CIRES Rendezvous 2021
Celebrating all award recipients of the CIRES Rendezvous 2021 at the Global Monitoring Laboratory
Introduction
Every year the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) Member Council (CMC) hosts its Annual Rendezvous , a day-long conference for the institute with close to 800 employees. CIRES was created in 1967 as a partnership between the University of Colorado at Boulder and NOAA. This year, the virtual Rendezvous took place on May 21, 2021. The event was kicked off by a State of the Institute address by CIRES Director Waleed Abdalati and the CIRES Rendezvous awards. The Rendezvous afternoon Poster session was hosted in an interactive virtual conference space especially created by CIRES IT and the Rendezvous planning committee to foster collegiality and connection. The event was an all-around success that brought all of CIRES and its partners together to reflect on a challenging year and celebrate scientific advances.
Several CIRES employees in the Global Monitoring Laboratory received special recognition during the 2021 Rendezvous.
Read along to meet them!
CIRES Gold Medals
CIRES Gold Medals recognize CIRES scientists who were a part of the Federal science and engineering teams that were presented with the prestigious Department of Commerce (DOC) Gold Medal Award.
The Story of the Unexpected Rise of CFC-11 Emissions
GML-CIRES scientists Geoff Dutton , Lei Hu , J. David Nance , Ben Miller (retired), Fred Moore , Debra Mondeel (retired), and Carolina Siso were a part of the team recognized for discovering the recent production and release of the industrial chlorofluorocarbons gas CFC-11, indicating a major violation of the Montreal Protocol .
CFC-11 is a stratospheric ozone-depleting gas, the production of which was banned by the Montreal Protocol in 2010. Its global atmospheric concentrations were expected to decline faster after this date.
In 2018, the research team discovered that the decline of CFC-11 atmospheric concentrations slowed down due to an unexpected 25 percent increase in global emissions from 2012 to 2016.
Following the announcement of the violation in 2018 and 2019, members of the Ozone treaties and individual countries renewed enforcement efforts and inspections to identify and stop new production and minimize CFC-11 emissions.
A follow-up study published in Nature in February of 2021 suggested that the CFC-11 emissions are back on the decline, avoiding substantial delay in ozone layer recovery.
The discovery of the unexpected rise in CFC-11 emission through the research led by GML scientists helped protect the integrity of the Montreal Protocol, allowed for in-time responses that restored the downward trajectory of CFC-11 emissions, and avoided substantial delays in the ozone layer recovery.
Meet the Team
Meet Geoff Dutton
CIRES Research Scientist - Project Leader of the Chromatograph for Atmospheric Trace Species in-situ Halocarbons program
Geoff started working for NOAA when he was a student at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
He was hired full-time into the Global Monitoring Laboratory HATS division as a CIRES scientist after graduating college with a degree in Engineering Physics.
When he started, Geoff immediately worked with the HATS division lead Jim Elkins (now retired) and colleagues on the airborne gas chromatography program measuring ozone-depleting substances, such as CFCs and Halons on numerous aircraft campaigns.
Geoff is now the project leader for the Chromatograph for Atmospheric Trace Species in situ Halocarbons Program which has provided continuous measurements of halocarbon gases at the NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory Baseline Observatories since 1999.
Geoff also supports several other HATS projects with software development, data processing and analysis, and technical assistance.
Meet Lei Hu
CIRES Research Scientist
As a CIRES scientist in Global Monitoring Laboratory, Lei uses atmospheric measurements and numerical models to constrain sources and sinks of important trace gases.
Her research focuses on understanding how the emissions and removal processes of these trace gases change with human activities and policies, as well as the interactions between climate and trace gas emissions and removal processes.
At Global Monitoring Laboratory, Lei has been a key team member who develops and expands the numerical modeling capability to use measurements of important trace gases from towers and aircraft sampling to quantify emissions and removals over North America.
Meet David Nance
CIRES Associate Scientist
David joined CIRES and the HATS division in 1999 to help finalize a dataset of ground-based, in situ trace gas measurements performed by electron capture gas chromatograph systems (called RITS), which was soon to be retired and replaced by the current CATS system.
During his work on this dataset, he came up with a novel way of systematically deriving a set of bias adjustments to reconcile disagreements originating from RITS analysis of reference gases. Afterward, he applied the same technique to his analysis of measurements from the flask ECD system known as ‘Otto’.
David is now involved in developing and implementing a new flask ECD system to replace Otto. He also assists the HATS airborne measurements group during field campaigns and with various data analysis and archiving tasks.
