Earth Sciences Division

John E Yorks

(RSCH AST, EARTH SCIENCES REMOTE SENS)

John E Yorks's Contact Card & Information.
Email: john.e.yorks@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.614.6284
Org Code: 612
Address:
NASA/GSFC
Mail Code 612
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer:
NASA

Missions & Projects

Research Interests


Cloud and Aerosol Remote Sensing

Earth Science: Remote Sensing

Lidar remote sensing, lidar systems development, cloud properties, aerosol properties, aerosol transport, elastic backscatter lidar, HSRL, Doppler wind lidar, cirrus, satellite remote sensing, Earth’s atmosphere, atmospheric processes, cloud and aerosol lidar retrieval algorithms, airborne and spaceborne lidar, winter storm dynamics, lidar-radar synergy

Current Projects


Space-Based and Airborne Lidar Instrumentation

Remote Sensing

  • Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) on the International Space Station (ISS)
  • Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL)
  • Roscoe UTLS lidar
  • Concurrent Artificially-intelligent Spectrometry and Adaptive Lidar System (CASALS)


Satellite and Airborne Missions

Atmospheric Measurement

  • Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS)
  • Earth System Observatory (ESO) Atmospheric Observing System (AOS) mission
  • GSFC Lidar Observation and Validation Experiment (GLOVE)
  • Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite 2 (ICESat-2)

Positions/Employment


Research Assistant

Penn State University - University Park, PA

July 2006 - January 2008



Lead Research Scientist

Science Systems and Applications, Inc. - NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD

February 2008 - August 2015



Research Physical Scientist

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, MD

August 2015 - Present


Education


2006 - B.S. - Meteorology, Millersville University, Millersville, PA.
2007 - M.S. - Meteorology, Penn State University, University Park, PA.
2014 - PhD - Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD.

Professional Societies


American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Member

2006 - Present


American Meteorological Society (AMS)

Member

2004 - Present


Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

Member

2015 - Present

Awards


  • 2008 Exceptional Scientific Research, Mesoscale Atmospheric Branch, NASA GSFC
  • 2008 NASA Group Achievement Award – TC4 Team
  • 2009 SSAI Publication Award
  • 2011 NASA Group Achievement Award – GloPac Team
  • 2011 SSAI Publication Award (2)
  • 2014 Outstanding Performance - Instrumentation, Atmospheric Sciences, NASA GSFC
  • 2014 NASA IRAD Innovator of the Year, Team Award (CATS)
  • 2015 NASA Group Achievement Award – CATS Team
  • 2016 Best Science Highlight, Atmospheric Sciences, NASA GSFC
  • 2018 NASA Special Act Award for chairing the Science Directorate Committee
  • 2019 Robert H. Goddard (RHG) Honor Award – Science
  • 2020 NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal (EAM)
  • 2023 NASA Group Achievement Award – IMPACTS Team
  • 2023 NASA Group Achievement Award – ACCLIP Team

Special Experience


  • Participant in the 2005 UCAR Undergraduate Leadership Workshop in Boulder, CO
  • Co-Investigator funded to provide assessment of CALIPSO retrieval uncertainties and examining cirrus cloud properties, 2009-2011.
  • Co-Investigator funded to integrate the Airborne Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (ACATS) lidar to aircraft, 2009-2011.
  • Co-Investigator funded to provide Cloud Physics Lidar measurements for the SEAC4RS field campaign, 2011-2013.
  • Committee member, NASA AeroCenter, 2013 – 2016.
  • Science Lead, International Space Station (ISS) Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS), 2013 – 2018.
  • Director, NASA Earth Science Young Scientist Forum, 2013 – 2018.
  • Co-Investigator funded to analyze synergistic ice cloud observations from eMAS, RSP, and CPL, 2014-2017.
  • Science Principal Investigator funded to evaluate the vertical variability of clouds and aerosols over large and small horizontal scales using CALIPSO and CATS data, 2016-2018.
  • Co-Investigator funded to quantify Dust Deposition into Oceans Through Integrating Measurements from CALIPSO Lidar and Other Satellite Sensors, 2016-2019.
  • Co-Investigator funded to characterize Aerosol Transport from Mid-Latitudes to Polar Regions with Twin Spaceborne Lidars and GEOS-5 Model, 2016-2019.
  • Member, Science Impact Team for Aerosol-Cloud-Convection-Precipitation (A-CCP) Decadal Survey Dedicated Observable Study Team, 2018-2021.
  • Member, Technology Team for Planetary Boundary Layer Incubation Study, 2020-present.
  • Co-Investigator funded to study cloud and precipitation retrievals from combined satellite lidar, radar and broad-band radiometer observations, 2019- 2023.
  • Co-Investigator funded to untangle interactions between Tropical North Atlantic dynamics and Saharan dust using observations from the joint NASA-ESA Aeolus Validation Campaign, 2021- 2024.
  • Deputy Principal Investigator, Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS), 2018-present.
  • Deputy Project Scientist, Earth System Observatory (ESO) Atmospheric Observing System (AOS) mission - Inclined Orbit, Pre-Phase A, 2021-present.
  • Instrument Scientist, Concurrent Artificially-intelligent Spectrometry and Adaptive Lidar System (CASALS), 2024-present.
  • Principal Investigator, GSFC Lidar Observation and Validation Experiment (GLOVE), 2024-present.

