Punta Arenas, Chile. Updates will be posted by Michael Studinger (now with JCET) and others via Twitter and the Operation IceBridge blog.

NASA's Operation IceBridge received further media coverage when it was featured in several outlets on Nov 15th, including The Baltimore Sun, MSNBC, and OurAmazingPlanet.

A paper by Zhibo Zhang (now with JCET) and co-authors Steven Platnick, Ping Yang, Andrew Heidenger, and Jennifer Comstock (2010), "Effects of ice particle size vertical inhomogeneity on the passive remote sensing of ice clouds", has been selected by AGU's editor to be a highlight on AGU's website and later at the EOS website, AGU's weekly newspaper.

Scott Boardsen's article "Observations of Kelvin-Helmholtz Waves along the Dusk-side Boundary of Mercury's Magnetosphere during MESSENGER's Third Flyby", recently published in Geophysical Research Letters, has been selected as an AGU highlight. His article is available online. (Boardsen recently joined GPHI.)

Congratulations to Suzanne Imber (Code 670.0 - now with GPHI), who has been awarded the University of Leicester Faculty of Science Ph.D. Prize for 2009. The award was made on the basis of exceptional research contribution to Solar Terrestrial Physics. Dr. Imber will return to the Univ. of Leicester this week to receive her medal and certificate, and will present a lecture to the College of Science and Engineering on "The Northern Lights: Illuminating Near Earth Space".

The first NASA science demonstration of the GSFC Global Hawk Pacific unmanned aircraft system (GLOPAC UAS) has been completed! The GSFC team consists of Paul Newman, Co-Project Scientist; Cloud Physics Lidar Lead Dr. Matt McGill and Airborne Compact Atmospheric Mapper Lead Dr. Scott Janz; GSFC flight planning team: Dr. Leslie Lait, Dr. Huisheng Bian (now with JCET), Code 613.3, Dr. S. Randy Kawa, and Dr. Pete Colarco; and GMAO modeling and forecasts: Dr. Arlindo DaSilva and Dr. Steven Pawson.

GLOPAC's first mission explored trace gases, aerosols and dynamics of remote upper troposphere and lower stratosphere regions. Between April 2 - April 30, there were five flights with 82.5 of the total hours flown largely over the Pacific. Preliminary results include the observation of polar ozone vortex fragments, dust plumes from the Gobi desert as predicted by GSFC models, and stratospheric trace gas distributions.

For more information, please visit the NASA GLOPAC website: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/Glopac/

Christopher Shuman (now with JCET) participated in NASA'S DIGITAL LEARNING NETWORK PRESENTS EARTH DAY WITH KENJI WILLIAMS, a special performance of "Bella Gaia" (Beautiful Earth) on Monday, April 19. "Bella Gaia" is a "living atlas" multimedia journey of our planet and combines stunning perspectives of Earth from space with Williams' original and eclectic score. NASA's cryospheric scientist, Dr. Shuman joined Williams on Earth Day to give a first-hand look at a changing Antarctica. Dr. Shuman discussed what it is like to work in such a difficult and rewarding place as Antarctica and showed how the polar regions can affect our Earth's climate system. Viewers had the opportunity to ask Williams and Shuman questions during the event.

Shin-Chan Han, Code 698.0, (now with JCET) was informed by the AGU geodesy section president that he has been selected for the 2009 Geodesy Section Award of the American Geophysical Union. The Geodesy Section Award is intended to honor young members (40 years of age or younger) of AGU's Geodesy Section who show the potential to become AGU Fellows in the future, but who are not yet Fellows. The Geodesy Section Award is given in recognition of major advances in geodesy. These advances can be in geodetic science, technology, applications, observations, or theory. A plaque will be awarded at the Geodesy Section Reception in San Francisco on December 15th, at which Han will be invited to describe highlights of his research.

This recent article from NASA discusses Einstein's theory of relativity and GEST/JCET's Erricos Pavlis' work with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) on the Laser Relativity Satellite (LARES): "A Snag in Space-Time".

Scott Boardsen, now with GPHI, had a paper, "Comparison of ultra-low-frequency waves at Mercury under northward and southward IMF", published on September 23, 2009 in Geophysical Research Letters.

