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Lesley E Ott

Photo of LESLEY OTT

Lesley E Ott

  • RESEARCH AST, METEOROLOGICAL STUDIES
  • 301.614.6093
  • NASA/GSFC
  • Mail Code: 610.1
  • Greenbelt , MD 20771
  • Employer: NASA

    • Brief Bio

    Dr. Ott received her Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2006. She joined the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at Goddard Space Flight Center in 2006, as a NASA post-doctoral fellow, and in 2011, as a civil servant. Her research focuses on understanding how small scale atmospheric processes affect atmospheric composition and our understanding of the carbon cycle.

    Positions/Employment

    1/2011 - Present

    Research Meteorologist

    Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
    10/2008 - 1/2011

    Assistant Research Scientist

    Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center, University of Maryland, Baltimore County , Baltimore, MD
    10/2006 - 10/2008

    NASA Postdoctoral Fellow

    Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
    9/2000 - 9/2006

    Graduate Research Assistant

    Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD

    Education

    Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science from the University of Maryland - College Park, 2006
    Dissertation: An Analysis of Convective Transport, Lightning NOx Production, and Chemistry in Midlatitude and Subtropical Thunderstorms

    M.Sc. in Meteorology from the University of Maryland - College Park, 2003

    B.Sc. in Physical Sciences from the University of Maryland - College Park, 2000

    Publications

    Refereed

    Lee, E., F. Zeng, R. D. Koster, et al. L. E. Ott, S. P. Mahanama, B. Weir, B. Poulter, and T. Oda. 2020. "Impact of a Regional US Drought on Land and Atmospheric Carbon." Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, (In Press) [10.1029/2019jg005599]

    Duncan, B. N., L. E. Ott, J. B. Abshire, et al. L. Brucker, M. L. Carroll, J. Carton, J. C. Comiso, E. P. Dinnat, B. C. Forbes, A. Gonsamo, W. W. Gregg, D. K. Hall, I. Ialongo, R. Jandt, R. A. Kahn, A. Karpechko, S. R. Kawa, S. Kato, T. Kumpula, E. Kyrölä, T. V. Loboda, K. C. McDonald, P. M. Montesano, R. Nassar, C. S. Neigh, C. L. Parkinson, B. Poulter, J. Pulliainen, K. Rautiainen, B. M. Rogers, C. S. Rousseaux, A. J. Soja, N. Steiner, J. Tamminen, P. C. Taylor, M. A. Tzortziou, H. Virta, J. S. Wang, J. D. Watts, D. M. Winker, and D. L. Wu. 2020. "Space‐Based Observations for Understanding Changes in the Arctic‐Boreal Zone." Reviews of Geophysics, 58 (1): 2019RG000652 [10.1029/2019rg000652]

    Palmer, P. I., E. L. Wilson, G. L. Villanueva, et al. G. Liuzzi, L. Feng, A. J. DiGregorio, J. Mao, L. Ott, and B. Duncan. 2019. "Potential improvements in global carbon flux estimates from a network of laser heterodyne radiometer measurements of column carbon dioxide." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 12 (4): 2579-2594 [10.5194/amt-12-2579-2019]

    Jacobson, A. R., J. B. Miller, A. Ballantyne, et al. S. Basu, L. Bruhwiler, A. Chatterjee, S. Denning, and L. E. Ott. 2018. "Chapter 8: Observations of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Methane. Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report." Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report, [10.7930/soccr2.2018.ch8]

    Lee, E., F. Zeng, R. D. Koster, et al. B. Weir, L. E. Ott, and B. Poulter. 2018. "The impact of spatiotemporal variability in atmospheric CO2 concentration on global terrestrial carbon fluxes." Biogeosciences, 15: 5635-5652 [10.5194/bg-15-5635-2018]

    Knowland, K. E., R. M. Doherty, K. I. Hodges, and L. E. Ott. 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]

