Parkinson, Claire - Biography

Claire Parkinson is a climatologist in the Oceans and Ice Branch at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where she has worked since July 1978. For much of that time, her research has centered on satellite data analysis of sea ice and the role of sea ice in the global climate system. She has also numerically modeled sea ice and has done field work in both the Arctic and Antarctic, including as Chief Scientist on an expedition to Resolute Bay and the North Pole in April 1999. She is lead author of an atlas of Arctic sea ice from satellite data and coauthor of two other sea ice atlases. In addition to her sea ice work, Dr. Parkinson has co-written a textbook on climate modeling, has co-edited a book on satellite observations related to global change, and is lead editor of a Data Products Handbook for NASA's Earth Observing System. She has also written an introductory text on satellite imagery and a book on the history of western science from 1202 to 1930.

Since 1993, Dr. Parkinson has served as Project Scientist for the Earth Observing System's Aqua mission, an international satellite mission with a suite of six instruments to collect data on many aspects of the Earth's climate, including most elements of the global water cycle. Launched on May 4, 2002, into a near-polar Earth orbit, the Aqua satellite has the potential of leading to improved understandings of climate, climate change, and the role of water in the climate system, and perhaps improved weather forecasts as well. As Project Scientist, Dr. Parkinson has coordinated the science interests of the mission, reported regularly to NASA management, served as a link between Project management and the science community, and written many technical and non-technical documents regarding aspects of the mission.

Dr. Parkinson has served on committees of the American Meteorological Society, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Academy of Sciences. She has also served as an Associate Editor of the International Glaciological Society's Annals of Glaciology, as a Scientific Editor of the Journal of Glaciology, and, in 2002-2003, as a Guest Editor for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. She often speaks to groups of students and/or teachers, was a JASON Host Researcher for the 2001/2002 JASON XIII Frozen Worlds curriculum, was a science advisor to Soundprint Media CenterÕs radio series on Explaining Space Science, and is currently a science advisor to the Earth & Sky Radio Program.

Dr. Parkinson has a B.A. in mathematics from Wellesley College, where she was elected to both Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi, and a Ph.D. in climatology from Ohio State University. She is a Fellow of both the American Meteorological Society and Phi Beta Kappa, and in 2001 she received a NASA Exceptional Service Medal.
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