 View CV (PDF) - last updated 5 Jul. 2007 View Publications (PDF)- last updated 5 Jul. 2007 |
David P. EdwardsSenior Scientist
MOPITT Group |
Current Research
The Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) Mission
 |
I am a NASA co-investigator and the NCAR Project Leader for the
MOPITT
instrument on the NASA
Terra
satellite, with management responsibilities for data processing, algorithm enhancement, data validation exercises and
coordinating science investigations.
|
Tropospheric Chemistry and Transport
My research concentrates on the scientific utilization of tropospheric remote sensing data with emphasis on the cross-scale combination of measurements from multiple satellite platforms, aircraft and ground-based stations.
Research interests:- Comparison of long-term global tropospheric CO and aerosol optical depth measurements made by the Terra satellite with the aim of characterizing the seasonal variations of sources and sinks of these important pollutants and quantifying inter-annual variability.
- Using satellite measurements of different ozone precursors and source indicators to examine tropospheric ozone chemistry and the observed geographical and seasonal variations in the tropospheric ozone distribution.
- Examining the long-range transport of pollution from intense emission sources, the effects of local and regional air pollution on the global atmosphere, and also the effects of global pollution on regional air quality.
- Assessing the role of wildfire and biomass burning in determining atmospheric pollutant loadings and examining the response to climate variations.
Satellite Remote Sensing Science
My experience in the field of satellite remote sensing for atmospheric chemistry and dynamics includes contributions at every mission stage: science driven concept, instrument design, authoring science algorithms for data reduction, and scientific utilization of the measurements.
Research interests:- Atmospheric radiative transfer theory and modeling for planetary atmospheres, spectral line shape theory and modeling and molecular spectroscopy. Development of new, efficient and accurate approaches for fast radiative transfer modeling for operational retrieval codes and climate models.
- Middle atmosphere non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) processes and the implications for remote sensing and climate modeling, chemistry and photochemistry, and radiation balance.
- I am author of the state-of-the-art general line-by-line radiative transfer model GENLN2. This is used widely in the community and has applications in trace gas retrieval, radiative forcing studies, molecular spectroscopy, instrument design, reference calculations and coefficient generation for operational models. A new edition of this model, GENLN3, will soon be available to the community.
Other Activities
MOPITT Support of the INTEX-B Field Campaign
MOPITT CO data are being assimilated into the MOZART chemical transport model to provide carbon monoxide and tracer forecasts to aid in the NASA INTEX-B field campaign flight planning.
The Community Workshop on Air Quality Remote Sensing from Space:
Determining an Optimum Observing Strategy
 |
I coordinated a Workshop held at NCAR, February 21-23 2006, titled
Air Quality Remote Sensing From Space: Defining an Optimum Observing Strategy (AQRS).
The organizing committee of this meeting was comprised of representatives from the different constituencies interested in air quality (AQ) remote sensing and
included David Edwards (NCAR), Philip DeCola (NASA HQ), Jack Fishman (NASA LaRC), Daniel Jacob (Harvard University), Pawan Bhartia (NASA GSFC),
David Diner (JPL), John Burrows (U. Bremen), and Mitch Goldberg (NOAA/NESDIS). The primary goal of this community meeting was an examination of
the key measurement characteristics that are required for the successful use of satellite remote sensing in measuring environmentally significant
pollutant trace gases and aerosols. It engaged over 150 scientists and AQ stakeholders from North America and Europe. The Workshop
provided an opportunity to develop a
community consensus
as to the priorities for future space-based AQ observations.
|
Geo-Stationary Remote Sensing of Air Quality
I am co-author of a whitepaper submitted to the NRC Decadal Survey charged with determining the priorities for the next round of missions for Earth Science and Applications from Space. This proposes a geo-stationary mission GeoTRACE to provide Earth's First Time Resolved Mapping of Air Pollution Emissions and Transport from Space (PDF Download).
A New NCAR Program in Satellite Remote Sensing
Observational capability for a large number of geophysical parameters on different spatial and temporal scales is an
important component of the integrated approach for meeting NCAR's Earth science goals and for serving the wider community needs.
A new program is under consideration by NCAR at an institutional level to build a multi-disciplinary cross-scale modeling framework,
the Satellite Observation Simulator and Assimilation System (SOSAS), to integrate diverse measurements through data assimilation with
the aim of providing a unified understanding and predictive tools.
SOSAS will be built on three important cornerstones of NCAR science: 1) satellite remote sensing instrument science and algorithm design;
2) Earth system modeling; and 3) data assimilation. On-orbit satellite observations help in the evaluation of Earth system models and enhance
predictive techniques through data assimilation. In turn, these studies identify inadequacies in current capability with respect to the
observed geophysical parameters and the measurement spatial and temporal resolution. To address these inadequacies, the modeling environment
provides a powerful tool for exploring how well hypothetical instrument simulators optimize the combination of potential observing strategies
with the driving science requirements. Such modeling experiments inform actual instrument definition. The SOSAS will be a versatile tool capable
of accommodating many applications related to OSSE activities, the combination of satellite remote sensing measurements, other measurements,
and model calculations. In the initial stages of the program, the design of the SOSAS will build around the specific science themes of air
quality, the global carbon cycle, and aerosols and climate. These are areas where we already have expertise and where the integration of
models and satellite observations using current and planned platforms should make a significant contribution to key environmental questions.
Whitepaper describing the SOSAS activity (PDF Download).