Academic Education
1985-1987 Colorado State University; Ph.D. - Atmospheric Science;
1976-1979 Colorado State University; M.S. - Atmospheric Science
1972-1976 State University of New York - Oneonta
Awards
- 2019-2020 Sigma Xi/American Meteorological Society Distinguished Lecturer
- 2017: New Library World 2017 Highly Commend Award for 2016 publication
- May 2014: Colorado State University Alumni Award
- Jan 2014: Elected Fellow of the American Meteorological Society
- May 2011: Elected Fellow of the Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts and Letters
- Nov 2010: Finalist in NSF International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge
- May 2010: NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal
- June 2009: State University of New York at Oneonta: Distinguished Alumnus Award
- Jan 2009: American Meteorological Society’s Teaching Excellence Award
- Summer 2004: UW-Madison Vilas Research Associate
- Spring 2003: Winner of the Society of Academic Author’s Talby prize to “recognize excellence in visuals in textbooks and other learning materials.”
- Summer 2003: NASA Group Achievement Award for Outstanding Teamwork on the Earth Observing System (EOS), Aqua Mission Team
- April 1999: Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Teaching
- Dec 1996: NASA Group Achievement Award: FIRE II Science and Operations Team
- April 1996: Recipient of a Lilly Teaching Fellowship
- April 1995: Inducted as a Fellow in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Teaching Academy
- September 1992: NASA ERBE Program Award "For outstanding contributions to the intercomparison and validation of ERBE scanner and non-scanner results."
Research
Globally, the earth-atmosphere system is balanced by the radiative
energy gained from the sun and lost through infrared emission. The
geographic distribution of radiative energy is an important climate
variable. A change in one climate variable inevitably results in a
change in another variable. Thus, a shift in the radiation balance at
the surface of the earth, top of the atmosphere or within the
atmosphere can result in a sequence of complicated changes in global
climate. My interests center on understanding how changes in the
radiation balance affect and are affected by changes in other climate
variables such as clouds, aerosols, water vapor and surface properties.
These feedback mechanisms are studied using a compliment of theoretical
models and observations.
Books and Popular Articles
- Ackerman, S. A., 2013: Satellites and Wisconsin. Published in Wisconsin People & Ideas, the magazine of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters.
- Martin, J and S. A. Ackerman, 2012: Ask the Weather Guys, an eBook published by Wisconsin State Journal, Madison-com & Capital Newspapers.
- Pryor, A., D. Kemtz, R. Olson, and S. Ackerman, 2011: Here at Home: Learning Local Culture Pedagogy through a Cultural Tour. In A View From Practice: Folklife Resources and K-12 Schooling,
Chapter 3 in Through the Schoolhouse Door: Folklore, Community, Curriculum, edited by P Bowman and L. Hamer. Published by Utah State University Press, 264 pp. 978-0-87421-859-6
- Ackerman, S. A., 2008: Weather from Space, Extreme Weather, Astronomy magazine Kalmbach Publishing Co.
- Ackerman, S. A., 2007: Developing Positive Team Collaborations. BAMS, 627-629.
- Ackerman, S. A. and J.A. Knox, 2002: Meteorology: Understanding the atmosphere. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning. xxiii, 486p. (2nd edition published in 2006, other editions in 2011 and 2013)
- Ackerman, S. A. and R. Pincus, 2003: “Radiation in the Atmosphere: Observations and Applications,” In Handbook of Weather, Climate and Water, edited by Thomas D. Potter and Bradley R. Colman. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
- Pincus, R. and S. A. Ackerman, 2003: “Radiation in the Atmosphere: Foundations,” In Handbook of Weather, Climate and Water, edited by Thomas D. Potter and Bradley R. Colman. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
- Higgins, Nadia (illustrated by D. Ward and content by S. Ackerman), 2010: Weather Watchers: A children's book series on weather: "It's a Tornado!"; "It's a Thunderstorm!"; "It's Hailing!"; "It's a Tsunami!"; "It's Snowing!"; and "It's Raining!". Published by The Magic Wagon.
Selected Publications
(H Index of 43 http://www.researcherid.com/rid/G-1640-2011)
Ackerman CV
White, C. H., A. K. Heidinger, S. A. Ackerman and P. B. McIntyre, 2018: A Long-Term Fine-Resolution Record of AVHRR Surface Temperatures for the Laurentian Great Lakes. Remote Sens. 10 (8), https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10081210.
Ross, A., R. E. Holz and S. A. Ackerman, 2017:Correlations of oriented ice and precipitation in marine midlatitude low clouds using collocated, CloudSat, CALIOP and MODIS observations. JGR-Atmospheres 122, 8056–8070, doi:10.1002/2016JD026407
Gartzke, J., R. Knuteson, G. Przybyl, S. Ackerman, and H. Revercomb, 2017: Comparison of satellite-, model-, and radiosonde derived convective available potential energy in the Southern Great Plains region. J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol., 56, 1499-1513.
