Dr. Nickolay Krotkov is the Associate Deputy Director for Atmospheres in the Earth Sciences Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Deputy Project Scientist for the NASA’s Earth Observing System chemistrymission (Aura). He received his Ph.D. in Oceanography from the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences in 1990. Dr. Krotkov has over 40 years of experience in radiative transfer, remote sensing observations, retrieval algorithm development, data analysis and research in the field of atmospheric composition. His experience in radiative transfer and retrievals has led to algorithms for operational satellite data production including the remote sensing of atmospheric trace gases such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) with applications for volcanic plume monitoring and air quality.
Dr. Hiren T Jethva has spent more than a decade in learning, developing, and validating the satellite-based aerosol retrieval from
different sensors on board NASA’s EOS satellites. His Ph.D. thesis investigation (2008) was focused on analyzing aerosol patterns using ground and satellite measurements and suggesting improvements to the NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) operational aerosol retrieval over the Indian region. During his postdoctoral fellowship (2009-2011) at the Hampton University, Hampton, VA, USA, he evaluated the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) operational aerosol products and provided critical suggestions toward improving the algorithm. Since 2011 and under the NASA/USRA’s GESTAR program, and now with Morgan State University as a senior research scientist under GESTAR-II, he is responsible for upkeeping, maintaining, and validating the OMI aerosol product as well as developing innovative algorithms for characterizing aerosols above clouds. He has played a lead role in developing the near-UV and visible-based techniques for the quantitative retrieval of the above-cloud aerosols from OMI, MODIS, DSCOVR-EPIC, and S5p-TropOMI observations.
Dr. Omar Torres received the B.S. degree in geodetic engineering from the Universidad Distrital FranciscoJose de Caldas, Bogota, Colombia, an M.S. degree in meteorology from the University of The Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines, and a PhD degree in atmospheric sciences from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA, in 1990. Between 1989 and 1999, he
was associated with STX and other industry organizations in support of NASA atmospheric remote sensing projects. In 1999, he became a research Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA. He joined Hampton University (Hampton, Virginia) in 2008 as an Associate Professor at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. In 2011, he accepted a position at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, where he continues to carry out research work in UV atmospheric remote sensing applications with special emphasis in the characterization of aerosol absorption properties from
satellite UV observations by the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer and Ozone Monitoring Instrument sensors. He has authored and coauthored over 70 peer-reviewed publications.