GEST congratulates Shin-Chan Han, Code 698.0 (now with JCET) and Nickolay Krotkov, Code 613.3 on receiving Robert H. Goddard Honor Awards, and Wayne Kasprzak, Code 699.0 on receiving a Robert H. Goddard Merit Award. Dr. Han and Dr. Krotkov both will be presented with an Individual Award in the area of Exceptional Achievement for Science at the awards ceremony to be held on Tuesday, September 22nd at 10:00 am in the GSFC Building 8 Auditorium.

A paper by Hongbin Yu, Mian Chin, Lorraine A. Remer, Richard Kleidman, Nicolas Bellouin, Huisheng Bian (now with JCET), and Thomas Diehl titled "Variability of marine aerosol fine-mode fraction and estimates of anthropogenic aerosol component over cloud-free oceans from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)" was published in May 2009 in J. Geophys. Res., 114, D10206, doi:10.1029/2008JD010648.

From Code 698, Shin-Chan Han (now with JCET), Erwan Mazarico and Frank Lemoine are co-authors of a paper, "Improved nearside gravity field of the Moon by localizing the power law constraint", which was recently submitted to Geophysical Research Letters, and for which only minor revisions have been requested prior to publication.

A paper by Scott Boardsen (now with GPHI), Brian Anderson, Mario Acuña, James Slavin, Haje Korth, and Sean Solomon is being published this week in GRL: "Narrow-band ultra-low-frequency wave observations by MESSENGER during its January 2008 flyby through Mercury's magnetosphere", Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L01104, doi:101029/2008GL036034 (2009).

The GEST Center
Address at UMBC
Address at NASA GSFC

The GEST Center

In 2000, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) awarded a Cooperative Agreement to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, to create a center of excellence in the Earth sciences. Through this arrangement, UMBC and its partners - Hampton University, Howard University, Caelum Research Corporation, and Northrop Grumman Corporation - developed collaborative research programs in all areas of the Earth sciences. This consortium between government, university and private industry not only provided a secure "home" for Earth scientists, but also synergistically fostered new directions in research and technology. This Cooperative Agreement operated until May 10, 2011.

Besides full-time research staff, GEST facilitated short-term collaborations through a visitors program, and a visiting fellows program, which were discontinued at the conclusion of the GEST cooperative agreement. In addition, GEST assisted with GSFC's education and outreach mission by managing summer internship programs for promising students in the Earth and information sciences. These summer programs are now being managed by JCET.

GEST at University of Maryland Baltimore County

Mailing Address:
GEST Center
5523 Research Park Drive, Suite 320
Baltimore, MD 21228

Telephone:
410 455 8812
Fax:
410 455 8806

Administrative Staff Located at UMBC:
Raymond Hoff, Mary Dawson, Danita Eichenlaub, Cathy Manalansan, Kevin Mooney and Margo Young

GEST at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Mailing Address:
GEST Center
Mail Code 610.6
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771

Telephone:
301 286 4403
Fax:
301 286 0574

Staff Located at GSFC:
Valerie Casasanto and Brizjette (Brie) Lewis

Satellite Observation of Biomass Burning Emission
Student: Biebele Abel, Morgan State University, MD
Mentor: Dr. Charles Ichoku

Analysis and Modeling of Sea-Level Variability in the Chesapeake Bay using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS)
Student: Brittany Bruder, Georgia Institute of Technology, GA
Mentor: Dr. John Moisan

Estimating Stratospheric and Tropospheric BrO columns using Ozone Monitoring Instrument
Student: Sunny Choi, Georgia Institute of Technology
Mentor: Dr. Joanna Joiner

Rain Rate Estimation with a Dual-Frequency Airborne Doppler Radar
Student: Tao Chu, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, MA
Mentor: Dr. Lin Tian

Snowmelt Runoff modeling in the Tamor River Basin in the eastern Nepalese Himalaya
Student: Prajjwal Panday, Clark University, MA
Mentors: Dr. Molly Brown

