| ORCAS Lead-PIs |
Britton Stephens | NCAR Earth Observing Laboratory
Britt Stephens is a Scientist III in the Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL) of NCAR. Britt's research has focused on developing and deploying new instruments for tower, ship, and aircraft-based observations of atmospheric O2 and CO2, and on synthesizing data sets and models to elucidate global carbon cycle processes. The overall motivation for his work lies in our need to better understand how the Earth's biogeochemical systems, such as forests and ocean regions, respond to natural and human-induced perturbations, so that we may more accurately predict and more effectively mitigate future climate change.
Britt was a co-PI on the HIPPO project, which conducted a global survey of greenhouse and related gases using the NSF/NCAR HIAPER Gulfstream V, including several flights over the Southern Ocean. He has also measured atmospheric O2 from the NSF Antarctic Research ship L.M. Gould since 2012. Results and questions raised by these earlier studies were significant motivators for the ORCAS project. [...]
Matthew Long | NCAR Climate & Global Dynamics
Matthew Long is Scientist I in the Oceanography Section of the Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory at NCAR. The Southern Ocean has been a focus of Matt's research since his PhD work. This region mediates exchange between the atmosphere and deep ocean, and is therefore critical to understanding global climate and the carbon cycle.
Matt has worked as hydrologic engineer, developing hydraulic and water quality models for management of sewer networks and urban rivers, and spent two years teaching high school Physics in Tanzania, East Africa, as a volunteer in the United States Peace Corps. Presently, his research is focused on modeling marine ecosystems and ocean biogeochemistry in the context of the Community Earth System Model (CESM). Matt has particular interests in understanding the role of the ocean in the global carbon cycle, interactions between ocean physics and biology, and the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems. [...]
| ORCAS Co-PIs |
Ralph Keeling | Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Ralph Keeling is the current program director of the Scripps CO2 Program. He is also a Professor and the Principal Investigator for the Atmospheric Oxygen Research Group at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. [...]
As the lead scientist for the NOAA Earth System Research Lab Aircraft Program, Colm Sweeney’s focus is on overall program development. This includes overseeing the existing network of aircraft sites; developing new ways to ensure data quality, as well as easy access to the data; and developing new tools and platforms for collecting vertical profiles of CO2 and other trace gases throughout North America. These vertical profiles are an essential component of quantifying the net impact that the North American continent has on atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. [...]
Eric Kort | University of Michigan
Eric Kort is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan. The Kort group works on understanding contemporary and future levels of greenhouse gases and pollutants in the atmosphere by combining ground, airborne, and space-based observations with models probing scales from cities to the globe. On ORCAS, Eric is PI of the QCLS instrument measuring CO2, CH4, CO, and N2O, and also leads the atmospheric lagrangian transport modeling. [...]
Michelle Gierach's research interests include application of satellite observations, in-situ data, and model simulations to study biophysical interactions, ecosystem dynamics, air-sea interactions, ocean dynamics, atmospheric processes, and the oceans relation to climate variability. [...]
Elliot Atlas | University of Miami
Dr. Atlas' research interests are in the sources, transport, and transformation of atmospheric trace gases in the global atmosphere. This work has a primary focus on trace gases and aerosols associated with the formation and destruction of ozone in the atmosphere. The research involves development and application of advanced trace gas sampling and measurement techniques. His research group investigates the distributions and trends of a large variety of halocarbons (both natural and man-made), hydrocarbons, and photochemical oxidation products of these species (such as organic nitrates). The research extends from studies of sub-surface distribution of trace gases in the polar firn record to studies of urban and regional chemical distributions of short-lived tropospheric gases to measurement of halocarbons in the stratosphere up to 32 km altitude. The research platforms include tropospheric and stratospheric aircraft (C-130, P-3B, ER-2, WB-57), high altitude balloons, oceanographic research ships, and land and island-based experiments. [...]
| ORCAS Collaborators |
Carbon Cycle Instruments
Biogenic Reactive Gas Instruments
Remote Sensing Instruments
Aerosol and Cloud Microphysics Instruments
