Tamas Varnai
Research Associate Professor
| Phone |
301-614-6408
|
|---|---|
| varnai@umbc.edu | |
| Education |
Ph D, McGill University (1996)
Other, Eotvos Lorand University (1989)
|
About
Prior to joining UMBC in 1999, Dr. Varnai worked as researcher at the Hungarian Meteorological Service, and as postdoctoral fellow at McGill University and at the University of Arizona.
Research Interests
Dr. Varnai’s research aims at improving our ability to measure the properties of clouds and atmospheric aerosols from space, and to use satellite data for better understanding the impact of clouds and aerosols on the solar heating of our planet. He is particularly interested in the way the three-dimensional nature of atmospheric radiative processes affects satellite observations, and in understanding the way atmospheric particle populations change in the vicinity of clouds. His work involves analyzing data from satellite instruments such as MODIS or CALIOP and airborne instruments such as THOR or CAR, and combining the data with theoretical simulations of radiative processes.
Contracts, Fellowships, Grants, and Sponsored Research
Characterizing the impact of clouds and aerosols heterogeneity on satellite remote sensing and shortwave radiation budget SubContract (Not Funded) Sponsored by NASA
Deep space observations of Earth as an exoplanet control experiment Grant (Not Funded) Sponsored by NASA/Task 115 funds
Use of CALIOP data for understanding cloud-related variations in aerosol properties and aerosol radiative effects Grant (Currently Under Review) Sponsored by NASA
The 3D loud scanner CubeSat for Cloud and Aerosol Measurements Grant (Not Funded) Sponsored by NASA
MODIS and VIIRS aerosol properties in partly cloudy regions Grant (Funded) Sponsored by NASA
Characterizing ice clouds using EPIC observations of sun glint Grant (Currently Under Review) Sponsored by NASA
Intellectual Contributions
(2018) MISR radiance anomalies induced by stratospheric volcanic aerosols Remote Sensing
(2018) Satellite observations of cloud-related variations in aerosol properties Atmosphere
(2018) Scale dependence of cirrus heterogeneity effects. Part II: MODIS NIR and SWIR channels Atmos. Chem. Phys.
(2018) EPIC spectral observations of variability in Earth's global reflectance Remote Sensing
(2017) Observation-based study on aerosol optical depth and particle size in partly cloudy regions J. Geophys. Res.
(2017) Scale dependence of cirrus heterogeneity effects. Part I: MODIS thermal infrared channels Atmos. Chem. Phys.
(2017) Terrestrial glint seen from deep space: oriented ice crystals detected from the Lagrangian point Geophys. Res. Lett.
(2016) Testing the two-layer model for correcting near cloud reflectance enhancement using LES/SHDOM simulated radiances Journal of Geophysical Research
(2016) Radiative characteristics of clouds embedded in smoke derived from airborne multiangular measurements J. Geophys. Res.
(2015) Effect of cloud fraction on near-cloud aerosol behavior in the MODIS atmospheric correction ocean color product Remote Sensing
(2014) CALIPSO observations of near-cloud aerosol properties as a function of cloud fraction Geophys. Res. Lett.
(2014) Extending 3D near-cloud corrections from shorter to longer wavelengths J. Quant. Spect. Radiative Transfer
(2014) Near-cloud aerosol properties from the 1-km resolution MODIS ocean product Journal of Geophysical Research
(2013) Improvement of MODIS aerosol retrievals near clouds Journal of Geophysical Research
(2013) Shape-induced gravitational sorting of Saharan dust during transatlantic voyage: Evidence from CALIOP lidar depolarization measurements Geophysical Research Letters
(2013) Multi-satellite aerosol observations in the vicinity of clouds Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
(2012) CALIPSO observations of transatlantic dust: vertical stratification and effect of clouds Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
(2012) Cloud droplet size retrievals from zenith radiance measurements: examples from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program and the Aerosol Robotic Network Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
(2012) Effect of CALIPSO cloud aerosol discrimination (CAD) confidence levels on observations of aerosol properties near clouds Atmospheric Research
(2012) Taking the pulse of pyrocumulus clouds Atmospheric Environment
(2012) Analysis of co-located MODIS and CALIPSO observations near clouds Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
(2012) A variational method to retrieve the extinction profile in liquid clouds using multiple field-of-view lidar Journal of applied meteorology and climatology
(2011) Cloud Impact on Surface Altimetry From a Spaceborne 532-nm Micropulse Photon-Counting Lidar: System Modeling for Cloudy and Clear Atmospheres IEEE Trans. Geosci. Rem. Sens.