Satellite-Based Estimation of Impervious/Pervious Land Cover Percentage of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Student: Sarah Smith, Eastern Michigan University, MI
Mentors: Dr. Eric Brown de Colstoun

Satellite Characterization and Modeling of Dust Transport from the Copper River Valley, Alaska
Student: Robert Velarde, University of Texas at El Paso, TX
Mentors: Dr. Santiago Gassó

Meteorological and Environmental Indicators in Seasonal Influenza Transmission
Student: David O. Roberts, Hobart and William Smith Colleges (NY)
Mentors: Dr. Radina Soebiyanto and Dr. Richard Kiang

Hurricane Induced Sea Surface Temperature Changes
Student: Kamila Wisniewska, Hunter College/CUNY
Mentors: Dr. S. Daniel Jacob and Dr. Paolo de Mattheis

Satellite Based Method for Estimating Impervious Land Cover in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Student: Gilman R. Ouellette, Pennsylvania State University and Sarah Smith, Eastern Michigan University
Mentor: Dr. Eric Brown de Coulston

Updated Comparisons between Ground Radar and Satellite Precipitation Radar at Melbourne, Florida
Student: Derek Podowitz, Georgia Institute of Technology
Mentor: Dr. Robert Meneghini

Making NASA Precipitation Information Accessible to the Public
Student: Amanda DePasquale, University of Delaware
Mentor: Dr. Ana Prados

Andean Tropical Glacier Extent from Landsat Imagery
Student: Katherine A. Melocik, UMBC
Mentors: Dr. Daniel Slayback

To log into the Blackboard community, you need to know your my.umbc.edu password. This is the same password that you use to access your UMBC web mail, submit your UMBC Faculty Annual Report and submit travel requests.

You login by going through the Blackboard site (a direct link to the community does not work consistently, unfortunately). The URL for Blackboard is http://blackboard.umbc.edu.  The resulting page looks like this, with a big button that you click to initiate the login process.

When you click the login button, you will be redirected to the my.umbc.edu login page, which looks like this.

After you pass the login authorization, you will be taken back to the Blackboard page.

One of the blocks of information on that page is titled "My Organizations" and should contain a link to the Goddard Earth Sciences & Technology Center. It will look something like below.

Alternatively, you can click the "Community" red tab at the top of the page and then select GEST from that page.

When you have entered the Community page, you will see any announcements and (currently) four buttons on the left side that link to "Announcements," "Submission Log," "Information," and "Staff Information."  Explore and discover the information available to you!

If you have any questions about accessing the Community on the UMBC Blackboard, please contact Amy Houghton at amyh@umbc.edu or 410-455-5996.

This page is intended for GEST faculty and staff only. Here faculty members and staff will find answers to the most commonly asked questions about day-to-day procedures for working at GEST and UMBC.

In 2007, we fully migrated these resources to the secure Blackboard UMBC site. Please login to the GEST Blackboard Community tab (use your myUMBC login and click the Community tab). You should check there first for the most recently updated information. (Click here for Information on how to access the Blackboard web site.)

Graduate Student Summer Program in Earth System Science (GSSP)

If you would like to access the alumni project reports (available as PDF files), please use the following links:

2010 reports: http://gest.umbc.edu/student_opp/2010_gssp_reports.html
2009 reports: http://gest.umbc.edu/student_opp/2009_gssp_reports.html
2008 reports: http://gest.umbc.edu/student_opp/2008_gssp_reports.html
2007 reports: http://gest.umbc.edu/student_opp/2007_gssp_reports.html
2006 reports: http://gest.umbc.edu/student_opp/2006_gssp_reports.html
2005 reports: http://gest.umbc.edu/student_opp/2005_gssp_reports.html
2004 reports: http://gest.umbc.edu/student_opp/2004_gssp_reports.html
2003 reports: http://gest.umbc.edu/student_opp/2003_gssp_reports.html

Summer Institute in Earth Sciences

If you would like to access the SIES alumni project reports (available as PDF files), please use the following link:

2010 reports: http://gest.umbc.edu/student_opp/2010_sies_reports.html
2009 reports: http://gest.umbc.edu/student_opp/2009_sies_reports.html

