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William Reed Espinosa

Photo of WILLIAM ESPINOSA

William Reed Espinosa

  • Rsch AST, Climate and Radiation Std
  • 301.614.5685
  • NASA/GSFC
  • Mail Code: 613
  • Greenbelt , MD 20771
  • Employer: NASA

    • Brief Bio

    Dr. Reed Espinosa is currently a Research Physical Scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center where he develops novel methods for the retrieval of aerosol properties from optical measurements made by multiangle polarimetric imagers, geostationary spectrometers and LiDAR. He is a member of the Atmospheric Observing System (AOS) mission’s Science Team and is currently the lead for the project’s Aerosol Algorithm Working Group. Dr. Espinosa began his involvement with the AOS mission in the Aerosols, Clouds, Convection and Precipitation (ACCP) preformulation study where he ran Observing System Simulations Experiment (OSSE) retrievals to assess capability differences between a variety of potential instrument architectures. He also serves as PI, Science PI and Institutional PI for three NASA ROSES awards, all of which are aimed at improving our ability to interpret observations made by the next generation of geostationary and polarimetric Earth observing sensors. Prior to his NPP appointment at NASA Goddard, Dr. Espinosa constructed instrumentation to measure angular light scattering in situ, including the first aerosol-focused open-path polar nephelometer to fly aboard an aircraft.

    Positions/Employment

    8/2019 - Present

    Research Physical Scientist

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
    11/2017 - 8/2019

    Postdoctoral Fellow

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
    8/2011 - 10/2017

    Doctoral Researcher

    University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD
    8/2010 - 8/2011

    Graduate Teaching Assistant

    University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD

    Education

    Ph.D., Atmospheric Physics - University of Maryland, Baltimore County (2017)

    M.S., Applied Physics - University of Maryland, Baltimore County (2012)

    B.S., Physics - University of Mary Washington (2008)

    Professional Service

    • Served on the GSFC Science Directors Committee (2020-2023)
    • Climate and Radiation Laboratory Seminar Coordinator (2020-2022)
    • Organizing committee member and session chair for the GSFC Early Career Scientist Forum (2019-2020)
    • American Geophysical Union (AGU) Student Poster Competition Liaison (2019-2022)
    • Served as proposal reviewer/panelist for multiple NASA programs
    • Review Editor for the journal Frontiers in Remote Sensing
    • Manuscript reviewer for over a dozen scientific journals

    Grants

    09/01/2020 - 08/31/2022 Remote Sensing Theory for Earth Science, NASA

    Geostationary Satellite Retrievals of Aerosol Properties Using a Combined Implementation of the Dark Target and GRASP Inversion Frameworks

    ; Science Principal Investigator
    04/01/2021 - 03/31/2024 New (Early Career) Investigator Program in Earth Science , NASA

    Improving particle morphology representation in aerosol retrievals in preparation for the next generation of space-based multi-angle polarimeters and lidars

    ; Principal Investigator
    06/01/2021 - 05/31/2024 Atmospheric Composition Campaign Data Analysis and Modeling, NASA

    Scale Analysis of Planetary Boundary Layer Aerosol Properties in Convective Environments and Their Underlying Observability by Remote Sensing

    ; Co-Investigator

    Publications

    Refereed

    Dubovik, O., D. Fuertes, P. Litvinov, et al. A. Lopatin, T. Lapyonok, I. Doubovik, F. Xu, F. Ducos, C. Chen, B. Torres, Y. Derimian, L. Li, M. Herreras-Giralda, M. Herrera, Y. Karol, C. Matar, G. L. Schuster, R. Espinosa, A. Puthukkudy, Z. Li, J. Fischer, R. Preusker, J. Cuesta, A. Kreuter, A. Cede, M. Aspetsberger, D. Marth, L. Bindreiter, A. Hangler, V. Lanzinger, C. Holter, and C. Federspiel. 2021. "A Comprehensive Description of Multi-Term LSM for Applying Multiple a Priori Constraints in Problems of Atmospheric Remote Sensing: GRASP Algorithm, Concept, and Applications." Frontiers in Remote Sensing, 2: [10.3389/frsen.2021.706851]

    DeLeon, C. M., J. Heath, W. R. Espinosa, D. Wu, and M. Kupinski. 2021. "UV linear stokes imaging of optically thin clouds." Polarization Science and Remote Sensing X, 11833: 1 - 7 [10.1117/12.2595161]

    Xu, F., L. Gao, J. Redemann, et al. C. Flynn, W. R. Espinosa, A. M. Da Silva, S. Stamnes, S. Burton, X. Liu, R. Ferrare, B. Cairns, and O. Dubovik. 2021. "A Combined Lidar-Polarimeter Inversion Approach for Aerosol Remote Sensing Over Ocean." Frontiers in Remote Sensing, 2 (2): (Accepted)

    Zhou, Y., R. C. Levy, L. A. Remer, S. Mattoo, and W. R. Espinosa. 2020. "Dust Aerosol Retrieval Over the Oceans With the MODIS/VIIRS Dark Target Algorithm: 2. Nonspherical Dust Model." Earth and Space Science, 7 (10): [10.1029/2020ea001222]

