OPA Recipients

At the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), Hazel Bain’s leadership, expertise, and enthusiasm have helped shape the nation’s understanding of space weather impacts on aviation and the strategies necessary to mitigate them. In September 2022, Bain helped lead SWPC’s inaugural Space Weather Prediction Testbed Experiment (SWPT), a key component of the recently-released Space Weather Research-to-Operations and Operations-to-Research Framework published by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Recognizing the importance of collaboration during the ambitious event, Bain ensured the experiment incorporated contributions from the airline industry, SWPC, NASA, model developers, international partners, and others. The successful, multi-day event was a key step in both improving space weather products in support of global aviation and improving flight safety by mitigating impacts to aircraft systems and passenger health during space weather storms.

Maxwell Holloway’s impressive skills in hardware design, CAD, mechanical fabrication, assembly and modification, as well as his extensive knowledge and skill in electronics have propelled the group’s instrument development and field campaign successes. Holloway was integral to the design, modification, and implementation of the latest generation of 2-axis mirror scanner system for the MicroDop doppler LiDAR system. He served as lead engineer in uploading and installing research systems for several recent field campaigns including the California Fire Dynamics Experiment, SUNVEx, and SITE. His excellent coordination with external collaborators has resulted in rich data set used to better understand wildfire behavior, and the PUMAS platform is now a model for other research entities.

For scientific achievement in the design and implementation of the complex Atlantic Tradewind Ocean-atmosphere Mesoscale Interaction Campaign

for the scientific development, demonstration, and technology transfer of a one- to two-week forecast of fire weather potential—an agency first

For implementing a repeatable process to certify scientific data services as trusted sources of information to the international community.

for high-impact work communicating—with the scientific community and the general public—how the cryosphere is changing and why it matters

For the successful transition and award of $553 million High Performance Computing Integrator contract 3 months ahead of schedule with no protests.

For innovative engineering and science approach that avoided $28M in repair cost to deliver NOAA instruments to Metop-C to improve weather forecast.

For changing our understanding of urban and wildfire ozone formation and resulting “air quality impacts”

For redesigning the Chemical Sciences Laboratory website and orchestrating excellent use of ESRI “Story Maps” in support of the 5-year laboratory review.

Kai-Lan Chang, Owen Cooper, and Audrey Gaudel (NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory) and Irina Petropavlovskikh (NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory) initiated the Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report (TOAR), a research activity in the framework of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) project. TOAR a) produced the first tropospheric ozone assessment report based on the peer-reviewed literature and new analyses, and b) generated easily accessible data on ozone exposure and dose metrics at hundreds of measurement sites around the world, helping with research on the global-scale impact of ozone on climate, human health and crop/ecosystem productivity. The team’s work has resulted in many high-impact publications and has greatly improved our knowledge of tropospheric ozone trends as it relates to climate change and health impacts.

Hazel Bain, Ratina Dodani, Mariangel Fedrizzi, Dominic Fuller-Rowell, Kiley Gray, Jeff Johnson, and Ben Rowells, (NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center) spent 12 months developing and then putting into operation a suite of space weather models for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), part of the United Nations. Thanks to the team’s dedication and hard work, the model system became operational in a remarkably short time, serving the international commercial airline industry with enhanced space weather predictions and communications. CIRES/SWPC was the only U.S. contributor to ICAO global space weather framework, and the effort earned praise from other centers and the broader ICAO organization

Arnaud Chulliat and the rest of the geomagnetism team (Patrick Alken, Nir Boneh, Brian Meyer, Manoj Nair, Jesse Varner, and Adam Woods) provided exemplary service to an enormous community of users worldwide by updating the World Magnetic Model (WMM) in an unexpected, out-of-cycle release more than a year before the next scheduled update was planned. This was a critical update for many users including the U.S. military, NATO, commercial aviation, search and rescue professionals, and in other sectors that rely on precision navigation, especially in the far North.

During her short time at NOAA, Caroline Womack has tackled a series of diverse, complex experimental and scientific challenges. The resulting advances are foundational and will ultimately provide the NOAA/CIRES community with new experimental methods and new ways of thinking about future research. These advances include: 1) A methodology for the measurement of broadband aerosol extinction, a challenging project with potential for the next generation of instruments in this field; 2) An innovative modeling framework for understanding wintertime aerosol pollution that may lead to reconsideration of particulate matter mitigation strategies in polluted regions worldwide; and 3) a careful investigation of current instrumentation for measurements of speciated reactive nitrogen. Her many contributions in a very short period are new and innovative and have potential to alter the direction of their fields.

