Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Yuekui Yang

(Rsch AST, Climate and Radiation Std)

Yuekui Yang's Contact Card & Information.
Email: yuekui.yang-1@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.614.6313
Org Code: 613
Address:
NASA/GSFC
 Mail Code 613
 Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer:
NASA

Brief Bio

Dr. Yuekui Yang is a Research Physical Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. His research includes studies of cloud and blowing snow over ice sheets, polar radiation budget, atmospheric effects on ice sheet altimetry, polar boundary layer properties and satellite cloud property retrievals. The NASA missions he has been working on include: the Ice, Cloud,and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) mission as a Science Definition Team member (PI, 2014-2020), the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission as a member of the Science Team and the lead of the cloud products team (PI, 2014--), and the CloudSat/CALIPSO mission as a member of the Science Team (PI, 2016--) etc.

Dr. Yang started working at the Climate and Radiation Laboratory, Goddard Space Flight Center in 2007. Prior joining the NASA civil service in 2016, he worked as a Research Scientist and Group Lead (Manager II) at the Universities Space Research Association, where his affiliation began in 2011. From 2007 to 2011, Dr. Yang was associated with the University of Maryland at Baltimore County.

Dr. Yang received his Ph.D. from the Unversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Atmospheric Sciences. He had 10 years of pre-doctoral working experience, holding positions from a researcher in atmospheric sciences, a meteorological radar software engineer, to a software project manager.

Research Interests

Active and Passive Remote Sensing; Atmospheric Radiative Transfer; Polar Radiation Budget, Planetary Boundary Layer

Earth Science: Remote Sensing

Current Projects

Ice, Cloud,and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2)

Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR)

CloudSat/CALIPSO Science Team

Awards

  • 2020, NASA Agency Group Achievement Award for ICESat-2 Launch and Commissioning: “For significant launch and commissioning preparations and achievements enabling the success of the ICESat-2 mission”.
  • 2019, NASA Honor Award, Silver Achievement Medal - Group, ICESat-2 Project Team.
  • 2019, NASA Honor Award, Group Achievement, ICESat-2 Team.
  • 2018, ICESat-2 mission recognition, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: “in recognition and appreciation of your outstanding contribution to the successful development, launch and activation of the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat-2)”.
  • 2016, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Earth Science Division – Atmospheres Award for Outstanding Performance – Outreach: “For contributions to generating enhanced DSCOVR/EPIC RGB images”.
  • 2015, NASA Agency Group Achievement Award for the DSCOVR Ground System Development and Test Team: “For outstanding effort in developing and testing the DSCOVR ground system under extenuating circumstances with limited resources and time”.
  • 2015, DSCOVR mission recognition, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: “in recognition and appreciation of your outstanding contribution to the successful launch of the Deep Space Climate Observatory, enabling continued space weather forecasting and unique Earth science observations”.
  • 2009, 2012, Best Paper Award,Climate and Radiation Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
  • 2008, Ogura Research Paper Award, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: “in recognition of exceptional research resulting in an outstanding published paper”.

Grants

The Sources and Sinks of Antarctic Blowing Snow

CloudSat and CALIPSO Science Team - NASA - Awarded: 2019-05-27


Dates: 2019-10-01  - 2022-09-30

Improvement and Assessment of the EPIC Cloud Products

DSCOVR Science Team - NASA - Awarded: 2019-03-01


Dates: 2019-03-01  - 2022-02-28

“A Holistic Approach to Improve ICESAT-2 Daytime Cloud Retrievals and Reduce Uncertainty in Surface Elevation Measurements”

ICESat-2 Science Definition Team - NASA - Awarded: 2015-01-01


Dates: 2015-02-01  - 2020-03-01

"Study of Longwave Radiative Effects of Antarctic Blowing Snow: a Synergy among CALIPSO, CERES, MODIS and Model Data"

CloudSat and CALIPSO Science Team - NASA - Awarded: 2016-05-01


Dates: 2016-10-01  - 2019-09-30

"EPIC Cloud Algorithms"

DSCOVR Earth Science Algorithms - NASA - Awarded: 2014-10-01


Dates: 2014-10-01  - 2017-09-30

“Blowing Snow Over Antarctica: Implications for Ice Sheet Mass Balance, Sea Ice Thickness and Laser Altimetry”

Cryospheric Science Program - NASA - Awarded: 2014-01-01


Dates: 2014-01-01  - 2016-12-31

Special Experience

Cloud Products for the DSCOVR EPIC Mission

Yang, Y., K. Meyer, G. Wind, Y. Zhou, A. Marshak, S. Platnick, Q. Min, A.B, Davis et al., 2018. DSCOVR EPIC cloud products, https://doi.org/10.5067/EPIC/DSCOVR/L2_CLOUD_01

Atmospheric Products for the ICESat-2 Mission

Palm, S. P., Y. Yang, U. C. Herzfeld, D. Hancock, K. A. Barbieri, J. Wimert, and the ICESat-2 Science Team. 2019. ATLAS/ICESat-2 L3A Calibrated Backscatter Profiles and Atmospheric Layer Characteristics, Version 1. Boulder, Colorado USA. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/ATLAS/ATL09.001.