    Knowland, K. E., L. E. Ott, B. N. Duncan, and K. Wargan. 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]

    Ott, L. E., B. N. Duncan, A. M. Thompson, et al. G. Diskin, Z. Fasnacht, A. O. Langford, M. Lin, A. M. Molod, J. E. Nielsen, S. E. Pusede, K. Wargan, A. J. Weinheimer, and Y. Yoshida. 2016. "Frequency and impact of summertime stratospheric intrusions over Maryland during DISCOVER-AQ (2011): New evidence from NASA's GEOS-5 simulations." J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., [10.1002/2015jd024052]

    Melroy, H. R., E. L. Wilson, G. B. Clarke, et al. L. E. Ott, J. Mao, A. K. Ramanathan, and M. L. McLinden. 2015. "Autonomous field measurements of CO2 in the atmospheric column with the miniaturized laser heterodyne radiometer (Mini-LHR)." Appl. Phys. B, 120 (4): 609-615 [10.1007/s00340-015-6172-3]

    McGrath-Spangler, E. L., A. M. Molod, L. E. Ott, and S. Pawson. 2015. "Impact of planetary boundary layer turbulence on model climate and tracer transport." Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15 (13): 7269-7286 [10.5194/acp-15-7269-2015]

    Ott, L. E., S. Pawson, G. J. Collatz, et al. W. W. Gregg, D. Menemenlis, H. Brix, C. S. Rousseaux, K. W. Bowman, J. Liu, A. Eldering, M. R. Gunson, and S. R. Kawa. 2015. "Assessing the magnitude of CO2 flux uncertainty in atmospheric CO2 records using products from NASA's Carbon Monitoring Flux Pilot Project." Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 120: 734-765 [doi:10.1002/2014JD022411]

    Liu, J., K. W. Bowman, M. Lee, et al. D. K. Henze, N. Bousserez, H. Brix, G. J. Collatz, D. Menemenlis, L. E. Ott, S. Pawson, D. Jones, and R. Nassar. 2014. "Carbon monitoring system flux estimation and attribution: impact of ACOS-GOSAT X CO₂ sampling on the inference of terrestrial biospheric sources and sinks." Tellus B, 66: 22486 [10.3402/tellusb.v66.22486]

    Lyapustin, A. I., M. J. Alexander, L. E. Ott, et al. A. M. Molod, B. N. Holben, J. Susskind, and Y. Wang. 2014. "Observation of mountain lee waves with MODIS NIR column water vapor." Geophys. Res. Lett., 41 (2): 710-716 [10.1002/2013GL058770]

    Steel, E. W., M. L. Mclinden, J. H. Miller, et al. G. R. Allan, L. E. Ott, H. Melroy, and G. B. Clarke. 2013. "Miniaturized laser heterodyne radiometer for measurements of CO2 in the atmospheric column." Applied Physics B, 114 (3): 385-393 [10.1007/s00340-013-5531-1]

    Tangborn, A., L. L. Strow, B. Imbiriba, L. Ott, and S. Pawson. 2013. "Evaluation of a new middle-lower tropospheric CO₂ product using data assimilation." Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13 (9): 4487-4500 [10.5194/acp-13-4487-2013]

    Strode, S. A., L. E. Ott, S. Pawson, and T. Bowyer. 2012. "Emission and transport of cesium-137 from boreal biomass burning in the summer of 2010." JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES, 117: [10.1029/2011JD017382]

    Allen, M., D. Erickson, W. Kendall, et al. J. Fu, L. Ott, and S. Pawson. 2012. "The influence of internal model variability in GEOS-5 on interhemispheric CO2 exchange." J. Geophys. Res., 117 (D10): D10107 [10.1029/2011JD017059]

    Ott, L., S. Pawson, and J. Bacmeister. 2011. "An analysis of the impact of convective parameter sensitivity on simulated global atmospheric CO distributions." J. Geophys. Res., 116 (D21): D21310 [10.1029/2011JD016077]

