Charles Gatebe - Principal Investigator

Biography

Dr. Charles K. Gatebe received the B.Sc. (meteorology, mathematics, and physics) and M.Sc. (meteorology) degrees from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, in 1990 and 1994, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in atmospheric sciences from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, in 1999. He taught courses on air pollution using nuclear related techniques at the Institute of Nuclear Science, University of Nairobi from 1995-1998 and came to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in 1999 as a Resident Research Associate of the Universities Space Research Association (USRA). He is currently an associate research scientist in the Goddard Earth Science and Technology Center, University of Maryland Baltimore County based at GSFC.

Over the last ten years, Dr. Gatebe has participated in many international field experiments. He flew the NASA's Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR) aboard the University of Washington aircraft, Convair CV-580 during the Southern African Regional Science Initiative-2000 in 2000 and Chesapeake Lighthouse and Aircraft Measurements for Satellites in 2001, and made measurements of surface bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) over marine stratus clouds of Namibia, African savannah (South Africa and Zambia), salt pans of Namibia and Botswana, and coastal waters and deep oceans in the western Atlantic Ocean off the US Coast. Between 2004 and 2005, he oversaw integration of the CAR onto a new platform, South Africa Weather Service aircraft, Aerocommander-690A and took measurements in Skukuza, South Africa in June 2005. He oversaw integration of the CAR on Sky Research aircraft, Jetstream-31 (J-31) from 2005-2006, and made measurements in Mexico during the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment Phase-B field experiment in 2006. Dr. Gatebe was the lead scientist on J-31 aircraft during the Cloud and Land Surface Interaction Campaign field experiment in Oklahoma. In 2008, he lead the integration of CAR on NASA P-3B and was the principal investigator for the CAR during the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites Mission in 2008.

His past research experience includes developing a simple Gaussian model to estimate motor vehicle emissions from line sources (highways) in Nairobi, in situ measurements of aerosols and gases, and characterizing aerosol sources using measurements he sampled at a high altitude on Mt. Kenya (the second highest in Africa) and statistical and trajectory methods. Currently, Dr Gatebe is interested in determining BRDF of different surface types and the remote sensing of aerosols and clouds to better understand their role in climate variability and change. He is also involved with modification of CAR to have modern data acquisition system and to accommodate the inclusion of multiple thermal infrared bands (3.9, 8.7, 11.02 and 13.7 µm), two additional visible bands (0.555 µm and 0.936 µm) bands, and investigate the inclusion of polarization measurements in two of the existing visible bands (0.470 µm and 0.680 µm).

Dr. Gatebe received the World Meteorological Organization Young Scientist Award in 2000 and was honored in 2007 by NASA GSFC's Climate and Radiation Branch for his outstanding scientific leadership in conducting airborne measurements to elaborate important surface and atmosphere radiative transfer functions and improve remote sensing retrievals of aerosols and clouds. He has won other NASA awards: Best Science Story Award: 2010; NASA Group Achievement Award: 2009 & 2007.

top