    Chowdhary, J., P. Zhai, E. Boss, et al. H. M. Dierssen, R. J. Frouin, A. Ibrahim, Z. Lee, L. A. Remer, M. Twardowski, F. Xu, X. Zhang, M. Ottaviani, W. R. Espinosa, and D. Ramon. 2019. "Modeling Atmosphere-Ocean Radiative Transfer: A PACE Mission Perspective." Frontiers in Earth Science, 7: 100 pp. [10.3389/feart.2019.00100]

    Espinosa, W. R., J. V. Martins, L. A. Remer, et al. O. Dubovik, L. Tatyana, F. David, A. Puthukkudy, F. D. Orozco, L. Ziemba, K. L. Thornhill, and R. C. Levy. 2019. "Retrievals of aerosol size distribution, spherical fraction and complex refractive index from airborne in situ angular light scattering and absorption measurements." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 124 (14): 7997-8024 [ https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD030009]

    Schuster, G., W. Espinosa, L. Ziemba, et al. A. Beyersdorf, A. Rocha-Lima, B. Anderson, J. Martins, O. Dubovik, F. Ducos, D. Fuertes, T. Lapyonok, M. Shook, Y. Derimian, and R. Moore. 2019. "A Laboratory Experiment for the Statistical Evaluation of Aerosol Retrieval (STEAR) Algorithms." Remote Sensing, 11 (5): 498 [10.3390/rs11050498]

    Dubovik, O., Z. Li, M. I. Mishchenko, et al. D. Tanré, Y. Karol, B. Bojkov, B. Cairns, D. J. Diner, W. R. Espinosa, P. Goloub, X. Gu, O. Hasekamp, J. Hong, W. Hou, K. D. Knobelspiesse, J. Landgraf, L. Li, P. Litvinov, Y. Liu, A. Lopatin, T. Marbach, H. Maring, V. Martins, Y. Meijer, G. Milinevsky, S. Mukai, F. Parol, Y. Qiao, L. Remer, J. Rietjens, I. Sano, P. Stammes, S. Stamnes, X. Sun, P. Tabary, L. D. Travis, F. Waquet, F. Xu, C. Yan, and D. Yin. 2019. "Polarimetric remote sensing of atmospheric aerosols: Instruments, methodologies, results, and perspectives." Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, 224: 474-511 [10.1016/j.jqsrt.2018.11.024]

    Espinosa, W. R., J. V. Martins, L. A. Remer, et al. A. Puthukkudy, D. Orozco, and G. Dolgos. 2018. "In situ measurements of angular-dependent light scattering by aerosols over the contiguous United States." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18 (5): 3737-3754 [10.5194/acp-18-3737-2018]

    Espinosa, W. R., L. A. Remer, O. Dubovik, et al. L. Ziemba, A. Beyersdorf, D. Orozco, G. Schuster, T. Lapyonok, D. Fuertes, and J. V. Martins. 2017. "Retrievals of aerosol optical and microphysical properties from Imaging Polar Nephelometer scattering measurements." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 10 (3): 811-824 [10.5194/amt-10-811-2017]

    Non-Refereed

    Espinosa, W. R. 2017. "Comprehensive Airborne in Situ Characterization of Atmospheric Aerosols: From Angular Light Scattering to Particle Microphysics." ProQuest Dissertations Publishing [Full Text (Link)]

    Talks, Presentations and Posters

    Invited

    Synergistic Lidar and Polarimeter Aerosol Retrieval Performance Under Complex Conditions: Exploring the Costs of Imperfect Particle Shape Assumptions

     12 / 2022

    Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, Chicago, IL

    Identifying Aerosol Types over the Contagious United States with Polarized Angular Light Scattering Measurements

     6 / 2018

    15th Annual Meeting of the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society, Honolulu, HI

    Brief Bio

    Dr. Reed Espinosa is currently a Research Physical Scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center where he develops novel methods for the retrieval of aerosol properties from optical measurements made by multiangle polarimetric imagers, geostationary spectrometers and LiDAR. He is a member of the Atmospheric Observing System (AOS) mission’s Science Team and is currently the lead for the project’s Aerosol Algorithm Working Group. Dr. Espinosa began his involvement with the AOS mission in the Aerosols, Clouds, Convection and Precipitation (ACCP) preformulation study where he ran Observing System Simulations Experiment (OSSE) retrievals to assess capability differences between a variety of potential instrument architectures. He also serves as PI, Science PI and Institutional PI for three NASA ROSES awards, all of which are aimed at improving our ability to interpret observations made by the next generation of geostationary and polarimetric Earth observing sensors. Prior to his NPP appointment at NASA Goddard, Dr. Espinosa constructed instrumentation to measure angular light scattering in situ, including the first aerosol-focused open-path polar nephelometer to fly aboard an aircraft.