Other CIRES Gold Medal Awardees
Fred Moore (GML)
Ben Miller (GML, retired)
Debra Mondeel (GML, retired)
Caroline Siso (GML)
Eric Ray (CSL)
DOC Group Gold Medal Awardees
Stephen A. Montzka (GML)
Robert W. Portman (CSL)
Bradley D. Hall (GML)
James W. Elkins (GML)
John S. Daniel (CSL)
CIRES Bronze Medal
CIRES Bronze Medals recognize CIRES scientists who were a part of the Federal science and engineering teams that were presented with the prestigious Department of Commerce (DOC) Bronze Medal Award.
Matthew Martinsen
CIRES Associate Scientist at the Mauna Loa Observatory
Matt, "Marty", was part of a Mauna Loa Observatory team recognized for eliminating any potential sources of CFC-11 and other trace gases at the station to ensure the integrity of long-term measurement records.
DOC Bronze Medal Co-recipients
Outstanding Performance Award
CIRES Outstanding Performance Awards in the Service category recognize employees who:
- implement a creative or innovative idea, device, process, or system that aids research, teaching, or outreach;
- develop or improve a service that increases the efficiency, quality, or visibility of scientific research or outreach;
- provide a service that promotes or inspires excellence and dedication to research performed at CIRES or in the wider community.
John Mund
CIRES Associate Scientist
John joined CIRES in 2015. He was recognized at the 2021 CIRES Rendezvous for his exceptional knowledge and talent as the NOAA GML Carbon Cycle Division database manager.
John is a skilled programmer and IT specialist, and an exceptional team member known for his motivation, dedication, and unconditional support for all people and all projects that ask for his help.
John has developed excellent tools to streamline data management, quality control, sharing, and archiving for the Global Monitoring Laboratory and international collaborators.
Recently John provided valuable technical support when GML revised the World Meteorological Organization Global Atmosphere Watch carbon dioxide calibration scale .
John has volunteered and taught Python courses, and he regularly supports and mentors early-career colleagues, interns, and students.
John has also engaged in innovative efforts to develop cloud computing capabilities for the Global Monitoring Laboratory.
Technology Transfer Awards
The team of CIRES scientists who developed the Printed Optical Particle Spectrometer was recognized at the 2021 Rendezvous.
Printed Optical Particle Spectrometer
The Printed Optical Particle Spectrometer
The Printed Optical Particle Spectrometer (POPS) is an instrument that measures the size of individual aerosol particles based on the amount of light that it scatters. It stands out from instruments that utilize a similar technique through its affordability, small size, low power consumption, low weight, while still delivering data of high scientific value. These attributes made size distribution measurement available to new platforms, like weather balloons and unmanned aerial vehicles, but also aids the deployment of larger instrument numbers, as required in measurement networks. POPS is patented and licensed and has been manufactured by Handix Scientific since 2016, yielding $1M+ in sales.
POPS on a tethered balloon in Svalbard (2015)
POPS deployment on a Manta UAV in Svalbard in 2015
Flight path of UAV over Kongsfjorden (Svalbard). 3D rendering made by Hagen Telg.
Meet the POPS Team CIRES/GML Awardee
Hagen Telg
CIRES Research Scientist
Hagen Telg has been a research scientist with the Global Monitoring Laboratory’s GRAD division since 2016. He took his first steps with NOAA at the other end of the Boulder David Skaggs Research Center in 2013 where he started his work on the POPS instrument within the Chemical Sciences Laboratory. This work eventually led to the Technology Transfer award that he and CIRES/CSL colleagues received this year from CIRES .
By training, Hagen is a physicist with a Diploma and Doctorate degree from the University of Berlin, Germany. He first came to the U.S. as a Director’s funded postdoctoral fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory with a focus on optical and vibrational properties of carbon-based nanomaterials.
In 2013 when first joining NOAA, Hagen drastically changed his research focus towards furthering the understanding of aerosol properties, aerosol-cloud interactions, and associated effects on solar radiation.
Initially, as a research scientist in the Chemical Sciences Laboratory, he approached those topics from the instrument development perspective.
This perspective moved towards data product development and data analysis once Hagen joined the Global Monitoring Laboratory in 2016.
More recently he added collaborations with the satellite remote sensing and modeling community to his research portfolio.
Other CIRES Awardees
Richard McLaughlin (CSL)
Troy Thornberry (CSL)
Laurel Watts (CSL)
NOAA Technology Transfer Plaque Awardees
Ru-Shan Gao (CSL)
Steve Ciciora (CSL)
Service
Celebrating our employees for their long-term service to NOAA.
35 Years
25 Years
15 Years
Andrew Jacobson
Gaby joined the Carbon Cycle division in 2005. For her undergraduate and graduate research in Paris and at the National Center for Atmospheric Research ( NCAR ), she used flask air analysis data from the NOAA GML Global Cooperative Air Sampling Network to study emissions of carbon monoxide globally.