Enhance Color Image for the DSCOVR EPIC Mission

Yang, Y., and A. Marshak, et al. 2016. DSCOVR EPIC enhanced RGB images. https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/enhanced

Publications

Refereed

2024. "Global cloud optical depth daily variability based on DSCOVR/ EPIC observations." Frontiers in Remote Sensing 5 [10.3389/frsen.2024.1390683] [Journal Article/Letter]

2024. "Impacts of Sun Glint Off Ice Clouds on DSCOVR EPIC Cloud Products." IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 62 1-11 [10.1109/tgrs.2024.3400253] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Evaluation of EPIC oxygen bands stability with radiative transfer simulations over the South Pole." Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer 310 108737 [10.1016/j.jqsrt.2023.108737] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Diagnosis of Antarctic Blowing Snow Properties Using MERRA-2 Reanalysis with a Machine Learning Model." Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology 62 (8): 1055–1068 [10.1175/jamc-d-23-0004.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Lidar attenuation coefficient in the global oceans: insights from ICESat-2 mission." Optics Express 31 (18): 29107 [10.1364/oe.498053] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Reconstructing PM2.5 Data Record for the Kathmandu Valley Using a Machine Learning Model." Atmosphere 14 (7): 1073 [10.3390/atmos14071073] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Impact of Clouds and Blowing Snow on Surface and Atmospheric Boundary Layer Properties Over Dome C, Antarctica." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 127 (21): [10.1029/2022jd036801] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Nearshore bathymetry and seafloor property studies from Space lidars: CALIPSO and ICESat-2." Optics Express 30 (20): 36509 [10.1364/oe.471444] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "EPIC/DSCOVR as a Pathfinder in Cloud Remote Sensing Using Differential Oxygen Absorption Spectroscopy." Frontiers in Remote Sensing 3 [10.3389/frsen.2022.796273] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Cloud Height Daytime Variability From DSCOVR/EPIC and GOES-R/ABI Observations." Frontiers in Remote Sensing 3 [10.3389/frsen.2022.780243] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "New Ocean Subsurface Optical Properties From Space Lidars: CALIOP/CALIPSO and ATLAS/ICESat‐2." Earth and Space Science 8 (10): [10.1029/2021ea001839] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "ICESat‐2 Atmospheric Channel Description, Data Processing and First Results." Earth and Space Science 8 (8): [10.1029/2020ea001470] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Cloud Detection Over Sunglint Regions With Observations From the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera." Frontiers in Remote Sensing 2 [10.3389/frsen.2021.690010] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Enabling value added scientific applications of ICESat‐2 data with effective removal of afterpulses." Earth and Space Science [10.1029/2021ea001729] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Global daytime variability of clouds from DSCOVR/EPIC observations." Geophysical Research Letters 48 [10.1029/2020gl091511] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Study of Antarctic blowing snow storms using MODIS and CALIOP observations with a machine learning model." Earth and Space Science 8 (1): [10.1029/2020ea001310] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Cloud-top pressure retrieval with DSCOVR EPIC oxygen A- and B-band observations." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 13 (10): 5259-5275 [10.5194/amt-13-5259-2020] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Antarctic spring ice-edge blooms observed from space by ICESat-2." Remote Sensing of Environment 245 111827 [10.1016/j.rse.2020.111827] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Daytime Variability of Cloud Fraction From DSCOVR/EPIC Observations." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 125 (10): [10.1029/2019jd031488] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Cloud detection over snow and ice with oxygen A- and B-band observations from the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC)." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 13 (3): 1575-1591 [10.5194/amt-13-1575-2020] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Analyzing changes in the complexity of climate in the last four decades using MERRA-2 radiation data." Scientific Reports 10 (1): 922 [10.1038/s41598-020-57917-8] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Evaluation of the Antarctic boundary layer thermodynamic structure in MERRA2 using dropsonde observations from the Concordiasi campaign." Earth and Space Science (6): 2397-2409 [10.1029/2019ea000890] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "New Earth Orbiter Provides a Sharper Look at a Changing Planet." Eos 100 [10.1029/2019eo133233] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Cloud remote sensing with EPIC/DSCOVR observations: A sensitivity study with radiative transfer simulations." Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer 230 56-60 [10.1016/j.jqsrt.2019.03.022] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "New Perspectives on Blowing Snow in Antarctica and Implications for Ice Sheet Mass Balance." Antarctica - A Key To Global Change 136 [10.5772/intechopen.81319] [Article in Book]

2019. "Cloud products from the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC): algorithms and initial evaluation." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 12 (3): 2019-2031 [10.5194/amt-12-2019-2019] [Journal Article/Letter]