    Liang, Q., R. S. Stolarski, S. Kawa, et al. J. Nielsen, A. R. Douglass, J. M. Rodriguez, D. Blake, E. Atlas, and L. Ott. 2010. "Finding the missing stratospheric Bry: a global modeling study of CHBr₃ and CH₂Br₂." Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10 (5): 2269-2286 [10.5194/acp-10-2269-2010]

    Ott, L., B. N. Duncan, S. Pawson, et al. P. Colarco, M. Chin, C. A. Randles, T. Diehl, and E. Nielsen. 2010. "Influence of the 2006 Indonesian biomass burning aerosols on tropical dynamics studied with the GEOS-5 AGCM." J Geophys Res, 115 (D14): D14121 [10.1029/2009JD013181]

    Ott, L., K. E. Pickering, G. Stenchikov, et al. D. Allen, A. DeCaria, B. Ridley, R. Lin, S. Lang, and W. Tao. 2010. "Production of lightning NOx and its vertical distribution calculated from three-dimensional cloud-scale chemical transport model simulations." J. Geophys. Res., 115 (D4): D04301 [10.1029/2009JD011880]

    Ott, L. E., J. T. Bacmeister, S. Pawson, et al. K. E. Pickering, G. Stenchikov, M. J. Suarez, H. Huntreiser, M. Loewenstein, J. Lopez, and I. Xueref-Remy. 2009. "Analysis of Convective Transport and Parameter Sensitivity in a Single Column Version of the Goddard Earth Observation System, Version 5, General Circulation Model." J. Atmos. Sci., 66 (3): 627-646 [10.1175/2008JAS2694.1]

    Barth, M. C., S.-W. Kim, C. Wang, et al. K. E. Pickering, L. E. Ott, G. Stenchikov, M. Leriche, S. Cautenet, J.-P. Pinty, C. Barthe, C. Mari, J. Helsdon, R. Farley, A. M. Fridlind, A. S. Ackerman, V. Spiridonov, and B. Telenta. 2007. "Cloud-scale model intercomparison of chemical constituent transport in deep convection." Atmos Chem Phys, 7: 4709-4731 [10.5194/acp-7-4709-2007]

    DeCaria, A. J., K. E. Pickering, G. L. Stenchikov, and L. E. Ott. 2005. "Lightning-generated NO X and its impact on tropospheric ozone production: A three-dimensional modeling study of a Stratosphere-Troposphere Experiment: Radiation, Aerosols and Ozone (STERAO-A) thunderstorm." J. Geophys. Res., 110 (D14): D14303 [10.1029/2004JD005556]

    Stenchikov, G., L. Ott, J. Scala, et al. W.-K. Tao, A. DeCaria, K. Pickering, D. Bartels, and T. Matejka. 2005. "Simulation of the fine structure of the 12 July 1996 Stratosphere-Troposphere Experiment: Radiation Aerosols and Ozone (STERAO-A) storm accounting for effects of terrain and interaction with mesoscale flow." J Geophys Res, 110 (D14304): [0.1029/2004JD005582]

    Ridley, B., L. Ott, L. Emmons, et al. D. Montzka, A. Weinheimer, D. Knapp, F. Grahek, L. Li, M. J. Mcgill, P. Kucera, M. J. Mahoney, G. M. Heymsfield, and G. Brasseur. 2004. "Florida thunderstorms: A faucet of reactive nitrogen to the upper troposphere." J. Geophys. Res., 109 (D17): DI7305 [10.1029/2004JD004769]

