ABSTRACT
Two NASA Goddard scientists developed the Backscattered Ultraviolet (BUV)
technique in the late 60s to measure stratospheric ozone from satellites. This
"curiosity driven research" ultimately changed the course of a multi-billion
dollar industry and affected the lives of everyone on this planet. Images of
Antarctic "Ozone Hole" produced by the TOMS instrument have become a well known
icon of environmental degradation caused by human activity. This technique has
also emerged as a powerful method to detect sulfur dioxide emissions from volcanoes
and to track long-range transport of particulate matter in the free troposphere
produced by biomass burning and desert dust. In the past decade development
of UV sensitive detector arrays has made it possible to measure trace gases
in the planetary boundary layer in the 100 part per trillion range. There are
plans to put similar instruments in the geostationary orbit as well as at L1
to measure sub-hourly changes in air quality at urban scale resolution. I will
discuss the history of this measurement technique and show results from the
Dutch-Finnish built OMI instrument that has been operating aboard NASA's Aura
satellite for more than 4 years.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKER
Dr. Pawan K. (PK) Bhartia is a Senior Staff scientist in the
Laboratory for Atmospheres at NASA Goddard. He serves as the
US Science Team Leader of the Ozone Monitoring Instrument
(OMI). Dr. Bhartia is an internationally known expert in
ultraviolet remote sensing of the Earth's atmosphere. He has
written over 75 scientific papers in this area and has been
recognized by NASA and international agencies for his
contributions to this field. He was a leading member of the
Ozone Processing Team that was responsible for producing ozone
products from the SBUV and TOMS instrument on NASA's Nimbus-7
satellite that was launched in September, 1978. Shortly after
the discovery by two British scientists that the ozone layer
over a station in Antarctica was rapidly thinning, Dr. Bhartia
presented the first scientific paper that showed that the
phenomenon, which subsequently came to be known as the
"ozone hole", covered almost the entire Antarctica continent.
Dr. Bhartia also pioneered the development of a technique to
make precise estimates of the cancer-causing ultraviolet
radiation that reaches the Earth's surface using satellite
data.
His current research interest is in measuring atmospheric
pollution from space that affects human health and global air
quality. He and his colleagues are working on developing
techniques to measure the constituents of the urban smog from
space, and in tracking inter-continental transport of these
pollutants.
Dr. Bhartia received his Ph.D. in Physics and MS in Computer
Science degrees in 1977 from Purdue University. Dr. Bhartia
joined NASA in Sepember, 1991. Prior to that he worked for
various aerospace companies in both technical and managerial
positions. He is the recipient of William Nordberg Medal and
Exceptional Scientific Achievement award from NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center and Outstanding Leadership Medal from NASA.
The TOMS project that he has led since 1991 received the 2006
William T Pecora group award given jointly by NASA and United
States Geological Survey (USGS).
oworking on developing
techniques to measure the constituents of the urban smog from
space, and in tracking inter-continental transport of these
pollutants.
Dr. Bhartia received his Ph.D. in Physics and MS in Computer
Science degrees in 1977 from Purdue University.
If you are attending the dinner, ADVANCED RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED FOR DINNER Please make your reservation by 4:00 PM, Monday 16 February 2009.
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED FOR DINNER (by 4:00 PM, Monday 16 February 2009) To make reservations or for more information, please contact:
Eric Shettle: shettle@nrl.navy.mil
(202) 404-8152 (W) or (301) 657-2825 (H)
Our following meeting is tentatively scheduled for: March 17th, 2009
Dr. Yoshi Ohno of NIST will talk on
"Photometric Standards and Solid State Lighting"
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