(2011) Implementation on Landsat data of a simple cloud mask algorithm developed for MODIS land bands IEEE Geosc. & Rem. Sens. Lett.
(2011) Global CALIPSO observations of aerosol changes near clouds IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Lett.
Presentations
2018 AGU Fall Meeting Poster Deep space observations of sun glint over oceanic regions American Geophysical Union Washington, DC (Dec 13, 2018)
2018 AGU Fall Meeting Oral Presentation Terrestrial glints seen from the Lagrangian point: Clouds vs. oceans American Geophysical Union Washington, DC (Dec 13, 2018)
2018 AGU Fall Meeting Oral Presentation Aerosol properties in partly cloudy regions American Geophysical Union Washington, DC (Dec 10, 2018)
2018 MODIS-VIIRS Science Team Meeting Oral Presentation Aerosol properties in partly cloudy regions NASA Silver Spring, MD (Oct 15, 2018)
NASA GSFC Climate and Radiation Lab Seminar Series Oral Presentation Characterizing ice clouds using EPIC observations of sun glint NASA Greenbelt, MD (Oct 10, 2018)
2018 DSCOVR Science Team Meeting Oral Presentation Characterizing ice clouds using EPIC observations of sun glint NASA Greenbelt, MD (Sep 18, 2018)
15th Conference on Atmospheric Radiation Oral Presentation Deep space observations of sun glint from oceans and from oriented ice crystals American Meteorological Society Vancouver, Canada (Jul 13, 2018)
15th Conference on Atmospheric Radiation Oral Presentation Earth's global reflectance spectral variability as observed by DSCOVR/EPIC Amerocan Meteorological Society Vancouver, Canada (Jul 9, 2018)
EGU General Assembly 2018 Oral Presentation Spectral variability in Earth's global reflectance as observed by DSCOVR/EPIC European Geosciences Union Vienna, Austria (Apr 12, 2018)
2018 Sun-Climate Symposium Oral Presentation Long-term variations in Terra/MISR angular radiance differences: Solar or aerosol influences on polar cloudiness? NASA Lake Arrowhead, CA (Mar 22, 2018)
Deep Space Gateway Workshop Oral Presentation Specular reflection of sunlight from Earth NASA Denver, CO (Feb 28, 2018)
AGU 2017 Fall Meeting Oral Presentation Deep space detection of oriented ice crystals American Geophysical Union New Orleans (Dec 14, 2017)
AGU 2017 Fall Meeting Poster Automatic detection of glints from ice clouds in DSCOVR observations American Geophysical Union New Orleans, LA (Dec 13, 2017)
AGU 2017 Fall Meeting Poster EPIC observations of the Earth’s global mean reflectance American Geophysical Union New Orleans, LA (Dec 13, 2017)
2017 DSCOVR Science Team Meeting Oral Presentation Deep space observations of oriented ice crystals NASA NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD (Oct 4, 2017)
2017 DSCOVR Science Team Meeting Oral Presentation EPIC spectral observations on the global mean and variability of Earth’s reflectance NASA NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD (Oct 4, 2017)
CERES Science Team Meeting Oral Presentation Aerosol properties in a cloudy world NASA NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD (Sep 27, 2017)
CERES Science Team Meeting Oral Presentation Deep space observations of oriented ice crystals NASA NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD (Sep 27, 2017)
2017 Joint Assembly Oral Presentation Variations in the Earth color and brightness as observed by DSCOVR/EPIC IUGG, IAPSO, IAMAS, IAGA Cape town, South Africa (Aug 29, 2017)
Climate and Radiation Laboratory meeting Oral Presentation Terrestrial glint from deep space Code 613, NASA GSFC Greenbelt, MD (Jul 13, 2017)
ICAP 2017: International Cooperative for Aerosol Prediction, 9th Technical Working Group Meeting: Radiative Transfer and Impacts of aerosol radiative forcing on Numerical Weather Prediction Oral Presentation Radiative transfer: From plane parallel to 3D Lille, France (Jun 27, 2017)