    Non-Refereed

    Gelaro, R., W. M. Putman, S. Pawson, et al. C. S. Draper, A. M. Molod, P. M. Norris, L. E. Ott, N. C. Privé, O. Reale, D. Achuthavarier, M. G. Bosilovich, V. J. Buchard, W. C. Chao, L. Coy, R. I. Cullather, A. M. Da Silva, A. S. Darmenov, R. M. Errico, M. Fuentes, M.-J. Kim, R. D. Koster, W. R. Mccarty, J. Nattala, G. S. Partyka, S. D. Schubert, G. R. Vernieres, Y. V. Vikhliaev, and K. Wargan. 2015. "Evaluation of the 7-km GEOS-5 Nature Run." NASA Technical Report Series on Global Modeling and Data Assimilation 36 (NASA/TM-2014-104606):

    Brief Bio

    Dr. Ott received her Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2006. She joined the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at Goddard Space Flight Center in 2006, as a NASA post-doctoral fellow, and in 2011, as a civil servant. Her research focuses on understanding how small scale atmospheric processes affect atmospheric composition and our understanding of the carbon cycle.

    Publications

    Refereed

    Lee, E., F. Zeng, R. D. Koster, et al. L. E. Ott, S. P. Mahanama, B. Weir, B. Poulter, and T. Oda. 2020. "Impact of a Regional US Drought on Land and Atmospheric Carbon." Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (In Press) [10.1029/2019jg005599]

    Duncan, B. N., L. E. Ott, J. B. Abshire, et al. L. Brucker, M. L. Carroll, J. Carton, J. C. Comiso, E. P. Dinnat, B. C. Forbes, A. Gonsamo, W. W. Gregg, D. K. Hall, I. Ialongo, R. Jandt, R. A. Kahn, A. Karpechko, S. R. Kawa, S. Kato, T. Kumpula, E. Kyrölä, T. V. Loboda, K. C. McDonald, P. M. Montesano, R. Nassar, C. S. Neigh, C. L. Parkinson, B. Poulter, J. Pulliainen, K. Rautiainen, B. M. Rogers, C. S. Rousseaux, A. J. Soja, N. Steiner, J. Tamminen, P. C. Taylor, M. A. Tzortziou, H. Virta, J. S. Wang, J. D. Watts, D. M. Winker, and D. L. Wu. 2020. "Space‐Based Observations for Understanding Changes in the Arctic‐Boreal Zone." Reviews of Geophysics 58 (1): 2019RG000652 [10.1029/2019rg000652]

    Palmer, P. I., E. L. Wilson, G. L. Villanueva, et al. G. Liuzzi, L. Feng, A. J. DiGregorio, J. Mao, L. Ott, and B. Duncan. 2019. "Potential improvements in global carbon flux estimates from a network of laser heterodyne radiometer measurements of column carbon dioxide." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 12 (4): 2579-2594 [10.5194/amt-12-2579-2019]

    Jacobson, A. R., J. B. Miller, A. Ballantyne, et al. S. Basu, L. Bruhwiler, A. Chatterjee, S. Denning, and L. E. Ott. 2018. "Chapter 8: Observations of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide and Methane. Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report." Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report [10.7930/soccr2.2018.ch8]

    Lee, E., F. Zeng, R. D. Koster, et al. B. Weir, L. E. Ott, and B. Poulter. 2018. "The impact of spatiotemporal variability in atmospheric CO2 concentration on global terrestrial carbon fluxes." Biogeosciences 15 5635-5652 [10.5194/bg-15-5635-2018]

    Knowland, K. E., R. M. Doherty, K. I. Hodges, and L. E. Ott. 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]

    Knowland, K. E., L. E. Ott, B. N. Duncan, and K. Wargan. 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]

    Ott, L. E., B. N. Duncan, A. M. Thompson, et al. G. Diskin, Z. Fasnacht, A. O. Langford, M. Lin, A. M. Molod, J. E. Nielsen, S. E. Pusede, K. Wargan, A. J. Weinheimer, and Y. Yoshida. 2016. "Frequency and impact of summertime stratospheric intrusions over Maryland during DISCOVER-AQ (2011): New evidence from NASA's GEOS-5 simulations." J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. [10.1002/2015jd024052]