Publications


Refereed

2025. "Evaluation of ICESat-2 ATL09 Atmospheric Products Using CALIOP and MODIS Space-Based Observations." Remote Sensing 17 (3): 482 [10.3390/rs17030482] [Journal Article/Letter]

2025. "Statistics of Smoke Sphericity and Optical Properties Using Spaceborne Lidar Measurements." Remote Sensing 17 (3): 409 [10.3390/rs17030409] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Statistically Resolved Planetary Boundary Layer Height Diurnal Variability Using Spaceborne Lidar Data." Remote Sensing 16 (17): 3252 [10.3390/rs16173252] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "A Deep Learning Lidar Denoising Approach for Improving Atmospheric Feature Detection." Remote Sensing 16 (15): 2735 [10.3390/rs16152735] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Mineral dust optical properties for remote sensing and global modeling: A review." Remote Sensing of Environment 303 113982 [10.1016/j.rse.2023.113982] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Synergistic Retrievals of Ice in High Clouds from Elastic Backscatter Lidar, Ku-Band Radar, and Submillimeter Wave Radiometer Observations." Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 41 (1): 79-93 [10.1175/jtech-d-23-0028.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "An Investigation of Non‐Spherical Smoke Particles Using CATS Lidar." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 128 (23): [10.1029/2023jd038805] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Big-Time SmallSat Concept: Resolving Variations of Aerosols, Clouds, and Boundary Layer Height." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 104 (11): 889-892 [10.1175/bams-d-21-0179.a] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Machine learning-enabled real-time detection of cloud and aerosol layers using airborne lidar." Frontiers in Remote Sensing 4 [10.3389/frsen.2023.1116817] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "A SmallSat Concept to Resolve Diurnal and Vertical Variations of Aerosols, Clouds, and Boundary Layer Height." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 104 (4): E815–E836 [10.1175/bams-d-21-0179.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "First Mapping of Monthly and Diurnal Climatology of Saharan Dust Layer Height Over the Atlantic Ocean From EPIC/DSCOVR in Deep Space." Geophysical Research Letters 50 (5): [10.1029/2022gl102552] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Aerosol Detection from the Cloud–Aerosol Transport System on the International Space Station: Algorithm Overview and Implications for Diurnal Sampling." Atmosphere 13 (9): 1439 [10.3390/atmos13091439] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Constrained Retrievals of Aerosol Optical Properties Using Combined Lidar and Imager Measurements During the FIREX-AQ Campaign." Frontiers in Remote Sensing 3 [10.3389/frsen.2022.818605] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Chasing Snowstorms: The Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS) Campaign." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society [10.1175/bams-d-20-0246.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "First retrieval of absorbing aerosol height over dark target using TROPOMI oxygen B band: Algorithm development and application for surface particulate matter estimates." Remote Sensing of Environment 265 112674 [10.1016/j.rse.2021.112674] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Planetary Boundary Layer Height Estimates From ICESat-2 and CATS Backscatter Measurements." Frontiers in Remote Sensing 2 [10.3389/frsen.2021.716951] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Aerosol properties in cloudy environments from remote sensing observations: a review of the current state of knowledge." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 1-57 [10.1175/bams-d-20-0225.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Aerosol and Cloud Detection Using Machine Learning Algorithms and Space-Based Lidar Data." Atmosphere 12 (5): 606 [10.3390/atmos12050606] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "A global analysis of diurnal variability in dust and dust mixture using CATS observations." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 21 (3): 1427-1447 [10.5194/acp-21-1427-2021] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "A Classification of Ice Crystal Habits Using Combined Lidar and Scanning Polarimeter Observations during the SEAC4RS Campaign." Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 37 (12): 2185-2196 [10.1175/jtech-d-20-0037.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Models transport Saharan dust too low in the atmosphere: a comparison of the MetUM and CAMS forecasts with observations." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 20 (21): 12955-12982 [10.5194/acp-20-12955-2020] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Differences in the Evolution of Pyrocumulonimbus and Volcanic Stratospheric Plumes as Observed by CATS and CALIOP Space-Based Lidars." Atmosphere 11 (10): 1035 [10.3390/atmos11101035] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "The Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar (ACEPOL) airborne field campaign." Earth System Science Data 12 (3): 2183-2208 [Full Text] [10.5194/essd-12-2183-2020] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Sensitivities in Satellite Lidar‐Derived Estimates of Daytime Top‐of‐the‐Atmosphere Optically Thin Cirrus Cloud Radiative Forcing: A Case Study." Geophysical Research Letters 47 (17): [10.1029/2020gl088871] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Observation and quantification of aerosol outflow from southern Africa using spaceborne lidar." South African Journal of Science 116 [10.17159/sajs.2020/6398] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Air pollution inputs to the Mojave Desert by fusing surface mobile and airborne in situ and airborne and satellite remote sensing: A case study of interbasin transport with numerical model validation." Atmospheric Environment 224 117184 [10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.117184] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Cloud Aerosol Transport System (CATS) 1064 nm calibration and validation." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 12 6241–6258 [10.5194/amt-12-6241-2019] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Investigation of CATS aerosol products and application toward global diurnal variation of aerosols." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 19 12687-12707 [10.5194/acp-19-12687-2019] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "EARLINET evaluation of the CATS Level 2 aerosol backscatter coefficient product." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 19 (18): 11743-11764 [10.5194/acp-19-11743-2019] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Radiative Forcing and Stratospheric Warming of Pyrocumulonimbus Smoke Aerosols: First Modeling Results With Multisensor (EPIC, CALIPSO, and CATS) Views from Space." Geophysical Research Letters 46 (16): 10061-10071 [10.1029/2019gl082360] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "The diurnal cycle of cloud profiles over land and ocean between 51°S and 51°N, seen by the CATS spaceborne lidar from the International Space Station." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 18 (13): 9457-9473 [10.5194/acp-18-9457-2018] [Article in Book]

