Rachel Pinker

Rachel Pinker has been a Professor with the UMD Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOSC) since 1976. In recent years, the focus of her work has been on the development of methods to remotely infer information on surface-atmosphere radiative fluxes. Due to the global nature of climate, its variability, and our ability to forecast it, it became inevitable that information on climate parameters has to be available on global scale. Earth orbiting satellites are well suited to provide a global view of our climate. Radiative fluxes are the forcing functions of the climate system and are responsible for the maintenance of atmospheric motions. Information on their magnitude and variability can enable scientists to improve parametrization of surface- atmosphere interactions, to validate climate models, and to better understand the hydrological cycle. Professor Pinker, in collaboration with her associates in CICS-MD, AOSC, government agencies including NOAA, independent institutions, and students, is involved in several national and international projects, aimed at improving the availability of information that will lead to a better understanding of the climate system. Examples include the Global Energy and Water Experiment (GEWEX), the Earth Observing System (EOS) Program, and the GEWEX Continental-scale International Project (GCIP/GAAP). Her CICS-MD project is on the development of algorithms for shortwave radiation budget from GOES-R.