EOS Project Scientists

Dr. Si-Chee Tsay

Si-Chee Tsay
Code 613.2
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD 20771
USA

Phone: (301) 614-6188
Fax: (301) 614-6307
Email: si-chee.tsay-1@nasa.gov

B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences from the National Taiwan University (Taipei, Taiwan) in 1977, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Alaska in 1982 and 1986, respectively. Joined Goddard Space Flight Center as a Physical Scientist in the Climate and Radiation Branch, Laboratory for Atmospheres, in August 1994. Visiting Scientist in the Universities Space Research Association, Goddard Space Flight Center, between 1990 and 1994, and Research Scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University (Fort Collins, Colorado) from 1986 to 1990. Appointed Adjunct Research Associate Professor at the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, 1992-1998, and Adjunct Professor at the Earth Systems Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland since 2002 and actively involved in M.S. and Ph.D. thesis advising. Member of the FIRE/CRYSTAL, EOS/MODIS/LandSat, ADEOS-I/II, DOE/ARM Science Team, NASA/ESTO Spectrometry / Data-Compressing Team and ONR/NASA Aerosol Science Teams, and currently, EOS/Terra deputy project scientist.

Authored over 50 papers published in refereed scientific journals, in addition to six scientific and technical reports. One paper has received frequent citations since its publication in 1990 for the review of absorption of solar radiation by clouds. Another heavily cited paper is the 1988 theoretical radiative transfer algorithm in multiple scattering and emitting layered media. It was also selected in the SPIE Milestone Series on Scattering in the Atmosphere. This radiative transfer code (DisORT) and other (e.g., STRATS, AeroMie, etc.) first-class computer codes are freely distributed and widely used by the scientific communities.

Besides theoretical developments in radiative transfer (1-D and 2-D), recent research experience includes science planning and operating multi-spectral scanning radiometers from aircraft platforms in field experiments to study aerosol, cloud and surface properties. Used the Cloud Absorption Radiometer and MODIS Airborne Simulator, onboard the University of Washingtons CV580 and NASA ER-2 aircraft, respectively, to aid in the development of atmospheric and land remote sensing and retrieval algorithms under NASAs Earth Science Enterprise and Earth Observing System projects. Deployed a suite of surface remote sensing instrumentation, spectrally ranged from UV to microwave (passive/pointing radiometers) and a micro-pulse lidar, for comparing/validating satellite measurements. Developing Leonardo concept and airborne simulator: a fleet of microsat clusters, each equipped with a compact, low-power, low-cost, Earth-viewing spectrometer, for formation flight in space. Actively participated in many national and international field experiments, to name a few: ASTEX (Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment) at Azores, Portugal, June 1992; SCARA[B] (Sulfate [Smoke], Cloud And Radiation - Atlantic[Brazil]) at Wallops Island, Virginia [Brazil], July 1993 [August-September 1995]; MAST (Monterey Area Ship Track experiment) at Monterey, California, June 1994; SUCCESS (SUbsonic aircraft Contrail and Cloud Effects Special Study) at the South Great Plain near Salina, Kansas, April-May 1996; FIRE-ACE (FIRE-Arctic Cloud Experiment) at Beaufort Sea, Alaska, May-June 1998; SAFARI (Southern Africa Fire-Atmosphere Research Initiative), southern Africa, August-September 2000; ACE-Asia (Aerosol Characterization Experiment Asia), eastern Asia, March-May 2001; and CRYSTAL-FACE (Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers Florida Area Cirrus Experiment), in the vicinity of southern Florida, July 2002.