Dr. Rachael A. Kroodsma is a Research Physical Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center with the Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Laboratory (Code 612). Her primary research focus is development and implementation of microwave radiometer calibration techniques for Earth remote sensing. Dr. Kroodsma's current work involves several projects for spaceborne and airborne microwave radiometers. She leads the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) inter-calibration working group (XCAL), leads the Polarized Submillimeter Ice-cloud Radiometer (PolSIR) Level 1 calibration algorithm development, and is PI and Co-I for GSFC's two airborne microwave radiometers CoSMIR-H and CoSSIR, respectively (Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer-Hyperspectral and Configurable Scanning Submillimeter-wave Instrument/Radiometer).
Rachael Ann Kroodsma
(RSCH AST, EARTH SCIENCES REMOTE SENS)
| Email: | rachael.a.kroodsma@nasa.gov |
| Phone: | 301.614.5242 |
| Org Code: | 612 |
| Address: |
NASA/GSFC Mail Code 612 Greenbelt, MD 20771 |
| Employer: |
Brief Bio
Research Interests
Radiometer Calibration
Development of techniques for monitoring and improving the calibration of spaceborne and airborne microwave radiometers including geolocation, thermal anomalies, RFI, stability, and inter-calibration
Current Projects
GPM XCAL
Remote Sensing
The GPM XCAL team is responsible for delivering the intercalibration tables for the GPM constellation microwave radiometers to create the Level 1C dataset. The XCAL team works on developing intercalibration techniques and monitoring the calibration/stability of the current sensors in the constellation to ensure a quality precipitation product.
CoSMIR-H and CoSSIR Airborne Radiometers
Remote Sensing
The GSFC airborne radiometer suite of CoSMIR-H and CoSSIR together provide broadband measurements from 50 to 684 GHz. CoSMIR-H is a recent modification from the CoSMIR instrument that includes new hyperspectral receiver technology to provide thousands of channels at oxygen and water vapor absorption lines to improve thermodynamic retrievals. CoSSIR was recently upgraded with new receivers to include dual-polarized channels from 170 to 684 to obtain measurements of ice clouds and ice cloud particle size and shape.
Websites:
https://earth.gsfc.nasa.gov/meso/instruments/cosmir
https://earth.gsfc.nasa.gov/meso/instruments/cossir
Positions/Employment
Research Physical Scientist
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, MD
October 2023 - Present
Assistant Research Scientist
University of Maryland - College Park, MD
April 2018 - October 2023
Post-Doctoral Associate
University of Maryland - College Park, MD
February 2014 - April 2018
Education
Ph.D. in Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2014
Dissertation: "Microwave Radiometer Inter-Calibration: Algorithm Development and Application"
M.S.E. in Electrical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2013
B.S.E. in Earth Systems Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2009
Professional Societies
IEEE
2010 - Present
Awards
NASA Group Achievement Award for IMPACTS Team, 2024
610AT Field Campaign Support Award, 2020
NASA Group Achievement Award for GPM Post-Launch Team, 2015
NASA RHG Exceptional Achievement for Science Team Award for Precipitation Processing System, 2015
NASA Graduate Student Researchers Program (GSRP) Fellowship, 2010
University of Michigan Rackham Merit Fellowship, 2009
Publications
Refereed
2024. "Highly dynamic gamma-ray emissions are common in tropical thunderclouds." Nature 634 (8032): 57-60 [10.1038/s41586-024-07936-6] [Journal Article/Letter]
2024. "Flickering gamma-ray flashes, the missing link between gamma glows and TGFs." Nature 634 (8032): 53-56 [10.1038/s41586-024-07893-0] [Journal Article/Letter]
2024. "The West-Coast Hyperspectral Microwave Sensor Intensive Experiment (WHYMSIE)." IGARSS 2024 - 2024 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium 1430-1432 [10.1109/igarss53475.2024.10641560] [Proceedings]
2023. "Advancing Atmospheric Thermodynamic Sounding from Space using Hyperspectral Microwave Measurements." IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 16 1-16 [10.1109/jstars.2023.3269697] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder Updates for the Global Precipitation Measurement V07 Data Suite." IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 60 1-11 [10.1109/tgrs.2022.3162529] [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]
2020. "Evaluation of V05 Precipitation Estimates from GPM Constellation Radiometers Using KuPR as the Reference." Journal of Hydrometeorology 21 (4): 705-728 [10.1175/jhm-d-19-0144.1] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "CoSMIR Performance During the GPM OLYMPEX Campaign." IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 57 (9): 6397-6407 [10.1109/tgrs.2019.2906039] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Fundamental Climate Data Records of Microwave Brightness Temperatures." Remote Sensing 10 (8): 1306 [10.3390/rs10081306] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) Alignment and Along-Scan Bias Corrections." Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 35 (7): 1457-1470 [10.1175/jtech-d-17-0221.1] [Journal Article/Letter]
2017. "Vicarious Cold Calibration for Conical Scanning Microwave Imagers." IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 55 (2): 816-827 [10.1109/tgrs.2016.2615552] [Journal Article/Letter]
2016. "Intercalibration of the GPM Microwave Radiometer Constellation." Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 33 (12): 2639-2654 [10.1175/jtech-d-16-0100.1] [Journal Article/Letter]
2015. "Intercalibrating the GPM constellation using the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI)." 2015 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) [10.1109/igarss.2015.7326996] [Proceedings]
2013. "Extension of Vicarious Cold Calibration to 85–92 GHz for Spaceborne Microwave Radiometers." IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 51 (9): 4743-4751 [10.1109/tgrs.2013.2267152] [Journal Article/Letter]
2013. "Effect of microwave radiometer inter-calibration on rainfall accumulation for the global precipitation measurement mission." 2013 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium - IGARSS [10.1109/igarss.2013.6721368] [Proceedings]
2012. "Satellite attitude analysis using the vicarious cold calibration method for microwave radiometers." 2012 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium [10.1109/igarss.2012.6350804] [Proceedings]
2012. "Inter-Calibration of Microwave Radiometers Using the Vicarious Cold Calibration Double Difference Method." IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 5 (3): 1006-1013 [10.1109/jstars.2012.2195773] [Journal Article/Letter]
2011. "A Consensus Calibration based on TMI and Windsat." 2011 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium [10.1109/igarss.2011.6049745] [Proceedings]