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EOS Project Scientists

Dr. David O'C Starr

Code 613.1
Goddard Space Flight Center
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Greenbelt, MD 20771
USA

Phone: (301) 614-6191
Fax: (301) 614-5492
Email: david.starr@nasa.gov

Dr. Starr received his Ph.D. degree in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University in 1982. He served as an assistant professor at Saint Louis University and at the State University of New York at Albany before joining the Climate and Radiation Branch of the Laboratory for Atmospheres at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in 1987. He became Head of the Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Branch at NASA GSFC in August 2000. The branch is composed of 23 civil servants and about 60 other scientists and support personnel.

Dr. Starr was co-Mission Scientist for the Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Layers - Florida Area Cirrus Experiment (CRYSTAL-FACE) in 2002, Mission Scientist for the 1996 joint AEAP/FIRE Subsonic Assessment: Contrail and Cloud Effects Special Study (SUCCESS), and Lead Scientist for the FIRE Cirrus Intensive Field campaigns in 1986 and 1991. He participated in other airborne measurement programs including the 1974 GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE) and NASA's TOGA-COARE mission in 1993. He served on the ad hoc science steering committee for the GEWEX Water Vapor Project (GVaP), the AMS Committee on Cloud Physics (1987-1992), and presently serves on the International Commission on Clouds and Precipitation (since 1996, elected Secretary in 2000). Dr. Starr chaired the GEWEX Cloud System Study (GCSS) Working Group on Cirrus Cloud Systems from 1995 to 2002, and organized three international workshops on cirrus cloud modeling (1997, 1999 and 2000). In 1998, he helped organize and served as general co-chair for the Optical Society of America Cirrus-98 Conference that produced a wide-ranging review of current knowledge of cirrus clouds. He has authored or co-authored more than 40 articles in the refereed literature and was awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1993 for his work to increase understanding of cirrus clouds and their effects in the climate system.

Dr. Starr has served as Validation Scientist for the NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) Project Science Office since 1995. He has organized various workshops and developed and manages the NASA EOS Validation Program (currently more than 30 investigations) in addition to working with the many EOS Instrument Science Teams and platform and discipline working groups. Among other activities, this involves coordination of airborne mission planning and various field experiments focused on validation of EOS data products, including 8 aircraft deployments for Aqua/AMSR-E validation in 2003. Dr. Starr developed and managed the review and selection process for two NASA Research Announcements for the EOS Validation Program (Terra/SAGE-III in 1996, and Aqua/EOS-Spectroscopy in 2000/2001) and continues to assist NASA Headquaters in reformulating the EOSValidation Program.