UMBC Graduate Student Fellowships

Comparison of the NASA GEOS-5 Model to MPLNET Aerosol Data
Student: Bryon Baumstarck, Rocky Mountain College
Mentor: Dr. Peter Colarco

Algorithms for Spaceborne Weather Radar
Student: Anuraj Chakraborty, UMBC
Mentor: Dr. Robert Meneghini

Driving Forces Behind Himalayan Glacial Melt
Student: Brandon Cottom, UMBC
Mentor: Dr. Eric Wilcox

An Observational Study of the Connection between Boundary Layer Structure and Precipitation in the U.S. Great Plains
Student: Melissa Dawson, University of Oklahoma
Mentor: Dr. Andrea Molod

Assessing the Accuracy of Land Cover Estimates for Earth Satellite Applications
Student: Ryan Max, UMBC
Mentor: Dr. Eric Brown de Colstoun

Satellite Remote Sensing of Aerosols: Factors That Affect Smoke Plume Injection Heights
Student: Catherine May, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Mentor: Dr. Charles Ichoku

Correlation of AIRS CO and MODIS AOD over the Northern Hemisphere from June-August 2008
Student: Kiran Quaraishi, UMBC
Mentor: Dr. Allen Chu

NLDAS Drought Monitors: Precipitation Deciles and the Palmer Drought Severity Index
Student: Vishana Ramdeen, Rutgers University
Mentor: Dr. David Mocko

Comparison of Satellite-Based Ocean Heat Content Estimates with Argo Measurements
Student: Brian Young, IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis)
Mentors: Dr. Paolo de Matthaeis & Dr. Daniel Jacob

Analysis of Errors Associated with the Estimation of Smoke Emission Rates from
Satellite Fire Radiative Power Measurements over North America
Student: Karandana Dharshana, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Mentor: Dr. Charles Ichoku

Atmospheric Transport of Patagonian Dust and Its Influence on Marine Biological Activity in the South Atlantic Ocean
Student: Matthew Johnson, North Carolina State University
Mentor: Dr. Santiago Gasso

Phenology-Climate Dynamics in Response to Changes in Land and Water Use Practices in Central Asia
Student: Jahan Kariyeva, University of Arizona
Mentor: Drs. Marc Imhoff and Lahouari Bounoua

Impact of High Resolution Land Surface Initialization on Convection along the Sierra Madre Occidental
Student: Wendi Kaufeld, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Mentors: Dr. Christa Peters-Lidard

Hydrologic Modeling of the Rio Grande Basin
Student: Prakash Khedun, Texas A&M
Mentors: Dr. John Bolton

Southwestern U.S. and Northwestern Mexico Dust Storm Modeling Trough Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Data: A Machine Learning Perspective
Student: Pablo Rivas-Perea, University of Texas, El Paso
Mentors: Dr. James Tilton

Contribution of Aerosol-Cloud-Vegetation Interactions to the Hydrological Cycle during the Amazonian Biomass Burning Season
Student: John TenHoeve, Stanford University
Mentors: Dr. Lorraine Remer

California Heat Waves: Are Observations Enough? How Can Models Help?
Student: Aude Valade, University of California, Davis
Mentors: Dr. Joe Santanello

Jamaica's Mid-Summer Dry Spell
Student: Teddy Allen, East Carolina University
Mentor: Dr. Guojun Gu

Using MODIS Observations to Study Glaciation Level
Student: Amalia Anderson, Michigan Tech.
Mentor: Dr. Alexander Marshak

Analyzing an Artificial Neural Network Clustering Approach for Precipitation: The Self Organizing Feature Map
Student: Ali Behrangi, University of California, Irvine
Mentor: Dr. George Huffman

A Dimensional Case Study of Wind Profile Effects on a Florida Cirrus Anvil
Student: Nicole Hastings, University of Wyoming
Mentors: Dr. Gerald Heymsfield and Dr. Lin Tian

Moisture Sources for the 2008 Midwest Floods
Student: Josh Hatzis, North Illinois University
Mentors: Dr. Oreste Reale

The Inter-Annual Variability of Biomass Burning in North America: MODIS Observation and Meterological Impacts
Student: David Peterson
Mentors: Dr. Lorraine Remer and Dr. Jun Wang