    Melroy, H. R., E. L. Wilson, G. B. Clarke, et al. L. E. Ott, J. Mao, A. K. Ramanathan, and M. L. McLinden. 2015. "Autonomous field measurements of CO2 in the atmospheric column with the miniaturized laser heterodyne radiometer (Mini-LHR)." Appl. Phys. B 120 (4): 609-615 [10.1007/s00340-015-6172-3]

    McGrath-Spangler, E. L., A. M. Molod, L. E. Ott, and S. Pawson. 2015. "Impact of planetary boundary layer turbulence on model climate and tracer transport." Atmos. Chem. Phys. 15 (13): 7269-7286 [10.5194/acp-15-7269-2015]

    Ott, L. E., S. Pawson, G. J. Collatz, et al. W. W. Gregg, D. Menemenlis, H. Brix, C. S. Rousseaux, K. W. Bowman, J. Liu, A. Eldering, M. R. Gunson, and S. R. Kawa. 2015. "Assessing the magnitude of CO2 flux uncertainty in atmospheric CO2 records using products from NASA's Carbon Monitoring Flux Pilot Project." Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres 120 734-765 [doi:10.1002/2014JD022411]

    Liu, J., K. W. Bowman, M. Lee, et al. D. K. Henze, N. Bousserez, H. Brix, G. J. Collatz, D. Menemenlis, L. E. Ott, S. Pawson, D. Jones, and R. Nassar. 2014. "Carbon monitoring system flux estimation and attribution: impact of ACOS-GOSAT X CO₂ sampling on the inference of terrestrial biospheric sources and sinks." Tellus B 66 22486 [10.3402/tellusb.v66.22486]

    Lyapustin, A. I., M. J. Alexander, L. E. Ott, et al. A. M. Molod, B. N. Holben, J. Susskind, and Y. Wang. 2014. "Observation of mountain lee waves with MODIS NIR column water vapor." Geophys. Res. Lett. 41 (2): 710-716 [10.1002/2013GL058770]

    Steel, E. W., M. L. Mclinden, J. H. Miller, et al. G. R. Allan, L. E. Ott, H. Melroy, and G. B. Clarke. 2013. "Miniaturized laser heterodyne radiometer for measurements of CO2 in the atmospheric column." Applied Physics B 114 (3): 385-393 [10.1007/s00340-013-5531-1]

    Tangborn, A., L. L. Strow, B. Imbiriba, L. Ott, and S. Pawson. 2013. "Evaluation of a new middle-lower tropospheric CO₂ product using data assimilation." Atmos. Chem. Phys. 13 (9): 4487-4500 [10.5194/acp-13-4487-2013]

    Strode, S. A., L. E. Ott, S. Pawson, and T. Bowyer. 2012. "Emission and transport of cesium-137 from boreal biomass burning in the summer of 2010." JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES 117 [10.1029/2011JD017382]

    Allen, M., D. Erickson, W. Kendall, et al. J. Fu, L. Ott, and S. Pawson. 2012. "The influence of internal model variability in GEOS-5 on interhemispheric CO2 exchange." J. Geophys. Res. 117 (D10): D10107 [10.1029/2011JD017059]

    Ott, L., S. Pawson, and J. Bacmeister. 2011. "An analysis of the impact of convective parameter sensitivity on simulated global atmospheric CO distributions." J. Geophys. Res. 116 (D21): D21310 [10.1029/2011JD016077]

    Liang, Q., R. S. Stolarski, S. Kawa, et al. J. Nielsen, A. R. Douglass, J. M. Rodriguez, D. Blake, E. Atlas, and L. Ott. 2010. "Finding the missing stratospheric Bry: a global modeling study of CHBr₃ and CH₂Br₂." Atmos. Chem. Phys. 10 (5): 2269-2286 [10.5194/acp-10-2269-2010]

