Speakers
AbstractDr. Claire L. Parkinson
Senior Scientist and Aqua Project Scientist, Cryospheric Sciences Branch, and Senior Fellow, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Claire L. Parkinson has been a climatologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center since July 1978, with a research emphasis on polar sea ice and its connections to the rest of the climate system and to climate change. Since April 1993, she has additionally been Project Scientist for the Aqua satellite mission, which launched in May 2002 and is transmitting data on many atmospheric, oceanic, land, and ice variables from its suite of six Earth-observing instruments. Although most of her research has centered on the analysis of sea ice from satellite data and the role of sea ice in the global climate system, she has also developed a numerical model of sea ice, has done field work in both the Arctic and the Antarctic, and is the lead author of an atlas of Arctic sea ice from satellite data and a coauthor of two other sea ice atlases. In addition to her sea ice work and her Aqua Project Scientist role, she has co-authored a university-level textbook on climate modeling, has co-edited a book on satellite observations related to global change, and is lead editor of a Data Products Handbook for NASA's Earth Observing System. She has also written an introductory text on examining the Earth with satellite imagery and a book on the history of western science from 1202 to 1930. She speaks frequently to teacher and student groups regarding Earth sciences and satellite remote sensing.
Claire has a B.A. in mathematics from Wellesley College, where she was elected to both Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, and a Ph.D. in climatology from Ohio State University. She received in 2001 a NASA Exceptional Service Medal for her work in educational outreach, in 2003 a NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal for her work on the Aqua satellite mission, and in 2004 the Goldthwait Polar Medal from the Byrd Polar Research Center for her sea ice research (the first female recipient). In 2005, she became a Goddard Senior Fellow; and she is also a Fellow of both the American Meteorological Society and Phi Beta Kappa.
Links and Publications
http://neptune.gsfc.nasa.gov/...index.php?page=profile&pers_id=8
http://aqua.nasa.gov/
