Sciences and Exploration Directorate

K. Emma Knowland

(Research Scientist)

K. Emma Knowland's Contact Card & Information.
Email: k.e.knowland@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.614.6342
Org Code: 610.1
Address:
NASA/GSFC
Mail Code 610.1
Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer: MORGAN STATE UNIV.

Brief Bio


Dr. Knowland is a lead scientist in the development of NASA GMAO’s atmospheric composition forecast system, GEOS-CF.  She directs the transition from research & development to the production system and leads the evaluation of stratospheric composition in the GEOS-CF.  Dr. Knowland’s research interests include both chemical and dynamical drivers of stratospheric and tropospheric composition. She is a member of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Air Quality Forecast and Information System (GAFIS) Steering Committee and Co-lead of Group 2 “Best practices and challenges for Air Quality Forecast Systems”.

Positions/Employment


Research Scientist

Universities Space Research Association (USRA)/Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research (GESTAR) - GMAO, Goddard Space Flight Center

November 2015 - November 2021


Associate Research Scientist

Morgan State University/GESTAR II - GMAO, Goddard Space Flight Center

December 2021 - Present

Research responsibilities include the evaluation of trace gas transport in NASA’s GEOS model and data assimilation systems and the associated transport uncertainty in the models related to spatial resolution.  In particular, the development and evaluation of NASA’s air quality forecast, GEOS-CF, and the investigation of stratospheric intrusions of high levels of ozone (O3) transported toward the surface, which can impact surface concentrations and lead to nonattainment of air quality standards.

Education


Doctor of Philosophy
September 2011 – September 2015
Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Project title: Linking mid-latitude storms, atmospheric composition and climate variability
Research: A new approach to the study of long-range transport of air pollution using the Monitoring Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate (MACC) reanalysis dataset with a storm tracking algorithm to investigate the behavior of air pollution within mid-latitude storms over the North Pacific Ocean and North Atlantic Ocean.
Supervisors: Ruth Doherty (Univ. of Edinburgh) and Kevin I. Hodges (Univ. of Reading)
Awards: Principal’s Career Development Scholarship and the Edinburgh Global Research Scholarship Award

Master of Science
September 2006 – May 2008
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Thesis: A study of meteorological conditions associated with anomalously early and anomalously late openings of a Northwest Territories winter road
Supervisors: John R. Gyakum and Charles A. Lin

Bachelor of Science (Honours)
September 2002 – May 2006
Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
 

Professional Societies


American Geophysical Union

2013 - Present

Professional Service


2020-present: World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Air Quality Forecast and Information System (GAFIS) Steering Committee. Co-lead of Group 2 “Best practices and challenges for Air Quality Forecast Systems” 


Awards


September 2022: 2021 ACP Paul Crutzen Publication Award for the outstanding paper "Global Impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the surface concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and ozone" led by Christoph Keller

Keller, C. A., M. J. Evans, K. E. Knowland, C. A. Hasenkopf, S. Modekurty, R. A. Lucchesi, T. Oda, B. B. Franca, F. C. Mandarino, M. V. Díaz Suárez, R. G. Ryan, L. H. Fakes, and S. Pawson. 2021. "Global impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the surface concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and ozone." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 21 (5): 3555-3592 [10.5194/acp-21-3555-2021]

 

February 2018: GMAO Scientific Achievement Peer Award for the successful development of the Composition Forecast system (joint award to Christoph Keller and Emma Knowland)

Publications


Refereed

2024. "Forecasting with the GEOS-CF System and Other NASA Resources to Support Air Quality Management." Advances in Air Quality Research in Africa. ICAQ-Africa 2022. Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation. [10.1007/978-3-031-53525-3_13] [Article in Book]