    Ott, L., B. N. Duncan, S. Pawson, et al. P. Colarco, M. Chin, C. A. Randles, T. Diehl, and E. Nielsen. 2010. "Influence of the 2006 Indonesian biomass burning aerosols on tropical dynamics studied with the GEOS-5 AGCM." J Geophys Res 115 (D14): D14121 [10.1029/2009JD013181]

    Ott, L., K. E. Pickering, G. Stenchikov, et al. D. Allen, A. DeCaria, B. Ridley, R. Lin, S. Lang, and W. Tao. 2010. "Production of lightning NOx and its vertical distribution calculated from three-dimensional cloud-scale chemical transport model simulations." J. Geophys. Res. 115 (D4): D04301 [10.1029/2009JD011880]

    Ott, L. E., J. T. Bacmeister, S. Pawson, et al. K. E. Pickering, G. Stenchikov, M. J. Suarez, H. Huntreiser, M. Loewenstein, J. Lopez, and I. Xueref-Remy. 2009. "Analysis of Convective Transport and Parameter Sensitivity in a Single Column Version of the Goddard Earth Observation System, Version 5, General Circulation Model." J. Atmos. Sci. 66 (3): 627-646 [10.1175/2008JAS2694.1]

    Barth, M. C., S.-W. Kim, C. Wang, et al. K. E. Pickering, L. E. Ott, G. Stenchikov, M. Leriche, S. Cautenet, J.-P. Pinty, C. Barthe, C. Mari, J. Helsdon, R. Farley, A. M. Fridlind, A. S. Ackerman, V. Spiridonov, and B. Telenta. 2007. "Cloud-scale model intercomparison of chemical constituent transport in deep convection." Atmos Chem Phys 7 4709-4731 [10.5194/acp-7-4709-2007]

    DeCaria, A. J., K. E. Pickering, G. L. Stenchikov, and L. E. Ott. 2005. "Lightning-generated NO X and its impact on tropospheric ozone production: A three-dimensional modeling study of a Stratosphere-Troposphere Experiment: Radiation, Aerosols and Ozone (STERAO-A) thunderstorm." J. Geophys. Res. 110 (D14): D14303 [10.1029/2004JD005556]

    Stenchikov, G., L. Ott, J. Scala, et al. W.-K. Tao, A. DeCaria, K. Pickering, D. Bartels, and T. Matejka. 2005. "Simulation of the fine structure of the 12 July 1996 Stratosphere-Troposphere Experiment: Radiation Aerosols and Ozone (STERAO-A) storm accounting for effects of terrain and interaction with mesoscale flow." J Geophys Res 110 (D14304): [0.1029/2004JD005582]

    Ridley, B., L. Ott, L. Emmons, et al. D. Montzka, A. Weinheimer, D. Knapp, F. Grahek, L. Li, M. J. Mcgill, P. Kucera, M. J. Mahoney, G. M. Heymsfield, and G. Brasseur. 2004. "Florida thunderstorms: A faucet of reactive nitrogen to the upper troposphere." J. Geophys. Res. 109 (D17): DI7305 [10.1029/2004JD004769]

    Non-Refereed

    Gelaro, R., W. M. Putman, S. Pawson, et al. C. S. Draper, A. M. Molod, P. M. Norris, L. E. Ott, N. C. Privé, O. Reale, D. Achuthavarier, M. G. Bosilovich, V. J. Buchard, W. C. Chao, L. Coy, R. I. Cullather, A. M. Da Silva, A. S. Darmenov, R. M. Errico, M. Fuentes, M.-J. Kim, R. D. Koster, W. R. Mccarty, J. Nattala, G. S. Partyka, S. D. Schubert, G. R. Vernieres, Y. V. Vikhliaev, and K. Wargan. 2015. "Evaluation of the 7-km GEOS-5 Nature Run." NASA Technical Report Series on Global Modeling and Data Assimilation 36 (NASA/TM-2014-104606):

                                                                                                                                                                                            
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