    Publications

    Refereed

    Dubovik, O., D. Fuertes, P. Litvinov, et al. A. Lopatin, T. Lapyonok, I. Doubovik, F. Xu, F. Ducos, C. Chen, B. Torres, Y. Derimian, L. Li, M. Herreras-Giralda, M. Herrera, Y. Karol, C. Matar, G. L. Schuster, R. Espinosa, A. Puthukkudy, Z. Li, J. Fischer, R. Preusker, J. Cuesta, A. Kreuter, A. Cede, M. Aspetsberger, D. Marth, L. Bindreiter, A. Hangler, V. Lanzinger, C. Holter, and C. Federspiel. 2021. "A Comprehensive Description of Multi-Term LSM for Applying Multiple a Priori Constraints in Problems of Atmospheric Remote Sensing: GRASP Algorithm, Concept, and Applications." Frontiers in Remote Sensing 2 [10.3389/frsen.2021.706851]

    DeLeon, C. M., J. Heath, W. R. Espinosa, D. Wu, and M. Kupinski. 2021. "UV linear stokes imaging of optically thin clouds." Polarization Science and Remote Sensing X 11833 1 - 7 [10.1117/12.2595161]

    Xu, F., L. Gao, J. Redemann, et al. C. Flynn, W. R. Espinosa, A. M. Da Silva, S. Stamnes, S. Burton, X. Liu, R. Ferrare, B. Cairns, and O. Dubovik. 2021. "A Combined Lidar-Polarimeter Inversion Approach for Aerosol Remote Sensing Over Ocean." Frontiers in Remote Sensing (Accepted) 2 (2):

    Zhou, Y., R. C. Levy, L. A. Remer, S. Mattoo, and W. R. Espinosa. 2020. "Dust Aerosol Retrieval Over the Oceans With the MODIS/VIIRS Dark Target Algorithm: 2. Nonspherical Dust Model." Earth and Space Science 7 (10): [10.1029/2020ea001222]

    Chowdhary, J., P. Zhai, E. Boss, et al. H. M. Dierssen, R. J. Frouin, A. Ibrahim, Z. Lee, L. A. Remer, M. Twardowski, F. Xu, X. Zhang, M. Ottaviani, W. R. Espinosa, and D. Ramon. 2019. "Modeling Atmosphere-Ocean Radiative Transfer: A PACE Mission Perspective." Frontiers in Earth Science 7 100 pp. [10.3389/feart.2019.00100]

    Espinosa, W. R., J. V. Martins, L. A. Remer, et al. O. Dubovik, L. Tatyana, F. David, A. Puthukkudy, F. D. Orozco, L. Ziemba, K. L. Thornhill, and R. C. Levy. 2019. "Retrievals of aerosol size distribution, spherical fraction and complex refractive index from airborne in situ angular light scattering and absorption measurements." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 124 (14): 7997-8024 [ https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD030009]

    Schuster, G., W. Espinosa, L. Ziemba, et al. A. Beyersdorf, A. Rocha-Lima, B. Anderson, J. Martins, O. Dubovik, F. Ducos, D. Fuertes, T. Lapyonok, M. Shook, Y. Derimian, and R. Moore. 2019. "A Laboratory Experiment for the Statistical Evaluation of Aerosol Retrieval (STEAR) Algorithms." Remote Sensing 11 (5): 498 [10.3390/rs11050498]

    Dubovik, O., Z. Li, M. I. Mishchenko, et al. D. Tanré, Y. Karol, B. Bojkov, B. Cairns, D. J. Diner, W. R. Espinosa, P. Goloub, X. Gu, O. Hasekamp, J. Hong, W. Hou, K. D. Knobelspiesse, J. Landgraf, L. Li, P. Litvinov, Y. Liu, A. Lopatin, T. Marbach, H. Maring, V. Martins, Y. Meijer, G. Milinevsky, S. Mukai, F. Parol, Y. Qiao, L. Remer, J. Rietjens, I. Sano, P. Stammes, S. Stamnes, X. Sun, P. Tabary, L. D. Travis, F. Waquet, F. Xu, C. Yan, and D. Yin. 2019. "Polarimetric remote sensing of atmospheric aerosols: Instruments, methodologies, results, and perspectives." Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer 224 474-511 [10.1016/j.jqsrt.2018.11.024]

    Espinosa, W. R., J. V. Martins, L. A. Remer, et al. A. Puthukkudy, D. Orozco, and G. Dolgos. 2018. "In situ measurements of angular-dependent light scattering by aerosols over the contiguous United States." Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 18 (5): 3737-3754 [10.5194/acp-18-3737-2018]

    Espinosa, W. R., L. A. Remer, O. Dubovik, et al. L. Ziemba, A. Beyersdorf, D. Orozco, G. Schuster, T. Lapyonok, D. Fuertes, and J. V. Martins. 2017. "Retrievals of aerosol optical and microphysical properties from Imaging Polar Nephelometer scattering measurements." Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 10 (3): 811-824 [10.5194/amt-10-811-2017]

    Non-Refereed

    Espinosa, W. R. 2017. "Comprehensive Airborne in Situ Characterization of Atmospheric Aerosols: From Angular Light Scattering to Particle Microphysics." [Full Text (Link)]

                                                                                                                                                                                            
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    • Last Updated: 06/06/2023