2024. "High-resolution mapping of nitrogen oxide emissions in large US cities from TROPOMI retrievals of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide columns." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 24 (6): 3717-3728 [10.5194/acp-24-3717-2024] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Particulate Nitrate Photolysis as a Possible Driver of Rising Tropospheric Ozone." Geophysical Research Letters 51 (5): [10.1029/2023gl107980] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Application of Satellite‐Based Detections of Arctic Bromine Explosion Events Within GEOS‐Chem." Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems 15 (8): [10.1029/2022ms003465] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Decoupling in the vertical shape of HCHO during a sea breeze event: The effect on trace gas satellite retrievals and column-to-surface translation." Atmospheric Environment 309 119929 [10.1016/j.atmosenv.2023.119929] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "M2‐SCREAM: A Stratospheric Composition Reanalysis of Aura MLS Data With MERRA‐2 Transport." Earth and Space Science 10 (2): e2022EA002632 [10.1029/2022ea002632] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Cluster-based characterization of multi-dimensional tropospheric ozone variability in coastal regions: an analysis of lidar measurements and model results." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 22 (23): 15313-15331 [10.5194/acp-22-15313-2022] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Tropospheric and stratospheric ozone profiles during the 2019 TROpomi vaLIdation eXperiment (TROLIX-19)." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 22 (17): 11137-11153 [10.5194/acp-22-11137-2022] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Diesel passenger vehicle shares influenced COVID-19 changes in urban nitrogen dioxide pollution." Environmental Research Letters 17 (7): 074010 [10.1088/1748-9326/ac7659] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Impact of Stratosphere on Cold Air Outbreak: Observed Evidence by CrIS on SNPP and Its Comparison with Models." Atmosphere 13 (6): 876 [10.3390/atmos13060876] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "NASA GEOS Composition Forecast Modeling System GEOS‐CF v1.0: Stratospheric composition." Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems 14 (e2021MS002852): [10.1029/2021ms002852] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Satellite observation of stratospheric intrusions and ozone transport using CrIS on SNPP." Atmospheric Environment 118956 [10.1016/j.atmosenv.2022.118956] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "A new method for inferring city emissions and lifetimes of nitrogen oxides from high-resolution nitrogen dioxide observations: a model study." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 22 (2): 1333-1349 [10.5194/acp-22-1333-2022] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Communicating respiratory health risk among children using a global air quality index." Environment International 159 107023 [10.1016/j.envint.2021.107023] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Combining Machine Learning and Numerical Simulation for High-Resolution PM2.5 Concentration Forecast." Environmental Science & Technology 56 (3): 1544-1556 [10.1021/acs.est.1c05578] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Ozone production and precursor emission from wildfires in Africa." Environ. Sci.: Atmos. 1 524-542 [10.1039/d1ea00041a] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Augmenting the Standard Operating Procedures of Health and Air Quality Stakeholders With NASA Resources." GeoHealth 5 (9): [10.1029/2021gh000451] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Case study of stratospheric Intrusion above Hampton, Virginia: lidar-observation and modeling analysis." Atmospheric Environment 118498 [10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118498] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Sub‐City Scale Hourly Air Quality Forecasting by Combining Models, Satellite Observations, and Ground Measurements." Earth and Space Science 8 (7): [10.1029/2021ea001743] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Long-range transport of Siberian biomass burning emissions to North America during FIREX-AQ." Atmospheric Environment 252 118241 [10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118241] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Description of the NASA GEOS Composition Forecast Modeling System GEOS‐CF v1.0." Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems 13 (4): [10.1029/2020ms002413] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Global impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the surface concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and ozone." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 21 (5): 3555-3592 [10.5194/acp-21-3555-2021] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Using networked Pandora observations to capture spatiotemporal changes in total column ozone associated with stratosphere-to-troposphere transport." Atmospheric Research 238 104872 [10.1016/j.atmosres.2020.104872] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Evaluation of NASA's high-resolution global composition simulations: Understanding a pollution event in the Chesapeake Bay during the summer 2017 OWLETS campaign." Atmospheric Environment 117133 [10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.117133] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Recent decline in extratropical lower stratospheric ozone attributed to circulation changes." Geophysical Research Letters [10.1029/2018gl077406] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "The influence of mid-latitude cyclones on European background surface ozone." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 17 (20): 12421-12447 [10.5194/acp-17-12421-2017] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Stratospheric intrusion-influenced ozone air quality exceedances investigated in the NASA MERRA-2 Reanalysis." Geophysical Research Letters 44 (10): 691–10,701 [10.1002/2017gl074532] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "The effects of springtime mid-latitude storms on trace gas composition determined from the MACC reanalysis." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 15 (6): 3605--3628 [10.5194/acp-15-3605-2015] [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "A study of the meteorological conditions associated with anomalously early and late openings of a Northwest Territories winter road." Arctic 63 (2): 227--239 [http://dx.doi.org/10.14430/arctic977] [Journal Article/Letter]