Clouds, their Properties, and their Climate Feedbacks: what have we learned in the satellite era? Oral Presentation Deep space observations of oriented ice crystals NASA New York City, NY (Jun 7, 2017)
A-Train Symposium 2017 Oral Presentation Aerosol properties in partly cloudy conditions NASA Pasadena, CA (Apr 21, 2017)
16th Electromagnetic and Light Scattering Conference Oral Presentation Specular reflection from oriented ice crystals observed from deep space College Park, MD (Mar 23, 2017)
2016 AGU Fall Meeting Oral Presentation Radiative characteristics of clouds embedded in and occurring beneath smoke using airborne multiangular measurements American Geophysical Union San Francisco, CA (Dec 15, 2016)
2016 AGU Fall Meeting Oral Presentation Characterizing the solar reflection from wildfire smoke plumes using airborne multiangle measurements American Geohysical Union San Francisco, CA (Dec 14, 2016)
2016 AGU Fall Meeting Poster Specular reflection from nearly horizontal ice crystals in EPIC data American Geophysical Union San Francisco, CA (Dec 13, 2016)
2016 AGU Fall Meeting Poster Variations in Earth brightness observed by EPIC American Geophysical Union San Francisco (Dec 13, 2016)
Scientific Meeting to Honor Gyorgy Major Oral Presentation Satellite measurements of atmospheric aerosols in the vicinity of clouds Hungarian Academy of Sciences & Hungarian Meteorological Service Budapest, Hungary (Sep 23, 2016)
Yoram Kaufman Memorial Symposium Oral Presentation Aerosol properties in partly cloudy conditions NASA GSFC Greenbelt, MD (Jun 23, 2016)
2016 MODIS/VIIRS Science Team Meeting Poster Application of an improved correction algorithm to MODIS aerosol retrievals NASA Silver Spring, MD (May 7, 2016)
2016 MODIS/VIIRS Science Team Meeting Oral Presentation MODIS and CALIPSO observations of aerosol properties in partly cloudy conditions NASA Silver Spring, MD (May 7, 2016)
2016 International Radiation Symposium Oral Presentation Testing the two-layer model for estimating cloud-induced clear sky reflectance enhancement using LES/SHDOM computed radiances International Radiation Commission Auckland, New Zealand (Apr 21, 2016)
2016 International Radiation Symposium Oral Presentation Cloud-related variations in aerosol properties observed by MODIS International Radiation Commission Auckland, New Zealand (Apr 20, 2016)
2016 International Radiation Symposium Oral Presentation Theory and possible applications of the spectrally invariant approximation International Radiation Commission Auckland, New Zealand (Apr 17, 2016)
CALIPSO-CloudSat Science Team Meeting Oral Presentation Effect of cloud fraction on near-cloud aerosol behaviors NASA Newport News, VA (Mar 2, 2016)
CALIPSO-CloudSat Science Team Meeting Poster Some technical aspects of a CALIOP and MODIS data analysis that examines near-cloud aerosol properties as a function of cloud fraction NASA Newport News, VA (Mar 1, 2016)
2015 AGU Fall Meeting Oral Presentation Radiative interactions of clouds embedded in wildfire smoke using multiangular airborne observations American Geophysical Union San Francisco, CA (Dec 18, 2015)
2015 AGU Fall Meeting Poster Effect of wildfires on surface reflectance from a savanna ecosystem American Geophysical Union San Francisco, CA (Dec 17, 2015)
2015 AGU Fall Meeting Oral Presentation Impact of cloud and blowing snow on ice sheet altimetry: A comparison between ICESat and ICESat-2 American Geophysical Union San Francisco, CA (Dec 17, 2015)
2015 AGU Fall Meeting Poster An empirical function for bidirectional reflectance characterization for smoke aerosols using multi-angular airborne measurements American Geophysical Union San Francisco, CA (Dec 15, 2015)
2015 AGU Fall Meeting Oral Presentation CALIPSO observations of changes in dust properties during transatlantic transport American Geophysical Union San Francisco, CA (Dec 15, 2015)