Belay Demoz

Contact Information

Title

Professor

Education

Ph.D. Atmospheric Physics – University of Nevada and DRI, 1992

Previous Experience

Belay holds a doctoral degree in Atmospheric Physics from the University of Nevada and Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nevada. Prior to joining UMBC/JCET, he was Professor of Physics at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Howard University, where he was Director of Graduate Studies for the Physics Department and also one of the Principal PI’s at the Beltsville Research Campus. Before joining academia, Dr. Demoz has worked for the private industry as a NASA contractor, followed by some time as a Civil Servant at NASA/GSFC in the Mesoscale Dynamics Branch. His research interests include mesoscale observation and instrumentation in atmospheric physics and climate as well as atmospheric science influence in climate policy. He has chaired the Committee for Atmospheric LIDAR Application Studies (CLAS) for the American Meteorological Society; is a member of the Atmospheric Observation Panel for Climate (AOPC) Working Group on GRUAN (WG-GRUAN); and has served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Geophysical Research, the web magazine Earthzine, and many other editorial boards. He has organized national and international conferences and workshops and serves in a number of working groups and international organization and also serves as an adjunct Professor at University of Utah. He is also active in organizing national and international research field observations (e.g. WAVES 2007, IHOP2002, PECAN 2015 for example). He is the current Associate Director of the Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research (GESTAR) II.

Professional Interests

Atmospheric Physics and Chemistry, Meteorological Observations.