Non-Refereed

2022. "File Specification for GEOS-CF Products." GMAO Office Note No. 17 (Version 1.2), 53pp, available from http://gmao.gsfc.nasa.gov/pubs/office_notes [Other]

2020. "File Specification for GEOS-CF Products." GMAO Office Note No. 17 (Version 1.1), 37pp, available from http://gmao.gsfc.nasa.gov/pubs/office_notes [Other]

2019. "File Specification for GEOS-CF Products." GMAO Office Note No. 17 (Version 1.0), 32pp, available from http://gmao.gsfc.nasa.gov/pubs/office_notes [Other]

Talks, Presentations and Posters


Invited

Near real-time air quality forecasts using the NASA GEOS model

July 2021

Invited speaker and panelist for the UNEP GEMS-AIR virtual session at the Sustainability Research & Innovation (SRI) Congress 2021


NASA's High-Resolution GEOS Forecasting and Reanalysis Products: A unified Tool from Local to Global Scales

July 2021

NASA Ames Earth Science Division Seminar series


NASA's High-Resolution GEOS Forecasting and Reanalysis Products: A unified Tool from Local to Global Scales

June 2021

Atmospheric and Marine Biogeochemistry Seminars at the School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, England (virtual presentation)


Air Pollution Forecasts using the NASA GEOS model

April 2021

GISS Lunch Seminar Series


Near real-time air quality forecasts using the NASA GEOS model

2020

AGU Fall Meeting 2020 (Virtual)


NASA’s High-Resolution GEOS Forecasting and Reanalysis Products: Impact of Stratospheric Intrusions on Surface Ozone Air Quality

April 2020

JPL Center for Climate Sciences Seminar Series


New high-resolution global composition forecast

December 5, 2018

Invited speaker and panelist. Sixth Arab-American Frontiers of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Symposium, Kuwait City, Kuwait, November 4-6, 2018


Air Pollution Forecasts using the NASA GEOS Model

July 7, 2018

The International Cooperative for Aerosol Prediciton (ICAP) 10th working group meeting, UK Met Office, Exeter, England, June 6-8, 2018


Other

Near real-time air quality forecasts using the NASA GEOS model

July 2021

TEMPO Science Team Meeting


Near real-time air quality forecasts using the NASA GEOS model

May 2021

EGU General Assembly 2021


Evaluation of the GEOS-Chem UCX Stratosphere in the GEOS Composition Forecast System

February 2021

AMS 101st Annual Meeting


Evaluation of the GEOS-Chem UCX Stratosphere in the GEOS Composition Forecast System

2020

Poster at AGU Fall Meeting 2020 (virtual)


NASA GEOS Composition Forecast System: “GEOS-CF”

September 2020

TEMPO Science Team Meeting (Virtual)


NASA GEOS Composition Forecast System: “GEOS-CF”

July 2020

TOLNET-Pandora-TEMPO Science Team Meeting (Virtual)


NASA’s High-Resolution GEOS Forecasting and Reanalysis Products: Impact of Stratospheric Intrusions on Surface Ozone Air Quality

April 2020

OCTAV-UTLS Workshop, JPL Table Mountain Facility, CA


Predicting more than just weather:  New high resolution forecasts of composition from GEOS

February 14, 2020

NASA Hyperwall Science Stories at Booth #301, AMS Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, 13-16 January 2020


NASA's High-Resolution GEOS Forecasting and Reanalysis Products: Impact of Stratospheric Intrusions on Surface Ozone Air Quality

February 16, 2020

AMS Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, 13-16 January 2020


High-Resolution Global Coupled Chemistry-Meteorology Simulations using the NASA GEOS Composition Forecast System: GEOS-CF

February 13, 2020

AMS Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, 13-16 January 2020


Local to Global Air Quality Simulations using the NASA GEOS Composition Forecast Model GEOS-CF

November 2019

18th Annual CMAS Conference, Chapel Hill, NC, October 21-23, 2019


Air Pollution Forecasts using the NASA GEOS Model:  A unified Tool from Local to Global Scales

