Biographies

Michael King
Senior Research Scientist, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder

Contact Information:
Phone: 303-492-8099
Email:

Biography:
Michael D. King is Senior Research Scientist in the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado. He previously served as Senior Project Scientist of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) from 1992 to 2008. He joined Goddard Space Flight Center in January 1978 as a physical scientist, and previously served as Project Scientist of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) from 1983-1992.

He was Team Leader of the MODIS science team on Terra and Aqua from 2009 to 2022. As a team member, he also led the development of 5 science algorithms being run routinely to process MODIS data: (i) cloud optical properties component of the MODIS cloud product, a level-2 algorithm for determining cloud optical thickness and effective particle radius of both liquid water and ice clouds, and level-3 combined atmosphere products at 1° x 1° latitude/longitude resolution, averaged over (ii) a day, (iii) eight days, and (iv) a month, and (v) a joint atmosphere level-2 product with the most important atmosphere properties sampled every 5-10 km to reduce the size of this data product for ease of use globally.

Dr. King's research experience includes conceiving, developing, and operating multispectral scanning radiometers from a number of aircraft platforms in field experiments ranging from Arctic stratus clouds to smoke from the Kuwait oil fires and biomass burning in Brazil and southern Africa. He has lectured on global change on all seven continents.

He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), recipient of the Verner E. Suomi Award of the AMS for fundamental contributions to remote sensing and radiative transfer, Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and recipient of the Space Systems Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) for NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) Team.

He has authored over 100 papers published in refereed scientific journals, in addition to editing 1 Book (Our Changing Planet: The View from Space), 5 Scientific Documents, and 26 book chapters.