Effects of Aerosol Mixing State on Black Carbon Concentrations in GISS ModelE
Student: Jessica Sagona
Mentors: Dorothy Koch (GISS) and Susanne Bauer

Global Landslide Hazard Assessment: From Rainfall Products to Model Validation
Student: Dalia Bach, Columbia University
Mentors: Drs. Bob Adler and Yang Hong, Laboratory for Atmospheres

Simulating West African Squall Lines with the GCE-PLACE Model: Influences of Surface Fluxes Near the Land-Ocean Transition
Student: Marcia DeLonge, University of Virginia
Mentors: Dr. Wei Kuo-Tao and Steve Lang, Mesoscale Modeling Branch,
Dr. Karen Mohr (visiting from University at Albany, SUNY)

Validation of NWS Stage IV Multi-Sensor Precipitation Estimates (MPE) in the Mid-Atlantic Region
Student: Boone Larson, Louisiana State University
Mentor: Dr. Ali Tokay, Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Branch, and Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology

Analysis of Aerosol Properties Derived from MODIS, AERONET, and Shipborne Measurements During AEROSE Field Campaigns
Student: Tamil Maldonado-Vega, Howard University
Mentor: Dr. Allen Chu, Climate and Radiation Branch

Bombay Plume Transport, Structure and Microphysical Interactions Over the Arabian Sea during Indian Winter Monsoon
Student: Andrew Martin, Florida State University
Mentors: Drs. William Lau and Kyu-Myong Kim, Laboratory for Atmospheres, Climate and Radiation Branch

Coastal Ocean Air-Sea CO2 Flux Measurements from an Autonomous Research Vessel
Student: Philip Orton
Mentor: John Moisan, NASA Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory

An Introduction to Meteorological Forcing of Ocean Color in the South Atlantic Bight
Student: Lauren Urban
Mentor: Dr. Amelia Colarco, Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Branch, and Goddard Earth Sciences Technology Center

Comparisons of Carbon Monoxide Measurements using Aircraft and Model Data
Student: Partha Sarathi Bhattacharjee
Mentor: Dr. Joanna Joiner, Laboratory for Atmospheres

Barotropic Instability of the African Easterly Jet and its potential for development
Student: Marangelly Fuentes
Mentor: Dr. Oreste Reale, Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center (GEST)

Use of ICESat altimeter data for ocean monitoring: An Evaluation
Student: Oscar Garcia
Mentor: Dr. Daniel Jacob, Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center (GEST)

Improved Calibration of Electric Field Instrumentation
Filter and Amplifier Characterization
Student: Mauricio Garrido
Mentor: Dr. Robert Pfaff, Laboratory for Solar & Space Physics

Simulation of terrestrial water storage dynamics in Illinois using the Community Land Model augmented with a model of an unconfined aquifer
Student: Lindsey E. Gulden
Mentor: Dr. Matthew Rodell, Hydrological Sciences Branch

Improving simulations of the convective boundary layer in and around Oklahoma City using the coupled WRF-LIS system
Student: Kodi L. Nemunaitis
Mentor: Dr. Christa Peters-Lidard, Hydrological Sciences Branch

Estimating carbonaceous aerosol emissions from forest fires in North American boreal forests in July 2004
Student: Mariya (Shcherbyna) Petrenko
Mentor: Dr. Mian Chin, Laboratory for Atmospheres

Investigating Gravity Wave Effects on Cirrus Clouds using a One Dimensional Cirrus Cloud
Student: Tamara Singleton
Mentor: Dr. David O'C Starr, Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Branch

GSSP Students based at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), New York, NY

Climate change scenarios for the New York City Watershed
Student: Andreea Ira
Mentor: Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig, NASA GISS

The effect of solar cycle modulation on the Northern hemisphere sea level pressure variability
Student: Ambarish V. Karmalkar
Mentor: Dr. Drew D. Shindell, NASA GISS and Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University, New York

Investigating Climate Forcings Recorded in Tropical Ice Cores
Student: Natalie Kehrwald
Mentor: Dr. Gavin Schmidt, NASA GISS