Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Steven R. Long

(EMERITUS)

Steven R. Long's Contact Card & Information.
Email: steven.r.long@nasa.gov
Phone: 757.824.1034
Org Code: 612
Address:
NASA/WFF
 Mail Code 610.W
 Wallops, VA 23337
Employer: EMERITUS

Brief Bio

Steven R. Long was born and grew up in North Carolina. He attended N.C. State University in Raleigh, obtaining the B.S. degree in physics (1969), and the M.S. degree in physics (1971), before transferring to the Department of Geosciences at N.C. State for the study of oceanography.


Dr. Norden E. Huang became his advisor, mentor, thesis advisor, and friend over his entire career. A wave tank within the Civil Engineering Department was modified for water wave studies under an agreement with the Department of Geosciences, resulting in a Ph.D degree (1975) in Oceanography. Dr. Long was supported by a Post-Doctoral Research grant from the Department of Geosciences during part of 1975 for further processing of his thesis data. In October 1975, Dr. Long received a Resident Research Associateship from the National Research Council for a continuation of his wave research at the NASA Wallops Flight Center at Wallops Island, VA (now known as Wallops Flight Facility, part of NASA GSFC). He joined his mentor there in October 1975 and began work on what became known as the NASA Air-Sea Interaction Research Facility. After the assembly of the new facility and the publication of his first articles, Dr. Long joined the research staff at Wallops Flight Center as a civil servant at the completion of the National Research Council associateship in 1977.


He continued his research with Dr. Huang at the facility until Dr. Huang’s retirement from NASA, and thereafter managed the facility and did joint research with many universities and government agencies, in support of NASA’s mission in remote sensing of the ocean and air-sea interaction processes.


In 2012, NASA HQ managers made the decision to discontinue basic research into the air-sea interaction processes and re-directed funds into other projects. Dr. Long then took the initiative to find a home for the facility, and proposed to GSFC managers that it be moved in its entirety to a university location where it could continue to be used for graduate student training and faculty research into the complex air-sea interaction processes, thereby continuing its long history of important contributions. This plan was approved and a suitable home found for it at the University of Washington / Applied Physics Laboratory in Seattle. During the latter part of 2013 into the first part of 2014, Dr. Long organized the disassembly and packing of the facility and its instruments into 5 shipping containers, which were then delivered in the spring of 2014, completing its history with NASA. After suitable building modifications, UW/APL expects to begin the assembly work on the facility.


Dr. Long contributed to the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) project by creating a method to use the video imaging data of Dr. Larry Bliven’s precipitation imaging device known as PIP for converting snowflake images into water content and precipitation rates. After 44+ years of Civil Service, Dr. Long retired and began the Emeritus position at the end of the day, Feb. 28, 2022.

Current Projects

Transfer of the Air-Sea Interaction Research Facility to UW/ APL

This project has been completed, with the final clearing of the former facility space, excessing of equipment no longer needed, and shipment of final small items to UW/APL. The final operational dates for the facility history at GSFC / WFF will be 1975 to 2014. Dr. Long retired and began the Emeritus appointment at the end of the day, February 28, 2022.

GPM

Precipitation

Dr. Long is now contributing to the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) project as an Emeritus, by creating a method to use the video imaging data of Dr. Larry Bliven’s precipitation imaging device known as PIP, for converting a time record of digital snowflake images into precipitation rates, water content, flake size ratios, and statistics of falling snowflakes from digital video imaging of snowfall.

Separating river outflow from tidal effects

Precipitation

Using data from tide gauges at river mouths, the object was to use HHT techniques to separate the river outflow from surface topography tidal effects, in order to improve modeling. Verification and validation of methods was illustrated.

