In 2006, NASA led a field campaign to investigate the factors that control the fate of African easterly waves (AEWs) moving westward into the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Aircraft and surface-based equipment were based on Cape Verde's islands, helping to fill some of the data void between Africa and the Caribbean....
The underlying aim of my dissertation was to contribute knowledge that may better support and foster STEM education improvement initiatives at public research universities. The two research studies included in my dissertation advance knowledge per perspectives of key stakeholders targeted by initiatives attempting to foster change, students and faculty. In...
The atmospheric radiative transfer model MOCARAT was developed and is presented in this thesis. MOCARAT employs a Monte Carlo Technique for the accurate modeling of band radiances and reflectances in an atmospheric system with a ruffled ocean surface as a lower boundary. The atmospheric radiative transfer is modeled with consideration...
As climate change forces energy policy to incorporate environmental impacts and fuel diversification into the traditional model of energy security, finding ways to site, develop, and deliver renewable energy has taken on increasing importance across the United States. With no consistent federal framework to implement these changes, much of the...
While primary use of Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), various GNSS applications have emerged over the past decades that includes GNSS meteorology. GNSS meteorology is the remote sensing of the atmospheric constituents in the neutral atmosphere – mostly in the troposphere - using GNSS...
Uncertainties in general circulation model (GCM) representations of marine boundary layer (MBL) shallow cloud cover contribute substantially to the spread in model predictions of future climate. Further uncertainties in GCM output arise from an incomplete understanding of cloud-aerosol interactions. For example, the Fifth Assessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on...