Andrew Clark designed and built a new meteorological system for NOAA’s atmospheric baseline observatory network, after consulting extensively with partners around the world to ensure he understood their data needs. The system is exceeding all expectations, setting up the science community with higher-resolution, more accurate data. Clark’s new data logger and software design allow researchers to view data in near real-time at 1-min intervals, and his incorporation of heated sonic anemometers increased not only accuracy of wind measurements, but has improved safety—eliminating the need for technicians to climb towers in the dead of winter to remove daily frost.

Importantly, improved meteorological measurements and data access support operations as well as science. In American Samoa, for example, new-and-improved meteorological data went into the official storm report for Tropical Storm Gita, helping forecasters and leadership make critical decisions about continuity of operations plans at the federal level.

According to a letter submitted by a NOAA partner in Hawaii: “His contribution …  has improved the access of obtaining meteorological data for both NOAA and cooperative research staff and translates to saving both time and money in our organization.”

Brian McDonald has done cutting-edge work to improve scientific understanding of how human activities affect air quality. McDonald’s inventory development and analyses have improved the way scientists and policy makers consider impacts of various sources of pollutants. His nominated research included assessments of nitrogen oxide emissions in a Utah oil and gas basin, and volatile organic compound emissions in the Los Angeles region. In both areas, he has been able to elegantly combine emissions estimates, atmospheric observations, and models to provide insight into air quality challenges with important human health considerations. McDonald’s work has also inspired new fields of research. He finds, for example, that indoor emissions (eg, from consumer products) can have substantial effects on outdoor particulate matter levels; that discovery is inspiring new lines of research at NOAA and beyond.

According to a letter from an internationally recognized scientist who supported McDonald’s nomination: “In summary, Dr. McDonald’s research has had a major impact on atmospheric science and environmental policy...he’s well on his way to becoming a true leader in air quality and atmospheric chemistry research.”

were part of a team in NOAA’s Physical Sciences Laboratory recognized with a Department of Commerce Gold Medal in 2016. Compo, Sardeshmukh and McColl and NOAA’s Jeff Whitaker created the 20th Century Reanalysis, a pioneering reconstruction of global weather and extremes using only surface pressure observations. The Department of Commerce's Gold Medal recognizes distinguished performance characterized by extraordinary, notable, or prestigious contributions, but it can only be used to recognize federal employees. CIRES awards CIRES Gold Medals for team members critical to award-winning work.

in NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, won for their development of a 5-day tutorial in coastal digital elevation modeling for tsunami preparedness, which took place  at the University of Victoria in Canada. Development of this tutorial was an extensive effort as Carignan and Love had to create it from scratch and communicate complex technical procedures in a short amount of time. Their course covered a challenging scientific issue, the modeling of tsunami waves: Tracking powerful, landward-moving waves involves a sophisticated integration of both land-based topographic data and ocean-based bathymetric data into one seamless data set. The workshop participants, who discovered the extremely complex, detailed, and time-consuming task of this process, gave Carignan and Love outstanding reviews for the training.

In one letter of support, a Canadian ocean sciences leader wrote: “I strongly believe that the work from Matt and Kelly was the critical element needed to forge collaborations between Canada and United States on tsunami safety and preparedness matters.”

in NOAA’s Physical Sciences Laboratory, won for leading the development of the 20th Century Reanalysis. Compo initiated the original idea behind the reanalysis (i.e., a reanalysis that relied only on surface pressure records and thus could extend back more than 100 years) and then managed and curated the large undertaking of creating of the reanalysis itself. This effort has inspired creation of a similar effort at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and thus has been international in its level of impact and influence.

“Gil had the vision to see the need for a long, consistent climate record, the imagination to see that weather forecasting techniques could be useful even when observations were few and far between, the commitment to assemble the enormous resources required to implement the idea, and the generosity to involve everyone who became fascinated along the way,” his nominator wrote.

in NOAA’s Global Systems Laboratory won for their development of the SOS Explorer (SOSx), an adaptation of Science On a Sphere® displayed on flat screens for use in schools and other public venues. Their work, which went above and beyond expectations, involved software development and creation of accompanying educational resources—a package that one journalist lauded as “the ultimate desktop model of Earth.” SOS Explorer “literally puts the world at our fingertips,” the nominators wrote. The interactive system has the potential to ignite interest in the sciences and direct students toward STEM subjects.

NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory won for developing a new laser-based instrument to measure SO2 at extremely low mixing ratios relevant to the stratosphere. The instrument, built and deployed in record time, will enable better understanding of atmospheric sulfur chemistry and transport, which is critical to understanding the stratospheric aerosol layer, including impacts from geoengineering. The new instrument’s detection limit is 50-fold better than previous technologies and it is already is allowing investigation of science questions previously impossible to tackle. This project grew out of a 2013 CIRES Innovative Research Project.

in NOAA ESRL’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory, for his work measuring greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, and N2O) from airborne and ground-based mobile platforms, and for analysis to better understand the sources and implications of those emissions. Peischl has taken on increasingly responsible roles in CSL, moving from instrument lead to serving as de facto or actual principal investigator on several recent missions aimed at understanding the climate and air quality impacts of various types of activities: oil and gas development and agriculture, in particular.

in NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), for their work developing the Ground Processing System for the NOAA space weather satellite Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR). This team’s work saved the government $5 million and enables swift delivery of critical space weather data to diverse users: Power plant operators, air traffic controllers, satellite operators and precision GPS users in surveying, oil drilling, deep sea activities, and agriculture.

for coordinating and leading the instrumentation of NOAA’s WP-3D research aircraft for the very successful SENEX 2013 field study. Warneke’s own research on the roles of volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere as well as knowledge gained from the SENEX project have profoundly influenced the way scientists think about air quality and climate change.

for her superb work planning, coordinating, and managing the many events hosted by CIRES. Pendergrass’ never-ending enthusiasm for helping CIRES put its best foot forward leaves CIRES members and our visiting colleagues excitedly awaiting the next workshop, meeting, and other event.

are core staff members in the CIRES Western Water Assessment (WWA) who developed the WWA Intermountain West Climate Summary (IWCS) dashboard, an exceedingly useful tool for scientists, decision makers, and the public to access a large number of climate-related products in a single web site. The IWCS dashboard is at http://wwa.colorado.edu/climate/dashboard.html The WWA is an applied research program within CIRES that addresses societal vulnerabilities related to climate variability and change on all time scales, particularly in the area of water resources. A critical part of the WWA endeavor requires developing, testing, and implementing innovative approaches to the delivery of climate services. Since 2005, the IWCS has served as a test bed for assessing the delivery of climate services, and has helped inform national efforts within NOAA. Decision makers and stakeholders often have difficulty navigating the bewildering array of climate-related products that are available from federal, state, and local resources. The IWCS provides a collation of these products in a simple, compact format.

are CIRES Associate Scientists working in the ESRL/Global Monitoring Laboratory who created and refined three innovative and powerful software tools for scientists who routinely launch balloons carrying instruments that measure atmospheric composition.

has served as Executive Assistant to the Director of CIRES for 20 years. She has worked for Directors Kisslinger (Interim for Avery, 1yr.), Avery, Steffen, and Interim Director Lewis. All of these Directors have felt a strong appreciation for Yvonne’s ability to maintain a smooth and supportive working atmosphere in the Director’s office. She has wide knowledge of CIRES functions and of the University more generally. She has been an important anchor for the Director of CIRES throughout her time as Executive Assistant to the Director.

for his work putting black carbon emissions inventories for shipping on a sound scientific basis, which has had a major impact on policy decisions for regulation of international shipping. 

for his essential work mastering, maintaining, and teaching all things digital. The research of NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory requires multifaceted data collection, manipulation, and presentation, at which Aiken is an unparalleled expert. 

This team from ESRL Chemical Sciences Laboratory supported the NOAA P-3 science flights in June of 2010 over the Gulf of Mexico to assess the potential air quality risks posed by the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill crisis to workers/citizens in the Gulf and surrounding areas. The nominees made measurements of the highest scientific quality under stressful and high-stakes conditions, and conducted the mission with admirable care, professionalism and unselfishness. At the time of the incident, the nominees were engaged in an extensive field campaign in California. They stepped forward to take a hiatus from the California mission and flew across the country to carry out two science flights before successfully completing their original California mission. The nominees used a suite of complementary instruments on the aircraft to provide the much-needed preliminary analyses that showed health risks to workers in the oil spill area were not as great as originally feared. They demonstrated an innovative new approach for assessing future oil spills, and provided an accurate and independent estimate of the fluid leak rate from the ruptured oil well over a mile below the surface. This significant effort involved coordinating with the Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Health and Safety Administration to share data, compare analyses, and utilize the other agencies' complementary measurements to obtain a broader cross-section of the pollution effects arising from the oil spill. In addition, the team worked closely with petroleum engineers from BP and the federal government, and oceanographers from NOAA and academia to improve our collective understanding of the transport and removal of leaking fluid (oil and gas) in the water column and the atmosphere.