Positions/Employment

Teaching Assistant

Dept. of Physics, North Carolina State University - North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

1969 - 1971

Laboratory courses for introductory physics classes

Research Assistant

Dept. of Geosciences, North Carolina State University - North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

1971 - 1975

Thesis research

Post-Doctoral Research Associate

Dept. of Marine Sciences, North Carolina State University - North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC

1975 - 1975

Continuation of research, preparation of articles for publication

Post-Doctoral Research Associate

National Research Council - NASA Wallops Flight Center

1975 - 1977

National Research Council Resident Research Associate at the NASA Wallops Flight Center (Now part of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and known as Wallops Flight Facility).

Oceanographer Emeritus, AST, Oceanographic Studies

NASA GSFC / WFF - Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, VA

1977 - Present


Oct. 1977 - Feb. 28, 2022: Oceanographer, AST, Oceanographic Studies

Feb. 28, 2022 - Present: Oceanographer Emeritus, AST, Oceanographic Studies

Research Oceanographer Emeritus, specializing in the processes of air-sea interaction, including wind and wave processes at the interface, current effects, wave interaction, and flux exchange. Dr. Long began the Emeritus appointment at the end of the day, February 28, 2022, working on retrieval of water content, precipitation rates, flake size ratios, and statistics of falling snowflakes from digital video imaging of snowfall.

Teaching Experience

1969 - 1971: Teaching Assistant, Dept. of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. Laboratory courses associated with basic physics courses. 1977 - 2013: Hands on experimental training for graduate students doing their thesis research at the NASA Air-Sea Interaction Research Facility, resulting in two M.S. completions from the Johns Hopkins University, one Ph.D completion from the University of Heidelberg, and two Ph.D completions from Stevens Institute of Technology. 2005 - 2006: Mentor for NRC Post-Doctoral Resident Research Associate at NASA GSFC / WFF

Education

1975 Ph.D, Oceanography, North Carolkina State University. Raleigh, NC. 1971 M.S., Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC. 1969 B.S., Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.

Professional Societies

American Geophysical Union

1971 - Present

Professional Service

19xx EarthWatch site, hosted gifted high school science students 20xx Hosted Senior Science Cadet from the US Coast Guard Academy 1975 - 2012 Joint experiments with a variety of research institutions: The Johns Hopkins University University of Heidelberg Scripps Institution of Oceanography University of Southern California University of Washington/ Applied Physics Laboratory University of Alberta University of Rhode Island Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution US Army Corps of Engineers Naval Research Laboratory State University of New York Columbia University Western Connecticut State University Bureau of Land Management I.M.S.T, University of Marseille Stevens Institute of Technology 1997 Reviewer for Journal of Geophysical Research (Oceans) 2001 Reviewer for Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics 2001 Reviewer for Remote Sensing of the Environment 2002 Reviewer for Smart Materials and Structures 2003 Reviewer for Coastal Engineering 2003 Reviewer for Journal of Physical Oceanography 2003 Invited Speaker, SIAM2003 2004 Reviewer for Geophysical Research Letters 2004 Invited Speaker, OMAE2004 2004 Invited Speaker, SIAM2004 2004 Book Reviewer for World Scientific Publication 2004 Reviewer for Journal of Oceanography (Japan) 2005 Reviewer for IEEE Signal Processing Letters 2005 Mentor for NRC Post-Doctoral Resident Research Associate at NASA GSFC / WFF 2007 Reviewer for Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 2008 Reviewer for Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 2009 - Present Assistant Editor, Advances in Adaptive Data Analysis 2010 Reviewer for National Science Foundation, Multi-Year Proposal 2012 Reviewer for JGR Oceans 2012 Reviewer for IEEE Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing 2013 Ph.D Thesis Committee at Stevens Institute of Technology

