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”.
K. Emma Knowland
(Research Scientist)
| 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
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)
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