demonstrates strong leadership and initiative at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, bringing creativity and innovation to her numerous roles. She serves as science writer and editor for NSIDC's hugely visible Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis (ASINA) product, which provides a monthly scientific sea ice analysis that is picked up by news media worldwide. Katherine brought new energy and ideas and implemented a workflow and schedule that keeps the analyses flowing and getting published with minimum distraction to the scientists, solving a long-standing problem. She arranged for updates via Twitter, which has been enormously successful in communicating not only ASINA updates, but also other NSIDC science news. When a technical writer was required for the Antarctic Glaciological Data Center (AGDC) project, Katherine stepped in to fill the gap. Her outstanding writing support, detailed investigation into each data set, and her organizational skills all contribute to the success of the AGDC. Her work clearly advanced this project's service to its science community and helped secure ongoing funding for the project. Katherine has exceeded all expectations for her position and has supported her projects in ways that have visibly increased their success. She handles a very large, chaotic workload, produces incredibly tight turnarounds, and still finds time to help her peers and implement new ideas. Her scientific education and knowledge add quality to her products and make it easy for her to understand and work with her teams. She is a great organizer, making projects run more smoothly for everyone. On top of it all, she has a calm, friendly, and professional demeanor, which enhances the ability of NISDC to fulfill its mission.

are members of the CIRES Space Weather GOES-R Product Development Team and are nominated for CIRES Outstanding Performance Award in Science and Engineering for successful delivery of the Phase One Space Weather algorithms for R-series Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R). The purpose of these algorithms is to process raw space weather observations into data used to specify, analyze and forecast the space environmental conditions. To achieve their goals, the team members determined the product requirements and conducted the necessary research to define and produce the best algorithms. They followed the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) coding standards to produce pseudo-operational codes. Then they ensured their algorithms were functioning properly and accurately, and validated them against known standards. Finally, they proficiently documented the algorithms before delivering them to NESDIS. The team developed six major algorithms that fulfilled twenty-two top-level product requirements. They used cutting edge scientific procedures and technologies to produce better products in a more efficient manner. The products will provide NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center with data and tools to support its customers ranging from NASA and the U.S. Air Force to power companies and commercial airlines.
As a result of their exceptional commitment to this mission, NESDIS management praised the work done by this team as the best presentations and highest quality product deliverables of any of the more than thirty teams making up the GOES-R program. Moreover, the team members quickly became the experts that operations, management and other researchers go to for information on the GOES instruments, data and products.

Organizing the large quantities of data that CIRES scientists acquire is not a trivial task - and making that data intuitively searchable is even less so. However, the Searchlight team (MaryJo Brodzik, Brendan Billingsley, Julia Collins, Doug Fowler, Jonathan Kovarik, Donna Scott, Barbara O'Barr, Stephen Truex, Bruce Raup, Deann Miller) employed an uncommon focus of teamwork, technical innovation and simple hard work to create a new online interface and data system infrastructure for cryospheric data at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). This interface not only will improve the efficiency of research at CIRES, but will allow researchers around the world to access and interact with NSIDC data, ranging from sea ice concentration to albedo. The team broke new ground in working together in a unique way using the "Agile software development approach". While Agile development is nothing new to software engineering, it is absolutely new to NSIDC, and was initially thought to be too risky to try. Despite management's initial skepticism, the team's passion and enthusiasm swayed them to allow the experiment. The team worked effectively and efficiently together and with frequent input from stakeholders to develop a cutting edge, searchable data infrastructure scheme. The Searchlight team is exemplary of what puts CIRES at the forefront of environmental research: a passion for trying new approaches, an ability to constructively interact in a team, and an enthusiasm for making cutting edge data accessible for research both within and outside of CIRES.

is a CIRES Senior Research Scientist with the Water Cycle Branch at ESRL/PSD (Physical Sciences Laboratory). He has made outstanding contributions to scientific research on determining the properties of clouds and precipitation from millimeter wavelength radar. Over the last 19 years since he arrived in the United States, he has prolifically developed simple and elegant retrieval techniques that have formed the basis for an observational capability leading to an understanding of cloud microphysics and precipitation which have supported studies of climate, radiation balances, weather modification, hydrological cycles, and flood warning systems. In addition to creating a body of theoretical discipline, he has also supported his work with validation studies (comparing retrieved results to aircraft in-situ sampling) and inter-comparison studies (between different retrieval techniques and sensors) showing an ability to move the theory into the practical regime of application. He has served (and is serving) as a science team member for the CloudSat program, the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program and is recognized nationally and internationally. Besides his outstanding contributions in research, he also contributes to educational mentoring and advising as an adjunct faculty member at Colorado State University. He has also contributed significantly to the development of a cooperative program between NOAA and the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorological and Environmental Monitoring to develop a new International Observatory in Siberia.