Awards

1985 NASA Special Achievement Award 1988 NASA Peer Award 1988 NASA Special Act Award 1991 NASA Superior Accomplishment Award 1991 NASA Quality Increase Award 1991 NASA Certificate of Outstanding Performance 1992 NASA Certificate of Outstanding Performance 1993 NASA Certificate of Outstanding Performance 1994 NASA Certificate of Outstanding Performance 1994 NASA Special Act Award 1995 NASA Peer Award 1995 NASA Special Act Award 1996 NASA Special Act Award 1996 NASA Performance Award 1996 NASA Certificate of Appreciation 1996 Best Publication Award, Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes (with Huang and Shen) 1997 NASA Peer Award 1997 NASA 20 Year Service Award 1997 NASA Special Act Award 1997 Reviewer for Journal of Geophysical Research (Oceans) 1999 NASA Performance Award 1999 NASA Certificate of Appreciation 1999 Government Technology Leadership Award 1999 NASA Certificate of Recognition: Empirical Mode Decomposition Method (EMD) 2000 NASA Performance Award 2000 NASA Certificate of Recognition: EMD Method and Hilbert Spectral Analysis Algorithms 2001 NASA Performance Award 2001 Reviewer for Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics 2001 Reviewer for Remote Sensing of the Environment 2002 Reviewer for Smart Materials and Structures 2002 NASA Performance Award 2003 Reviewer for Coastal Engineering 2003 Reviewer for Journal of Physical Oceanography 2003 Invited Speaker, SIAM2003 2004 Reviewer for Geophysical Research Letters 2004 Invited Speaker, OMAE2004 2004 Invited Speaker, SIAM2004 2004 Book Reviewer for World Scientific Publication 2004 Reviewer for Journal of Oceanography (Japan) 2005 Reviewer for IEEE Signal Processing Letters 2005 Mentor for NRC Post-Doctoral Resident Research Associate at NASA GSFC / WFF 2007 NASA 30 Year Service Award 2007 Reviewer for Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 2008 Reviewer for Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 2009- Assistant Editor, Advances in Adaptive Data Analysis 2010 Reviewer for National Science Foundation, Multi-Year Proposal 2012 Reviewer for JGR Oceans 2012 Reviewer for IEEE Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing 2012 NASA Peer Award, Science 2012 NASA Performance Award 2012 NASA 35 Year Service Award

Publications

Refereed

2016. "On Holo-Hilbert spectral analysis: a full informational spectral representation for nonlinear and non-stationary data." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 374 (2065): 20150206 [10.1098/rsta.2015.0206] [Journal Article/Letter]

2014. "Application of HHT in Image Analysis." Hilbert-Huang Transform and Its Applications, 2nd Edition 16 363-379 [Book]

2013. "Water Surface Topography Retrieved from Color Images." J. Atmos. Ocean. Technol. 30 (4): 846-860 [10.1175/JTECH-D-12-00047.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "Method of surface topography retrieval by direct solution of sparse weighted seminormal equations." Opt. Express 20 (2): 1714-1726 [10.1364/OE.20.001714] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "On the Normalized Hilbert Transform and Its Applications in Remote Sensing." Signal and Image Processing for Remote Sensing, 2nd Edition, CRC Press 3-26 [Book]

2009. "On Instantaneous Frequency." Advances in Adaptive Data Analysis 1 (2): 177-229 [10.1142/S1793536909000096] [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "Reductions of noise and uncertainty in annual global surface temperature anomaly data." Advances in Adaptive Data Analysis 1 (3): 447-460 [10.1142/S1793536909000151] [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Time-resolved polarimetry over water waves: relating glints and surface statistics." Applied Optics 47 (10): 1638-1648 [10.1364/AO.47.001638] [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Light Reflection from Water Waves: Suitable Setup for a Polarimetric Investigation under Controlled Laboratory Conditions." J. Atmos. Oceanic. Tech. 25 (5): 715-728 [10.1175/2007JTECHA1049.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2007. "On the Normalized Hilbert Transform and Its Applications in Remote Sensing." Signal and Image Processing for Remote Sensing, CRC Press 3-23 [Book]