August 2019

NASA Health and Air Quality Applied Science Team HAQAST6 Meeting, Pasadena, California, July 10-12, 2019


Near real-time forecasts at 25km horizontal resolution

June 2019

The 9th International GEOS-Chem Meeting, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 6-9, 2019


Air Quality Forecasts using the NASA GEOS Composition Modeling and Data Assimilation System

May 2019

EGU General Assembly 2019, Vienna, Austria, April 8-12, 2019


Application of NASA's new global high-resolution air quality forecasts: Stratospheric intrusion-influenced ozone exceedance events in the USA

2018

AGU Fall Meeting 2018, Washington, DC, December 10-14, 2018


Air Pollution Forecasts using the NASA GEOS Model

July 2018

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), Reading, England, June 4, 2018


Stratospheric Intrusion Catalog: A 10-year Compilation of Events Identified by using an Objective Feature Tracking Model with NASA’s MERRA-2 Reanalysis

July 2018

Meteorology Department, University of Reading, Reading, England, June 5, 2018


Stratospheric Intrusion Catalog: A 10-year Compilation of Events Identified by using an Objective Feature Tracking Model with NASA’s MERRA-2 Reanalysis

March 2018

Oral presentation at the SPARC Workshop on The UTLS: Current status and emerging challenges.  Workshop held in Mainz, Germany, February 5-8, 2018.


Stratospheric Intrusion Catalog: A 10-year Compilation of Events Identified by using an Objective Feature Tracking Model with NASA’s MERRA-2 Reanalysis

2017

Oral presentation at the 2017 AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans, LA


Air Pollution Forecasts using the NASA GEOS Model: A Unified Tool from Local to Global Scales

2017

Oral presentation at 2017 AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans, LA


Influence of mid-latitude cyclones on European background surface ozone investigated in observations and multiple reanalyses

December 2017

Poster presentation at the 5th International Conference on Reanalysis (ICR5) held in Rome, Italy, November 13-17, 2017


Stratospheric intrusion-influenced ozone air quality exceedences investigated in the NASA MERRA-2 Reanalysis

December 2017

Oral presentation at the 5th International Conference on Reanalysis (ICR5) held in Rome, Italy, November 13-17, 2017.


Air Pollution Forecasts using the NASA GEOS Model: A Unified Tool from Local to Global Scales

November 2017

Oral presentation at the 2017 Young Scientist Forum for Code 600, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, on October 30, 2017.


The influence of mid-latitude cyclones on European background surface ozone

May 2017

Oral presentation at the joint U.S. EPA, the Task Force on Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution (TF HTAP), and the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII) workshop "Air Quality in a Changing World", held at the US EPA, Research Triangle Park, NC, April 3-6, 2017.


Regional Differences in Stratospheric Intrusions over the USA Investigated using the NASA MERRA-2 Reanalysis

2016

Poster presentation at the 2016 AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA


Regional differences in stratospheric intrusions over the USA investigated using the MERRA-2 Reanalysis

November 2016

Oral presentation at the 2016 Young Scientist Program for Code 610, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, USA


Regional differences in stratospheric intrusions over the USA investigated using the NASA MERRA-2 Reanalysis

October 2016

Poster presentation at the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Project 2016 Science Conference, Breckenridge, CO, USA


Stratospheric intrusions investigated using high-resolution global simulations from the NASA GEOS-5 model

October 2016

Poster presentation at the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry (IGAC) Project 2016 Science Conference, Breckenridge, CO, USA


The influence of mid-latitude cyclone tracks on surface ozone at remote European coastal monitoring sites

April 2016

Oral presentation at the 10th International Conference on Air Quality –
Science and Application, Milan, Italy
 


The influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation on tropospheric distributions of O3 and CO

2015

Oral presentation at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall meeting,
San Francisco, California, USA
 


Mid-latitude storm track variability and its influence on atmospheric composition

June 2014

Poster at the IGAC/SPARC Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI) Workshop, Lancaster, UK


Mid-latitude storm track variability and its influence on atmospheric composition

2013

Poster at the AGU Fall meeting, San Francisco, California, USA