ESRL/GML

is a CIRES Senior Research Scientist with ASAP (Advanced Sensor Application Program) Group at ESRL/PSD (Physical Science Division) and is a renowned authority on the theory of wave propagation in inhomogeneous and moving media. In recent years, he achieved a number of particularly remarkable scientific accomplishments, which demonstrate his initiative, resourcefulness and creativity. He has changed the course of research on two topical subjects both within and beyond CIRES and NOAA. He developed a theory of the so called “tsunami shadows,” i.e., changes in ocean surface roughness induced by tsunami waves, and proposed to use this phenomenon for tsunami detection from space.

in recognition of his sustained and impassioned personal commitment to science education in support of CIRES, the University of Colorado and his community. Mark demonstrated initiative and resourcefulness by organizing and participating in the kickoff celebration of "Ice Fest". 

developed a highly complex ingest, processing and analysis software system for a new series of GOES satellite and space weather instrument data. David and Kelvin were presented the complicated problem of developing software that could process new data in a new format from a new satellite that were coming in at a higher data rate through a new ground system. In the face of aggressive schedules and constant resource and integration challenges they successfully delivered an "operational" ready system for post-launch test. Their creativity, perseverance, and dedication resulted in successfully capturing the data so that scientists could analyze instrument performance during the 6-month post-launch test period. During the post-launch period they continued to work hand-in-hand with the scientists to modify processing algorithms in real time, and their software helped scientists identify and correct anomalies found in the new instruments. Their efforts are considered vital to the Space Environment Center mission of providing data to customers ranging from the U.S. Air Force and NASA to commercial airlines and power companies.

John Maurer’s ability to understand user needs and to write efficient and effective computer code has greatly benefited both the User Services Office and Systems Engineering Group at NSIDC over the past 6 years. The tools developed by John have significantly reduced the time it takes for User Services to respond to and enter all incoming user requests. His ability to quickly learn new programming languages and translate user needs into software requirements has made him a key component for the smooth operations of the Systems Engineering Group. He has served as lead developer on at least four major systems that are vital to NSIDC. His willingness to take on new challenges resulted in him volunteering to complete a stagnate project which now is now the popular NSIDC web site entitled "The Atlas of the Cryosphere." This web site demonstrated a Web Mapping service at NSIDC and incorporates numerous cryospheric datasets in an OGC compliant web client, as well as OGC compliant WMS, WFS, and WCS servers, serving the polar community. While maintaining a high-level of excellence in his full-time job, he was able to receive certification from a remote sensing course through PAOS and earn a Master’s Degree from the University of Colorado Geography Department. His commitment to improving both his knowledge base and technical skills along with his positive attitude and enthusiasm has immeasurably improved the level of service NSIDC has with its customers.

have done the seemingly impossible: Through their careful and collaborative engineering efforts over the last year, they have substantially increased the science payload on the NOAA P-3 research aircraft. This additional capacity would not have been realized without Bill and Craig’s innovative contributions, impressive engineering talent, and sustained hard work, and will permit new climate-relevant measurements of aerosol optical properties to be added to an already completely full aircraft without compromising the existing P-3 aircraft instrumentation suite. Bill and Craig suggested the existing electronics racks be replaced with a new light-weight design that would free sufficient payload weight to easily accommodate the new aerosol instruments. CIRES researchers will now be able to address new and pressing issues related to aerosol chemical processing, radiative forcing, and cloud-aerosol interactions.

created the International Multiproxy Paleofire Database (IMPD), one of the stellar contributions to the NOAA and CIRES climate objectives, and one of the most unique and highly-visible societal applications of the NOAA-CIRES partnership in 2005. The IMPD is a database of fire history data from tree rings and lake sediments documenting fire dating back thousands of years. The information contained in this database is key for understanding the long-term relationships between fire and climate. Michael successfully took on the challenge of structuring the database, designing a web page, and developing online data submission pages and search engines, tasks made more difficult by the fact that two unrelated types of data had to be combined into one web-based resource. He worked with the scientific community to locate and obtain high quality data. Michael has played a critical part in providing the broader scientific community with an extremely valuable resource.