2017. "Seasonally transported aerosol layers over southeast Atlantic are closer to underlying clouds than previously reported." Geophysical Research Letters [10.1002/2017gl073559] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Remote Sensing of Multiple Cloud Layer Heights using Multi-Angular Measurements." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions 1-23 [10.5194/amt-10-2361-2017] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "Using CATS Near-Realtime Lidar Observations to Monitor and Constrain Volcanic Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) Forecasts." Geophysical Research Letters [10.1002/2016gl070119] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "Passive remote sensing of aerosol layer height using near-UV multiangle polarization measurements." Geophysical Research Letters 43 (16): 8783-8790 [10.1002/2016gl069848] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "Polarized view of supercooled liquid water clouds." Remote Sensing of Environment 181 96-110 [10.1016/j.rse.2016.04.002] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "An overview of the CATS level 1 processing algorithms and data products." Geophysical Research Letters 43 (9): 4632-4639 [10.1002/2016gl068006] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "Vertical variation of ice particle size in convective cloud tops." Geophysical Research Letters 43 (9): 4586-4593 [10.1002/2016gl068548] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "Cirrus cloud optical and microphysical property retrievals from eMAS during SEAC4RS using bi-spectral reflectance measurements within the 1.88  µm water vapor absorption band." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 9 (4): 1743-1753 [10.5194/amt-9-1743-2016] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "Liquid water cloud properties during the Polarimeter Definition Experiment (PODEX)." Remote Sens. Environ. 169 20-36 [doi:10.1016/j.rse.2015.07.029] [Journal Article/Letter]

2014. "The Airborne Cloud-Aerosol Transport System: Overview and Description of the Instrument and Retrieval Algorithms." Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 31 2482-2497 [10.1175/JTECH-D-14-00044.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "Airborne validation of cirrus cloud properties derived from CALIPSO lidar measurements: Optical properties." Journal of Geophysical Research 116 D19207 [10.1029/2011JD015942] [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Statistics of Cloud Optical Properties from Airborne Lidar Measurements." Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 28 (7): 869-883 [10.1175/2011JTECHA1507.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Airborne validation of cirrus cloud properties derived from CALIPSO lidar measurements: Spatial properties." J. Geophys. Res. 116 (D19): D19207 [10.1029/2011JD015942] [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Convective and wave signatures in ozone profiles over the equatorial Americas: Views from TC4 2007 and SHADOZ." J. Geophys. Res. 115 D00J23 [10.1029/2009JD012909] [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "Radiative effects of African dust and smoke observed from Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) data." J. Geophys. Res. 114 D00H04 [10.1029/2009JD012000] [Journal Article/Letter]

2009. "The variability of free tropospheric ozone over Beltsville, Maryland (39N, 77W) in the summers 2004–2007." Atmos Environ 43 (11): 1827-1838 [10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.12.049] [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Tropospheric ozone sources and wave activity over Mexico City and Houston during MILAGRO/Intercontinental Transport Experiment (INTEX-B) Ozonesonde Network Study, 2006 (IONS-06)." Atmos. Chem. Phys. 8 (17): 5113-5125 [10.5194/acp-8-5113-2008] [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Analysis of the Summer 2004 ozone budget over the United States using Intercontinental Transport Experiment Ozonesonde Network Study (IONS) observations and Model of Ozone and Related Tracers (MOZART-4) simulations." J. Geophys. Res. 113 (D23): D23306 [10.1029/2008JD010190] [Journal Article/Letter]