Dr. Peter M. Norris received a BS and MS from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in 1986 and 1989, and a Ph.D. in Oceanography in 1996 from Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), University of California, San Diego, where his major research interest was numerical modeling of the stratocumulus-topped marine boundary layer. He continued this research in 1996 as a Research Oceanographer in the Marine Meteorology Research Group at SIO, and in 1997-1998 as a New Zealand Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research. In 1999 he joined the GSFC Center for Excellence in Space Data and Information Science (USRA/CESDIS) as a Staff Scientist working on cloud parameterization. In 2000 he joined the Goddard Earth Science & Technology Center (UMBC/GEST) as an Assistant Research Scientist, working at the NASA Data Assimilation Office (DAO), now the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO), on cloud modeling and assimilation. This work continued under USRA/GESTAR from 2011-2021 and from 2021 onwards under UMBC/GESTARII as a Senior Research Scientist, with his focus transitioning in 2018 to radiative transfer in GMAO's GEOS-5 system.
Dr. Norris' research has addressed methods to improve cloud properties in numerical weather prediction and global climate models, and in particular GMAO's GEOS-5 system. This includes improved cloud parameterizations and simulations using subcolumn statistical approaches (see Norris et al., 2008, QJRMS, v. 134, Oreopoulos & Norris, 2011, ACP, v. 11, and Wind et al., GMD, 2016, v. 9 & 2022, v. 15), and cloud data assimilation of high-resolution satellite cloud data via Bayesian cloud parameter estimation (see Norris and da Silva, 2016, QJRMS, v. 142, Parts 1 & 2). Dr. Norris' current research focuses on advanced radiative transfer methods for GCMs, including proper treatment of cloud subgrid-scale variability.
Dr. Norris has also participated in numerous atmospheric field experiments, including the FIRE Cirrus II, Kansas, 1991, FIRE ASTEX, Azores, 1992, and TOGA-COARE, Solomon Islands, 1993, taking roles in data collection, aircraft flight direction, and data analysis.