Bryan A. Baum
Associate Scientist
Space Science and Engineering Center
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1225 West Dayton St.
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: (608) 263-3898
Fax: (608) 262-5974
Email: bryan.baum at ssec.wisc.edu
At the Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC), I work with a number of colleagues to infer regional and global cloud properties from various polar-orbiting and geostationary satellite sensors. My interests also lie in ice cloud microphysics as well as the single scattering properties of ice particles, including their influence on the Earth's longwave and shortwave radiation fields. Recently, we have been working towards developing consistent global cloud climatologies from a variety of satellite sensors, including imagers, sounders, and hyperspectral IR instruments, as well as from combinations of these instruments. It is interesting work, trying to develop a set of decadal cloud climatologies that take advantage of advances in radiative transfer, light scattering from nonspherical ice/aerosol particles, calibration, validation, surface albedo/emittance maps, and anything else that comes along. Additionally, I am an editor for the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology and will continue this role for the next couple of years. I work with some of the best cloud remote sensing people in the world - it does not get much better than this.
Ice Cloud Bulk Scattering/Absorption Models
Note (posted July, 2009): we are in the process of updating our ice models to incorporate several years of improvements, including a new treatment for surface roughening on the ice particles, the addition of hollow bullet rosettes and an aggregate of plates, other improvements in the ice light scattering models, a wealth of new microphysical data from ice clouds (subvisual cirrus, tropical data, recent field campaigns, etc.), and much more. If you would like to be notified when new models are available, please send me an email.