2019. "Remote Sensing of Daytime Water Leaving Reflectances of Oceans and Large Inland Lakes from EPIC onboard the DSCOVR Spacecraft at Lagrange-1 Point." Sensors 19 (5): 1243 [10.3390/s19051243] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Insight into the Thermodynamic Structure of Blowing-Snow Layers in Antarctica from Dropsonde and CALIPSO Measurements." Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology 57 (12): 2733-2748 [10.1175/jamc-d-18-0082.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Cloud information content in EPIC/DSCOVR’s oxygen A- and B-band channels: A physics-based approach." Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer 220 84-96 [10.1016/j.jqsrt.2018.09.006] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "A Regional Analysis of Factors Affecting the Antarctic Boundary Layer During the Concordiasi Campaign." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres [10.1029/2018jd028629] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Earth Observations from DSCOVR/EPIC Instrument." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society BAMS-D-17-0223.1 [10.1175/bams-d-17-0223.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Toward a Satellite-Derived Climatology of Blowing Snow Over Antarctica." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres [10.1029/2018jd028632] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Cloud information content in EPIC/DSCOVR’s oxygen A- and B-band channels: An optimal estimation approach." Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer 216 6-16 [10.1016/j.jqsrt.2018.05.007] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Laser pulse bidirectional reflectance from CALIPSO mission." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 11 (6): 3281-3296 [10.5194/amt-11-3281-2018] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Blowing snow sublimation and transport over Antarctica from 11 years of CALIPSO observations." The Cryosphere 11 (6): 2555-2569 [10.5194/tc-11-2555-2017] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Passive remote sensing of altitude and optical depth of dust plumes using the oxygen A and B bands: First results from EPIC/DSCOVR at Lagrange-1 point." Geophysical Research Letters 44 (14): 7544-7554 [10.1002/2017gl073939] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Snow grain size retrieval over the polar ice sheets with the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) observations." Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer [10.1016/j.jqsrt.2016.03.033] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "The Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2): Science requirements, concept, and implementation." Remote Sensing of Environment 190 260-273 [10.1016/j.rse.2016.12.029] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "Study of the Effect of Temporal Sampling Frequency on DSCOVR Observations Using the GEOS-5 Nature Run Results (Part II): Cloud Coverage." Remote Sensing 8 (5): [10.3390/rs8050431] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "Uncertainties in cloud phase and optical thickness retrievals from the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC)." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 9 (4): 1785-1797 [10.5194/amt-9-1785-2016] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "Study of the Effect of Temporal Sampling Frequency on DSCOVR Observations Using the GEOS-5 Nature Run Results (Part I): Earth’s Radiation Budget." Remote Sens. 8 (2): 98 [10.3390/rs8020098] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "The fertilizing role of African dust in the Amazon rainforest: A first multiyear assessment based on data from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations." Geophysical Research Letters 42 (6): 1984-1991 [10.1002/2015GL063040] [Journal Article/Letter]

2015. "Quantification of Trans-Atlantic Dust Transport from Seven-year (2007-2013) Record of CALIPSO Lidar Measurements." Remote Sens. Environ 159 232-249 [10.1016/j.rse.2014.12.010] [Journal Article/Letter]

2014. "First satellite-detected perturbations of outgoing longwave radiation associated with blowing snow events over Antarctica." Geophys. Res. Lett 41 (2): 730-735 [10.1002/2013GL058932] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "A method of retrieving cloud top height and cloud geometrical thickness with oxygen A and B bands for the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission: Radiative transfer simulations." Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer 122 141-149 [10.1016/j.jqsrt.2012.09.017] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Assessment of Cloud Screening With Apparent Surface Reflectance in Support of the ICESat-2 Mission." IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing 51 (2): 1037-1045 [10.1109/TGRS.2012.2204066] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "An integrated analysis of aerosol above clouds from A-Train multi-sensor measurements." Remote Sens Environ 121 125-131 [10.1016/j.rse.2012.01.011] [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Satellite remote sensing of blowing snow properties over Antarctica." Journal of Geophysical Research 116 (D16): D16123 [10.1029/2011jd015828] [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Cloud Impact on Surface Altimetry From a Spaceborne 532-nm Micropulse Photon-Counting Lidar: System Modeling for Cloudy and Clear Atmospheres." IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing 49 (12): 4910-4919 [Full Text] [10.1109/TGRS.2011.2153860] [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Uncertainties in Ice-Sheet Altimetry From a Spaceborne 1064-nm Single-Channel Lidar Due to Undetected Thin Clouds." IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing 48 (1): 250-259 [10.1109/TGRS.2009.2028335] [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Impacts of 3-D radiative effects on satellite cloud detection and their consequences on cloud fraction and aerosol optical depth retrievals." Journal of Geophysical Research 113 (D4): D04213 [10.1029/2007jd009095] [Journal Article/Letter]

2008. "Retrievals of Thick Cloud Optical Depth from the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) by Calibration of Solar Background Signal." J. Atmos. Sci. 65 (11): 3513-3526 [10.1175/2008JAS2744.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2007. "Selection of the automated thresholding algorithm for the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer Radiometric Camera-by-Camera Cloud Mask over land." Remote Sensing of Environment 107 (1-2): 159-171 [10.1016/j.rse.2006.05.020] [Journal Article/Letter]

Contact Us

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

Technical issues with this website may be reported to karen.smale@nasa.gov.
General inquiries about the scientific programs at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center may be directed to the Center Office of Communications at 1.301.286.8955.