L. Larrabee Strow

L. Larrabee StrowContact Information

strow@umbc.edu

Title

Professor Emeritus
Dr. Strow retired from the Physics Department in July 2024; however, he is currently a Senior Research Scientist with GESTAR II.

Education

Ph.D. Physics – University of Maryland College Park, 1981
B.S. Physics – University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 1974

Previous Experience

After obtaining his B.S. degree from UMBC, Dr. Strow worked as an atmospheric physicist for 10 years at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight before returning to UMBC in 1984 as an Assistant Professor. He become a full Professor in 1998 and switched to Research Professor in 2006.

Professional Interests

My group focuses on remote sensing of the earth in the infrared using high spectral resolution satellite instruments. Our primary goal is to measure climate trends using NASA, NOAA, European, and Japanese satellites. To that end, Dr. Strow is a Science Team Member on NASA’s AQUA AIRS instrument, the NPOESS CrIS and EUMETSAT’s IASI suite of instruments, and the Japanese GOSAT greenhouse gas mission. We provide NASA and NOAA with the radiative transfer algorithms for the retrieval of geophysical variable using AIRS, IASI, and CrIS. Present research topics include measurements of atmospheric CO2 and dust in order to better understand their effects on climate change. We also actively contribute to the calibration of these satellite sensors.

Selected Publications

  • S. G. DeSouza-Machado, B. Imbiriba, K. McCann, L. Strow, R. Hoff, S. Hannon, J. Martins, D. Tanre, J. Deuze, F. Ducos, and O. Torres, “An evaluation of infrared dust column optical depth and height retrievals obtained using a synergy of AIRS, CALIPSO, and PARASOL data,” submitted to Journal of Geophysical Research, Nov. 2008.
  • L. Strow, H. Motteler, and S. Hannon, “Pre-Launch Spectral Calibration of the CrIS Sensor on NPOESS/NPP”, 2008 CALCON Technical Conference, Logan, Utah, August 25-28, 2008.
  • L. Strow and S. Hannon, “Inter-Calibration of the AIRS and IASI Operational Infrared Sensors”, 2008 CALCON Technical Conference, Logan, Utah, August 25-28, 2008.
  • L. Strow and S. Hannon, “A 4-Year Zonal Climatology of Lower-Tropospheric CO2 Derived from Ocean-only AIRS Observations”, Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 113, D18302, doi:10.1029/2007JD009713, 2008
  • A. Gambacorta, C. Barnet, B. Soden, and L. Strow, “An assessment of the tropical humidity-temperature covariance using AIRS”, Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 35, L10814, doi:10.1029/2008GL033805, 2008.
  • R. Saunders, P. Rayer, P. Brunel, A. von Engeln, N. Bormann, L. Strow, S. Hannon, S. Heilliette, Xu Liu, F. Miskolczi, Y. Han, G. Masiello, J.-L. Moncet, Gennady Uymin, V. Sherlock, and D. S. Turner. A comparison of radiative transfer models for simulating Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) radiances, Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 112, D01S90, doi:10.1029/2006JD007088, 2007. S. De
  • DeSouza-Machado, L. L. Strow, S. E. Hannon, H. Motteler,M. Lopez-Puertas, B. Funke and D. P. Edwards, “Fast Forward Radiative Transfer Modeling of 4.3 μm Non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium effects for the Aqua/AIRS Infrared Temperature Sounder,” Geophysical Review Letters, 34, L01802 (2007), doi:10.1029/2006GL026684
  • Moustafa T. Chahine, Thomas S. Pagano, Hartmut H. Aumann, Robert Atlas, Christopher Barnet, Luke Chen, Murty Divakarla, Eric J. Fetzer, Mitch Goldberg, Catherine Gautier, Stephanie Granger, Fredrick W. Irion, Ramesh Kakar, Eugenia Kalnay, Bjorn H. Lambrigtsen, Sung-Yung Lee, John Le Marshall, W. Wallace McMillan, Larry McMillin, Edward T. Olsen, Henry Revercomb , Philip Rosenkranz, William L. Smith, David Staelin, L. Larrabee Strow, Joel Susskind , David Tobin and Walter Wolf, The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS): Improving Weather Forecasting and Providing New Insights into Climate, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol 87, Issue 7, JDOI: 10.1175/BAMS-87-7-911, July 2006.
  • L. L. Strow, S. E. Hannon, S. DeSouza Machado, H. E. Motteler, and D. C. Tobin. Validation of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder radiative transfer algorithm. Journal of Geophysical Research (Atmospheres), 111:9–+, May 2006.
  • D. C. Tobin, H. E. Revercomb, R. O. Knuteson, B. M. Lesht, L. L. Strow, S. E. Hannon, W. F. Feltz, L. A. Moy, E. J. Fetzer, and T. S. Cress. Atmospheric Radiation Measurement site atmospheric state best estimates for Atmospheric Infrared Sounder temperature and water vapor retrieval validation. Journal of Geophysical Research (Atmospheres), 111:9–+, March 2006.
  • S. G. DeSouza-Machado, L. L. Strow, S. E. Hannon, and H. E. Motteler. Infrared dust spectral signatures from AIRS. Geophys. Res. Letters, 33:3801–+, February 2006.