2005. "Application of HHT in Image Analysis." Hilbert-Huang Transform and Its Applications 289-305 [Book]

2003. "A confidence limit for the empirical mode decomposition and Hilbert spectral analysis." Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A 459 (2037): 2317-2345 [10.1098/rspa.2003.1123] [Journal Article/Letter]

2003. "Applications of Hilbert-Huang transform to non-stationary financial time series analysis." Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry 19 (3): 245-268 [10.1002/asmb.501] [Journal Article/Letter]

2002. "Effects of microscale breaking on air-water gas transfer." Gas Transfers at Water Surfaces, American Geophysical Union 127 23-29 [10.1029/GM127p0023] [Book]

2002. "A closer look at short waves generated by wave interactions with adverse currents." Gas Transfers at Water Surfaces, American Geophysical Union 127 121-128 [10.1029/GM127p0121] [Book]

2001. "A new spectral representation of earthquake data: Hilbert spectral analysis of Station TCU129, Chi-Chi, Taiwan, 21 September 1999." Bull. Seism. Soc. Amer. 91 (5): 1310-1338 [10.1785/0120000735] [Journal Article/Letter]

2000. "The ages of large-amplitude coastal seiches on the Caribbean coast of Puerto Rico." J. Phys. Oceanogr. 30 2001-2012 [Journal Article/Letter]

1999. "A new view of nonlinear water waves: The Hilbert Spectrum." Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 31 417-457 [Book]

1998. "The empirical mode decomposition and the Hilbert spectrum for nonlinear and nonstationary time series analysis." Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A 454 903-995 [Journal Article/Letter]

1996. "The mechanism for frequency downshift in non-linear wave evolution." Advances in Applied Mechanics, Academic Press 32 59-117 [Book]

1995. "The Hilbert techniques: An alternate approach for non-steady time series analysis." IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Newsletter 94 6-11 [Newsletter]

1994. "Directional wind wave development." Geophys. Research Letters 21 (23): 2503-2506 [10.1029/94GL01916] [Journal Article/Letter]

1994. "A controlled Environment for Air-Sea Interaction Studies." IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Newsletter 91 11-17 [Newsletter]

1993. "Blocking and trapping of waves in an inhomogeneous flow." Dynam. Atmos. Oceans 20 (1-2): 79-106 [10.1016/0377-0265(93)90049-D] [Journal Article/Letter]

1993. "The local properties of transient stochastic data by the phase-time method." Computational Stochastic Mechanics [Book]

1993. "Estimating ω(k) in an unsteady, wind-generated surface wave field from the 2D complex wavelet transform of the surface slope." Proc. Air-Sea Interface Symp., Marseille [Proceedings]

1993. "A 2-D complex wavelet analysis of an unsteady wind-generated surface wave field." Dynam. Atmos. Oceans 20 (1-2): 55-77 [10.1016/0377-0265(93)90048-C] [Journal Article/Letter]

1992. "Measurements of the interaction of wave groups with shorter wind-generated waves." J. Fluid Mech. 245 191-210 [Journal Article/Letter]

1992. "The local properties of ocean surface waves by the phase-time method." Geophys. Res. Letters 19 (7): 685-688 [10.1029/92GL00670] [Journal Article/Letter]

1990. "The probability structure of the ocean surface." The Sea 9 335-366 [Book]

1990. "Wave spectra." The Sea 9 197-238 [Book]

1989. "Laboratory studies of wave-current interaction: Kinematics of the strong interaction." J. Geophys. Res. 94 (C11): 16201-16214 [10.1029/JC094iC11p16201] [Journal Article/Letter]

1989. "Probability function of breaking-limited surface elevation." J. Geophys. Res. 94 967-972 [Journal Article/Letter]

1986. "An analytical model for oceanic whitecap coverage." J. Phys. Oceanogr. 16 (10): 1597-1604 [10.1175/1520-0485(1986)016<1597:AAMFOW>2.0.CO;2] [Journal Article/Letter]

