Anne R. Douglass NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Winner of the 2013 Nordberg Award

 
"An Information Avalanche: How UARS And Aura Observations Enlighten Chemistry Climate Models"

Instruments on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) made measurements of ozone and gases important to ozone in the stratosphere and mesosphere from 1991 until 2005. Instruments on the Earth Observing System Aura satellite, launched in 2004, expand the UARS suite and vertical extent of the measurements, with new information in the troposphere and lowermost stratosphere. Opportunities accompany this explosion of information, making it possible to develop the physical basis for a model to represent observed atmospheric processes. Challenges also emerge as comprehensive observations permit little leeway when comparing simulated and observed behavior. This talk will highlight discoveries from UARS and Aura, emphasizing their impact on models and the ongoing efforts to relate observational datasets to multi-decadal predictions.

Biographical Information

Anne R. Douglass is a Senior Scientist with the Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Laboratory (Code 614) at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD. She joined this group in 1981 and became a NASA employee in 1990. She is presently Project Scientist for Aura, the Earth Observing System (EOS) atmospheric chemistry mission that was launched in 2004. She was Deputy Project Scientist for the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) from 1993 – 2005 and Deputy Project Scientist for Aura from 1998 – 2008. Her research uses atmospheric constituent observations along with models to understand and predict the evolution of stratospheric ozone and other species that are important to ozone and climate. She is co-lead for the Goddard Earth Observing System Chemistry Climate Model (GEOSCCM), a three-dimensional model that couples a general circulation model with a representation of relevant stratospheric and tropospheric photochemical processes. She spent many years studying physics, obtaining a bachelor of arts degree from Trinity University in Washington DC in 1971 and a master of science in 1975 from the University of Minnesota. She began her career in atmospheric science and the use of satellite observations at Iowa State University, and received her PhD in physics in 1980. Dr. Douglass is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (1998) and the American Geophysical Union (2007). She received a NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 2009 and a NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal in 2012.

Return to Schedule