e-mail:
Michael.D.King@nasa.gov

Tel#: 301-614-5636
Fax#: 301-614-5620

Biography

Michael D. King is Senior Project Scientist of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS), a position he has held since 1992. He also serves as Principal Investigator and Team Leader of the Atmosphere Discipline Group of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) science team. MODIS is a key instrument on the EOS Terra and Aqua satellites. He received the BA degree in physics from Colorado College in 1971 and the MS and PhD degrees in atmospheric sciences from the University of Arizona in 1973 and 1977, respectively, and joined Goddard Space Flight Center as a Physical Scientist in the Climate and Radiation Branch, Laboratory for Atmospheres, in January 1978.

Dr. King's research experience includes conceiving, developing, and operating multispectral scanning radiometers from a number of aircraft platforms in field experiments ranging from arctic stratus clouds to smoke from the Kuwait oil fires and biomass burning in Brazil and southern Africa. He has lectured on global change on all seven continents. As a member of the MODIS science team, he is responsible for algorithms being run routinely to process MODIS data to derive cloud optical and microphysical properties of liquid water and ice clouds and global combined atmosphere products at 1° x 1° latitude/longitude resolution, averaged over a day, eight days, and monthly.

 Dr. King is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), and recipient of the Verner E. Suomi Award of the AMS for fundamental contributions to remote sensing and radiative transfer. He received an honorary doctorate from Colorado College in 1995, and is a Goddard Senior Fellow and recipient of the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, and NASA Exceptional Service Medal. He has also received the William Nordberg Memorial Award for Earth Science, Goddard's highest scientific achievement award.