"Back then and all the way to today, what motivates me is to work with talented and dedicated colleagues to continue the legacy of high-quality observations and to provide objective scientific information. Measurements here have played and will continue to play a huge role in the study and understanding of global climate change and air quality. Everyone at the lab comes with their own skillsets, experiences, and passions. Everyone is highly committed to the group's efforts and projects."
10 Years
Patrick started at the Global Monitoring Laboratory and CIRES in 2005 working with the GML Ozone and Water Vapor Group on their stratospheric ballooning programs.
He began working in the ozone lab testing and launching balloons carrying ozonesondes, small instruments used to measure ozone from the surface up to 32km, into the stratosphere while also helping build the new digital version of the Frost Point Hygrometer.
After three years working in the lab, Patrick signed up for a deployment to Summit, Greenland where he ran science experiments and launched balloons from the top of the Greenland Ice Sheet during a winter deployment with three other people.
After that, he went to the NOAA GML Baseline Observatory in American Samoa for six weeks before leaving for the South Pole Observatory and a year on the ice.
At the South Pole Observatory , Patrick ran the instruments and launched balloons to monitor the development of the annual Antarctic Ozone Hole.
While stationed in Antarctica he began working on his photography which he has carried over into his work in media and outreach for the Ozone and Water Vapor Group.
When he returned to CIRES after two years of station deployments, Patrick resumed his work in the ozonesonde balloon lab while assisting with the long-term project to homogenize data records across the different instrumentation eras.
Jocelyn has worked at GML since 2008, initially as an NRC postdoc , and then as a CIRES researcher.
Prior to that, she completed her Ph.D. at the University of Colorado INSTAAR , working closely with colleagues at the Global Monitoring Laboratory on her thesis research.
Since 2011, Jocelyn has lived in New Zealand, splitting her work time between New Zealand’s GNS Science government research institute and CIRES/Global Monitoring Laboratory.
Throughout her research career, she has been interested in atmospheric radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon, and applying it to understanding the source and fate of fossil fuel CO2 emissions.
In recent years, she has become involved in translating atmospheric greenhouse gas research into the policy realm.
5 Years
John joined GML and CIRES in 2015 after many years working for a private company in the medical software industry.
"What prompted me to come to GML, and what I am most proud of and appreciative of, is the opportunity to work with such dedicated and talented colleagues at a research organization whose mission is to better scientific understanding of our environment and the role we play to shape it."
Kathryn is a CIRES research scientist in the GML Carbon Cycle and Greenhouse Gases D ivision.
She works on the aircraft program making in-situ measurements of greenhouse gases from aircraft platforms and as the PI for the GML Aircraft Network.
Kathryn came to GML in 2015 after she completed her Ph.D. As an undergraduate, she was a biology major and spent several summers studying ecology at Harvard Forest.
After college, she wasn't sure if she wanted to go to graduate school so she tried working for a start-up company doing anaerobic digestion of grocery store food waste.
When she was laid off during the global economic recession in the late 2000s, she decided to go to grad school to study urban greenhouse gas emissions.
Now at NOAA GML, Kathryn focuses on making high-quality measurements from aircraft and harnessing the independent information in these measurements for quantifying and tracking changes in emissions.
"Since coming to NOAA, I am most proud of the fact that I have learned how to go into the field and work through all the inevitable challenges to produce good measurements. "
Kenneth Schuldt
Promotions
Matthew Gentry
Promoted to Associate Scientist II.
Isaac Vimont
Promoted to Research Scientist II.
Isaac Vimont is a CIRES research scientist in the Halocarbons and Trace Species (HATS) Division . While Isaac officially joined the Global Monitoring Laboratory in 2017, and CIRES in 2018, he has been working alongside GML since 2007 as a technician and then a graduate student at the Stable Isotope Laboratory at CU/INSTAAR , making measurements of stable isotopes of CO2, CH4, and CO in flask air samples.
Isaac received his Ph.D. in 2017 for his work on developing stable isotopic measurements of carbon monoxide at INSTAAR, focusing on the analysis of tall tower samples at Indianapolis and Beech Island, South Carolina.
After graduate school, Isaac switched from isotope-specific analyses on flasks to a postdoctoral position in the Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases (CCGG) division. While with CCGG, he worked to process a pressurized version of the AirCore sampling system, to be flown on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, as well as assisting with numerous other projects within the towers and aircraft groups.
In February 2020, Isaac was hired as a research scientist within the Halocarbons and Trace Species Division . He is currently working with the Perseus Gas Chromatograph - Mass Spectrometer instrument for flask air multiple species analysis.
Isaac’s current research is focusing on the trends and impacts of third and fourth-generation halocarbons in the atmosphere.
