+ Earth Observing System > Who's Who > EOS Project Scientists > James R. Irons

EOS Project Scientists

Dr. James R. Irons

Code 614.4
Goddard Space Flight Center
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Greenbelt, MD 20771
USA

Phone: (301) 614-6657
Fax: (301) 614-6695
Email: james.r.irons@nasa.gov

Dr. James R. Irons is the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) Project Scientist and has also served as the Landsat 7 Deputy Project Scientist since 1993. He is a physical scientist in the Biospheric Sciences Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where he has worked since 1979. Dr. Irons received his B.Sc. degree in environmental resources management in 1976 and the M.Sc. degree in agronomy in 1979 from the Pennsylvania State University. He received his Ph.D. degree in agronomy in 1993 from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Irons conducts research on the process of light scattering by land surfaces, particularly soils, and on the application on multi-angle observations to the characterization of land cover. He served as the instrument scientist for the airborne Advanced Solid-State Array Spectroradiometer (ASAS) since 1987. This instrument acquired multi-angle, hyperspectral data in support of numerous field experiments for over ten years. Dr. Irons participated as a principal investigator in the First ISLSCP Field Experiment (FIFE) and the Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) where ASAS data were used to characterize the bidirectional reflectance characteristics of grass and boreal forest canopies.