1986. "A study of the relationship among wind speed, sea state, and the drag coefficient for a developing wave field." J. Geophys. Res. 91 (C6): 7733-7742 [10.1029/JC091iC06p07733] [Journal Article/Letter]

1986. "An experimental study of the statistical properties of wind generated gravity waves (Chapter 7)." Wave Dynamics and Radio Probing of the Ocean Surface 129-144 [10.1007/978-1-4684-8980-4_8] [Article in Book]

1986. "Experimental study of the influence of wind on Benjamin Feir sideband instability." J. Fluid Mech. 162 237-260 [10.1017/S0022112086002033] [Journal Article/Letter]

1984. "The harp probe: an in situ Bragg scattering sensor." J. Atmos. Oceanic Tech. 1 (4): 358-370 [10.1175/1520-0426(1984)001<0358:THPASB>2.0.CO;2] [Journal Article/Letter]

1984. "A new type of overshoot phenomenon in the wind wave development and its implication in the remote sensing of the ocean." J. Geophys. Res. 89 (C3): 3679-3687 [10.1029/JC089iC03p03679] [Journal Article/Letter]

1984. "A laboratory study of the velocity field below surface gravity waves." Gas Transfer at Water Surfaces 2 181-190 [10.1007/978-94-017-1660-4_16] [Article in Book]

1984. "The non Gaussian joint probability density function of slope and elevation for a nonlinear gravity wave field, J. Geophys. Res., 89, 1961 1972, 1984. ( Huang, N. E., S. R. Long, L. F. Bliven and C. C. Tung )." J. Geophys. Res. 89 1961-1972 [Journal Article/Letter]

1983. "A study on the spectral models for waves in the finite water depth." J. Geophys. Res. 88 (C14): 9579-9587 [10.1029/JC088iC14p09579] [Journal Article/Letter]

1983. "Non-Gaussian statistical model for surface elevation of nonlinear random wave fields." J. Geophys. Res. 88 (C12): 7597-7606 [10.1029/JC088iC12p07597] [Journal Article/Letter]

1981. "A unified two parameter wave spectral model for a general sea state." J. Fluid Mech. 112 203-224 [10.1017/S0022112081000360] [Journal Article/Letter]

1981. "On the importance of the significant slope in empirical wind wave studies." J. Physical Oceanogr. 11 (4): 569-573 [10.1175/1520-0485(1981)011<0569:OTIOTS>2.0.CO;2] [Journal Article/Letter]

1980. "An experimental study of the surface elevation probability distribution and statistics of wind-generated waves." J. Fluid Mech. 101 (1): 179-200 [10.1017/S0022112080001590] [Journal Article/Letter]

1976. "Observations of wind-generated waves on variable current." J. Phys. Oceanogr. 6 (6): 962-968 [10.1175/1520-0485(1976)006<0962:OOWGWO>2.0.CO;2] [Journal Article/Letter]

1976. "On the variation and growth of wave-slope spectra in the capillary-gravity range with increasing wind." J. Fluid Mech. 77 (2): 209-228 [10.1017/S0022112076002073] [Journal Article/Letter]

Non-Refereed

2007. "On the trend, detrending, and variability of nonlinear and nonstationary time series." PNAS 104 (38): 14889-14894 [Other]

1999. "A new method for nonlinear and nonstationary time series analysis." Stochastic Structural Dynamics: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference SSD'98, Notre Dame, IN, USA 6-9 August 1998 559-564 [Proceedings]

1988. "An estimate of wave breaking probability for deep water waves." Sea Surface Sound: Natural Mechanisms of Surface Generated Noise in the Ocean 238 71-83 [10.1007/978-94-009-3017-9_6] [Article in Book]

Selected Public Outreach

Assistant Editor

February 2009 - Present

Served as Assistant Editor for Advances in Adaptive Data Analysis

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