NASA Researcher Honored by Goddard Tech Office for Earth Science Work

Goddard scientist Dr. Antonia Gambacorta the 2023 IRAD Innovator of the Year for her work establishing hyperspectral microwave innovation to dissect Earth’s environment from orbit.

Earth science scientist Dr. Antonia Gambacorta made the 2023 Goddard IRAD Technology Leadership award for pioneering brand-new methods to determine lower layers of Earth’s environment from area.

The award from the chief technologist of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, acknowledges Gambacorta’s work showing how hyperspectral microwave sounding, the measurement of numerous countless wavelengths of microwave light, might dissect Earth’s climatic planetary border layer (PBL). She likewise conceived a microwave photonics radiometer instrument to expose these measurements.

The part of Earth’s environment individuals live in, and have the most experience studying, is the hardest to determine from area due to the volume and complex habits of the air above it, Gambacorta stated. Establishing the capability to probe and determine the border layer on an international, regular basis is essential to much better comprehending its connections to the rest of our environment, the land surface area, and the oceans.

“The distinct obstacle of the PBL needs an unique course forward that will unite typically diverse observing system parts in order to make it possible for transformative clinical advances in Earth system science,” stated fellow scientist Joseph Santanello. “To that end, Dr. Gambacorta’s efforts extend beyond specific innovation advancements, and are represented in her aspirational vision of PBL sounding as ‘the tie that binds.’ Simply as significantly, Dr. Gambacorta’s enthusiasm, interest, and regard for her coworkers has actually appeared through each of phase of the job’s advancement.”

In looking for options to determine the limit layer, Gambacorta stepped up to lead Goddard’s hyperspectral microwave tasks and ended up being the face of the center’s Decadal Survey Incubation (DSI) efforts. Through several Internal Research and Development, or IRAD grants, she and her group carried out essential research study to reveal the efficiency of hyperspectral microwave sounding, conceived a microwave photonics radiometer instrument, and more just recently started establishing a structure to incorporate information from numerous sensing units for limit layer science observations.

“Antonia’s development increases above her specific successes as a capable and imaginative innovator,” stated Goddard Chief Technologist Peter Hughes. “She profited from numerous programs to breed brand-new innovation while appealing proficiency from throughout firms and around the globe to link to other resources.”

Her innovative developments and research study made assistance from NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office and from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Particularly, Gambacorta constructed on her IRAD successes to protect an Earth Science Technology Office Instrument Incubator Program (IIP) task award to additional establish her group’s microwave photonics radiometer idea and DSI financing to advance the multi-sensor blend structure. In addition, her momentum made it possible for a DSI-funded air-borne instrument task trying to change CoSMIR, Goddard’s Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Radiometer, into a hyperspectral sensing unit. That job is led by up-and-coming instrument researcher Rachael Kroodsma.

This whole portfolio that Gambacorta now handles likewise culminated in an effective NOAA Broad Agency Announcement proposition to show hyperspectral microwave radiometry. Through her engagement with associates in ESTO, NOAA, and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, Hughes stated Goddard’s hyperspectral microwave and PBL efforts are concerned worldwide as the relied on method for comprehending the planetary limit layer. Goddard is extensively considered as a leader in making use of incorporated photonics for Earth remote noticing due to Gambacorta’s management, he included.

“Antonia works as a real motivation to the technologists and researchers on her groups,” her coworker Santanello included. “Her development and contribution to Goddard and the bigger neighborhood can likewise be determined in each of these methods.”

By Karl B. Hille

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.