Selected Publications

• A Case Study of Mid-Atlantic Nocturnal Boundary-Layer Events During WAVES 2006. Part I: Observational Detection of Fine Scale Phenomena. Rabenhorst, S., D. N. Whiteman, D. Zhang, D. Demoz (2014): Submitted to the Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres.
• Double Bright Band Observations with High-Resolution Vertically Pointing Radar, Lidar, and Radiometer. Emory, A. E, B. Demoz, K. Vermeesch, and M. Hicks (2014): Accepted (With Revision) JGR- Atmospheres.
• Characterization of West African jet streams and its association to ENSO events and rainfall in ERA- Interim 1979 – 2011. Okonkwo, C.O., Demoz, B.B. Tesfai, S., 2014. Advances in Meteorology, vol. 2014, Article ID 405617, 12 pages, 2014.
• The relationship between El Niño-southern oscillations on cereal production in Sahel. Okonkwo, C.O., and Demoz , B., 2014. Environmental Hazards
• Identifying anthropogenic ‘hotspots’ and management of water resources in Lake Chad Basin. Okonkwo, C.O., and Demoz , B., 2014. Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research, vol. 6(2-3), p. 135-149
• Elastic Lidar Measurements of Summer Nocturnal Low Level Jet Events over Baltimore, Maryland. Delgado, R., S. D. Rabenhorst, B. B. Demoz, R. M. Hoff (2014): Accepted. Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry.
• Statistical modelling of collocation uncertainty in atmospheric thermodynamic profiles. Fassò, A., Ignaccolo, R., Madonna, F., and Demoz, B. B. (2014): Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., 6, 7505-7533.
• Characteristics of drought indices and rainfall in Lake Chad Basin, Okonkwo, C.l, B. Demoz, and K. Onyeukwu (2013) International Journal of Remote Sensing, 34:22, 7945-7961.
• Multi-site tropospheric ozone measurements across the north Tropical Atlantic during the summer of 2010. Jenkins, G, S.,M. L. Robjhon, B. Demoz, W. R. Stockwell, S. A. Ndiaye, M. S. Drame, M. Gueye, J. W. Smith, Y. Luna-Cruz, J. Clark, J. Holt, C. Paulin, A. Brickhouse, A. Williams, A. Abdullah, A. Reyes, L. Mendes, A. Valentine, M. Camara (2013): Atmospheric Environment.70 131-148.
• Experiential Teaching and Research in the Atmospheric Sciences for Minority Students. Stockwell, W, V. Morris, E. Joseph, B. Demoz, D. Venable, G. S. Jenkins and T. Yu (2012): Accepted. Environment Manager (EM) Magazine, Published by the Air and Waste Management Association.
• Increasing Diversity in Geosciences Through Experiential Learning. Fuentes J. D. and D. Doughty, B. Demoz, and I. Mitrea (2012): Eos, Vol. 93, No. 51, 18 December 2012.
• GCOS Reference Upper Air Network (GRUAN): Steps Towards Assuring Future Climate Records. Thorne, P. et al, (2012): Proceedings of the 9th International Temperature Symposium Los Angeles, CA on March 19 – 23, 2012. Published by the American Institute of Physics Volume 8 of Temperature: Its Measurement and Control in Science and Industry.
• Thermodynamic Profiling Technologies Workshop – a Report to NSF and NWS. Hoff, R. M., Hardesty, F. Carr, T. Weckwerth, S. Koch, A. Benedetti, S. Crewell, N. Cimini, D. Turner, W. Feltz, B. Demoz, V. Wulfmeyer, D. Sisterson, T. Ackerman, F. Fabry, K. Knupp (2011): [Demoz wrote the Active Remote Sensing – Lidar Chapter].
• Observational Analysis of Moisture Evolution and Variability in the Boundary Layer during the Dryline on 22 May 2002 (IHOP_2002). Weldegaber, M., B. Demoz, Lynn Sparling and Sen Chiao (2011): Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics: Volume 110, Issue 3 (2011), page 87.
• Field Testing of a high-Energy 2 um Doppler Lidar: Koch, J. G, J. Y. Beyon, P. J. Petzar, M. Petros, J. Yu B. Trieu, M. J. Kavaya, U. Singh, E. Modlin, B. Barnes, B. Demoz (2010): Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, Vol. 4, 043512 (2 March 2010).
• Water vapor measurements by Howard University Raman Lidar during the WAVES 2006 campaign. Adam. M, B.B. Demoz, D.N. Whiteman, D.D.Venable, E.Joseph, A.Gambacorta, J. Wei, M.W. Shephard, L.M. Miloshevich, C.D. Barnet, R.L. Herman, J. Fitzgibbon, and R. Connell, 2010: J. Atmos. Ocea. Tech., 27, 42-60.
• The dryline on 22 May 2002 during IHOP_2002: Convective scale measurements at the profiling site. Demoz, B., C. Flamant, T. Weckwerth, D. Whiteman, K. Evans, F. Fabry, P. Di Girolamo, D. Miller, B. Geerts, W. Brown, G. Schwemmer, B. Gentry, W. Feltz, and Z. Wang, 2006: Mon. Wea. Rev. (January 2006)
• Raman Lidar Measurements During the International H2O Project. I. Instrumentation and Analysis Techniques. D. N. Whiteman, B. Demoz, P. Di Girolamo, J. Comer, I. Veselovskii, K. Evans, Z. Wang, M. Cadirola, K. Rush, G. Schwemmer, B. Gentry, S. H.Melfi, B. Mielke, D. Venable, T. Van Hove, 2005: In Press. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
• The AIRS Water Vapor Experiment and its Relationship to Aqua Validation. Whiteman, D., B. B. Demoz, F. Schmidlin, F. Russo, I. Veselovski, S. Hannon, A. Gambacorta, Z. Wang, L. Miloshevich, B. Lesht, H. Vomel, C. Barnet, 2005: In Press. J. Geoph. Research
• The Cold Front of 15 April 1994 Over Central U.S.: Observations. Demoz, B., D. O’C. Starr, K.D. Evans, A. R. Lare, D. N. Whiteman, G. Schwemmer, R. A. Ferrare, J.E.M. Goldsmith and S.E. Bisson, 2005:Mon. Wea. Rev., 133, No. 6, pp 1525–1543.
• Numerical simulation of light backscattering by spheres with off-center inclusion. Application to the lidar case. Griaznov, V, I. Veselovskii, P. Di Girolamo, B. Demoz, and D. N. Whiteman, 2004: Applied Optics. 43, 1-11.
• An Overview of the International H2O Project (IHOP_2002) and Some Preliminary Highlights. Weckwerth, T., D. Parsons, S. Koch, S. Moore, M. LeMone, B. Demoz, C. Flamant, B. Geerts, J. Wang and W. Feltz, 2004: Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 85, 253-277.
• Model simulations of melting hydrometeors: A new lidar bright band from melting frozen drops. Di Girolamo, P., B. Demoz and D. Whiteman 2003: Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 12, 1626.
• Raman LIDAR detection of cloud base. Demoz, B. B., D. O’C. Starr, D. N. Whiteman, K. Evans, and D. Hlavka, 2000: Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, 13, 1899-1902.
• Wavelet Analysis of Dynamical Processes in Cirrus. Demoz, B.B., D.O’C. Starr, K.R. Chan, and S.W. Bowen, 1998: Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 9, 1339-1343.
• On the design and performance of the California institute of technology cloudwater collector. Demoz, B. B., J. L. Collett, Jr., and B. C. Daube, Jr., 1996: Atmos. Res., 41, 47-62.
• An analysis of Sierra Nevada winter orographic storms: Ground–based ice crystal observations. Demoz, B. B., R. Zhang, R. Pitter, and D. Mitchell, 1993: J Appl. Meteor., 42, 1826-1836.
• Field performance of a Spinning Reflector Microwave Radiometer. Demoz, B. B., and A. W. Huggins, 1993: J. Atmos. Ocean. Technol., 10, 3, 420-427.
• The influence of rimming on the oxygen isotopic composition of ice-phase winter precipitation. Demoz, B. B., J. A. Warburton, and R. H. Stone, 1990: Atmos. Res., 26 , 6, 463-489.
• Electrical and Optical investigation of soil suspensions, rock crush solutions and Red Sea water. Fitting, H. J. and B. B. Demoz (1987): Wilhelm–Pieck–University of Rostock, GDR, 36, pp. 27–30.