Phone: 608-263-4930
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Paul Menzel
University of Wisconsin
Biography:
Paul has participated in the design and test of spacecraft instrumentation for monitoring the earth-atmosphere system. Calibration of infrared sensors has been one of his specialties. He has been co-investigator on about thirty research proposals and author of many of these. Recent activities have centered on developing techniques for retrieving information regarding the three-dimensional temperature and moisture structure from infrared remote sensing. Investigations of cloud properties and associated rainfall have also been part of this work. Research has involved calculations of radiative transfer through the atmosphere, principle component analyses of statistical data sets, development of approximation algorithms with appropriate numerical stability criteria, and numerical integration and differentiation. Considerable experience with computers has been acquired.
Research Area:
"Cloud Properties, Atmospheric Stability and Total Ozone with MODIS"
As a member of the MODIS team, Paul is responsible for (1) participating in MODIS radiometric calibration, (2) establishing the MODIS ability to study cloud properties and the spectral longwave cloud forcing with its carbon dioxide sensitive channels, (3) developing techniques for determining atmospheric stability, water vapor greenhouse effects, and total ozone content with MODIS, and (4) participating in field campaigns to validate the MODIS radiances and derived products. This work is being performed in collaboration with Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Intercomparisons of MODIS and other available radiometric data are performed on the McIDAS (Man computer Interactive Data Access System). Algorithms for studying cloud properties with MODIS are being adjusted after comparisons with observations from CALIOP. An extensive study of clouds (heights, emissivities, and geographical coverage) and the conditions associated with their development is being performed with the MODIS data. A several year cloud climatology is emerging that maps the month-to-month variability of cloudiness on a global scale. Algorithms for generating temperature and moisture products describing atmospheric stability and estimating total ozone content from the MODIS data base have been adapted from the existing Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) and Television Infrared Observation Satellite Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) software.
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