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Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Chelsea L Parker

(ASST. RESEARCH SCIENTIST)

Chelsea L Parker's Contact Card & Information.
Email: chelsea.l.parker@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.614.6486
Org Code: 615
Address:
NASA/GSFC
 Mail Code 615
 Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer: UNIV OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK

Research Interests

Research Overview

Earth Science: Atmospheric Dynamics

Chelsea's current work brings together satellite and in situ observations, reanalysis datasets, and numerical modeling to characterize and improve our understanding of the polar atmosphere and ice – ocean – atmosphere interactions. Her research ranges in scale from investigating the dynamics of episodic events such as polar lows, Arctic cyclones, and Atmospheric Rivers, to working on improving the representation of polar surfaces and atmospheric processes in global models.

Positions/Employment

Assistant Research Scientist

Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) University of Maryland, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, Maryland

July 2019 - Present

Publications

Refereed

2025. "Unprecedented Beaufort Sea ice loss in late summer 2021 and its relationship to an extended period of unusually stormy weather." Environmental Research Letters 20 (11): 114067 [10.1088/1748-9326/ae1626] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "Weather and climate extremes in a changing Arctic." Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 6 (11): 691-711 [10.1038/s43017-025-00724-4] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "CMIP6 Representation of Declining Sea Ice and Arctic Cyclones in the Current Climate." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 130 (14): e2024JD042388 [10.1029/2024jd042388] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "Delayed freeze-up is driving a lengthening of the Arctic sea ice melt season." Nature Communications Earth and Environment [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Summer snow on Arctic sea ice modulated by the Arctic Oscillation." Nature Geoscience 17 (10): 995-1002 [10.1038/s41561-024-01525-y] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "A Warmer and Wetter Arctic: Insights From a 20‐Years AIRS Record." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 128 (20): [10.1029/2023jd038793] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. " A warmer and wetter Arctic: insights from a 20-year AIRS record." Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres 128 (20): [https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD038793] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Rainy Days in the Arctic." Journal of Climate 36 (19): 6855-6878 [https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-22-0428.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Fate of sea ice in the 'New Arctic': A database of daily Lagrangian Arctic sea ice parcel drift tracks with coincident ice and atmospheric conditions." Nature Scientific Data 10 (73): [10.1038/s41597-023-01987-6] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "The influence of recent and future climate change on spring Arctic cyclones." Nature Communications 13 (1): 6514 [10.1038/s41467-022-34126-7] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Record Arctic Cyclone of January 2022: Characteristics, Impacts, and Predictability." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 127 (21): [10.1029/2022jd037161] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "The Arctic." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 103 (8): S257-S306 [10.1175/bams-d-22-0082.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Constraining Arctic Climate Projections of Wintertime Warming With Surface Turbulent Flux Observations and Representation of Surface-Atmosphere Coupling." Frontiers in Earth Science [https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2022.765304] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "The role of cyclone activity in snow accumulation on Arctic sea ice." Nature Communications 10 (1): 5285 [10.1038/s41467-019-13299-8] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Investigating the performance of coupled WRF-ROMS simulations of Hurricane Irene (2011) in a regional climate modeling framework." Atmospheric Research 215 57-74 [10.1016/j.atmosres.2018.08.017] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "The response of land-falling tropical cyclone characteristics to projected climate change in northeast Australia." Climate Dynamics 51 (9-10): 3467-3485 [10.1007/s00382-018-4091-9] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Factors affecting the simulated trajectory and intensification of Tropical Cyclone Yasi (2011)." Atmospheric Research 194 27-42 [10.1016/j.atmosres.2017.04.002] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "The Relationship between Tropical Cyclone Activity, Nutrient Loading, and Algal Blooms over the Great Barrier Reef." Biogeosciences Discussions 1-35 [10.5194/bg-2017-23] [Journal Article/Letter]

Non-Refereed

2020. "Arctic Radiation-Cloud-Aerosol-Surface Interaction Experiment (ARCSIX): Concept Paper for NASA Aircraft Investigation." NASA Earth Science Project Office [Full Text] [Report]

Awards

2024: Mentoring Award, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Hydrosphere, Biosphere, Geophysics

Annual Peer Awards.

2024: Maryland Research Excellence Award, University of Maryland.

2024: IOP Publishing Outstanding Reviewer for Environmental Research: Climate Journal

2023: Best First Author Scientific Paper Award, Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland.

2021: Scientific Achievement Award, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Hydrosphere, Biosphere, Geophysics

Annual Peer Awards.

2016: First Place Student Oral Presenter award, 96th AMS Annual Meeting.

2014: Student award and honorable mention, 94th AMS Annual Meeting.


STUDENT ADVISEE AWARDS

2023: University of Maryland Tannenbaum Endowed Research Prize in Climate Science to Undergraduate Advisee Samantha Halstead-Santez

2023: University of Maryland Green Fund Scholarship to PhD Candidate Advisee Benjamin Woods.

 

Grants

Sea Ice Surface Evolution Flight Planning for ARCSIX

Arctic Radiation-Cloud-Aerosol-Surface Interaction Experiment - NASA (NNH21ZDA001N-ARCSIX:A.17 Arctic Radiation-Cloud-Aerosol-Surface Interaction Experiment) - Awarded: 2022-09-29


Dates: 2022-10-01  - 2026-03-01

Polar Regions in the Earth System

Horizon 2020 - EU - Awarded: 2021-09-01


Dates: 2021-09-01  - 2025-09-01

Investigating the Fate of the Sea Ice and Interaction with the Polar Atmosphere in the ‘New Arctic’

Interdisciplinary Research in Earth Science - NASA (NNH19ZDA001N-IDS) - Awarded: 2020-04-01


Dates: 2020-06-15  - 2023-06-15

Improving Our Understanding of Precipitation Events in the Arctic

Weather and Atmospheric Dynamics - NASA (NNH19ZDA001N-ATDM) - Awarded: 2020-02-03


Dates: 2020-04-15  - 2024-04-15

Summer Visiting Scientist Grant - National Center for Atmospheric Research - Awarded: 2015-05-01


Dates:  - 

Graduate Student Fellowship - Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown University - Awarded: 2015-04-01


Dates:  - 

Contact Us

Jocelyn Lynch
Project Support Specialist
301-286-6066
jocelyn.m.lynch@nasa.gov
Ellie Jeffries
Project Support Specialist
301-286-6066
ellie.jeffries@nasa.gov

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