Ackerman, S. A., M. Mooney, S. Morrill, J. Morrill, M. Thompson, and L. K. Balenovich, 2016: Libraries, Massive Open Online Courses and the Importance of Place: Partnering with Libraries to Explore Change in the Great Lakes", New Library World, Vol. 117 Issue: 11/12, pp.688-701, https://doi.org/10.1108/NLW-08-2016-0054
Roman, J. A., R. O. Knuteson, T. August, T. Hultberg, S. A. Ackerman, H. Revercomb, 2016: A Global Assessment of NASA AIRS v6 and EUMETSAT IASI v6 Precipitable Water vapor using Ground-based GPS SuomiNet Stations, Jour. Geo. Res. – Atmospheres, 2016JD024806
Holz, R. E., S. Platnick, K. Meyer, M. Vaughan, A. Heidinger, P. Yang, G. Wind, S. Dutcher, S. Ackerman, N. Amarasinghe, F. Nagle, and C. Wang, 2016: Resolving ice cloud optical thickness biases between CALIOP and MODIS using infrared retrievals. Atmos. Chem. Phys. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 5075-5090
Wang, P., J. Li, M. D. Goldberg, T. J. Schmit, A. H. N. Lim, Z. Li, H. Han J. Li and S. A. Ackerman, 2015: Assimilation of thermodynamic information from advanced infrared sounders under partially cloudy skies for regional NWP. Jour. Geo Res., 120, pp: 5469-5484 DOI: 10.1002/2014JD022976
Roman, J., R. Knuteson, S. A. Ackerman and H. Revercomb, 2015: Predicted Changes in the Frequency of Extreme Precipitable Water Vapor Events. Jour. of Climate, 28, 18 pp: 7057-7070 DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00679.
Feltz, M.; R., Knuteson, R.; S. A. Ackerman, and H. Revercomb, 2014: Application of GPS radio occultation to the assessment of temperature profile retrievals from microwave and infrared sounders. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 7,11, pp: 3751-3762 DOI: 10.5194/amt-7-3751-2014.
Roman, J., R. Knuteson, and S. A. Ackerman, 2014: Time-to-Detect Trends in Precipitable Water Vapor with Varying Measurement Error. Jour. of Climate, 27, 21, pp: 8259-8275 DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00736.1
Lim, A. H. N., J. A. Jung, H.-L. Huang, S. A. Ackerman and J. A. Otkin, 2014: Assimilation of clear sky Atmospheric Infrared Sounder radiances in short-term regional forecasts using community models", J. Appl. Remote Sens. 8(1), 083655; http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/1.JRS.8.083655
Ackerman, S. A., A. Heidinger, M. J. Foster, and B. Maddux, 2013: Satellite Regional Cloud Climatology over the Great Lakes. Remote Sens. 5(12), 6223-6240; doi:10.3390/rs5126223 http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/5/12/6223
King, M. D., S. Platnick, W. P. Menzel, S. A. Ackerman, and P. A. Hubanks, 2013: Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Clouds Observed by MODIS Onboard the Terra and Aqua Satellites. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. 51 7 pp: 3826-3852
Stubenrauch, C. J., W. B. Rossow, S. Kinne, S. Ackerman, G. Cesana, H. Chepfer, B. Getzewich, L. Di Girolamo, A. Guignard, A. Heidinger, B. Maddux, P. Menzel, P. Minnis, C. Pearl, S. Platnick, C. Poulsen, J. Riedi, S. Sun-Mack, A. Walther, D. Winker, S. Zeng, and G. Zhao, 2013: Assessment of global cloud datasets from satellites: Project and database initiated by the GEWEX Radiation Panel. Bull. Am. Meteor. Soc. 94,7.
Liu, Y., J. R. Key, S. A. Ackerman, G. Mace and Q. Zhang, 2012: Arctic Cloud Macrophysical Characteristics from CloudSat and CALIPSO. Remote Sensing of Environment 124, 159–173; doi:10.1016/j.rse.2012.05.006
Baum, B. A., W. P. Menzel, R. A. Frey, D. C. Tobin, R. E. Holz, S. A. Ackerman, A. K. Heidinger and P. Yang, 2012. MODIS Cloud Top Property Refinements for Collection 6. Jour. App. Meteor. and Clim. 51:6, 1145-1163
Roman, J. A., R. O. Knuteson, S. A. Ackerman, D. C. Tobin, and Henry E. Revercomb, 2012: Validation of Regional Global Climate Model (GCM) 1 Water Vapor Bias and Trends Using Precipitable Water Vapor (PWV) Observations from a Network of Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) Receivers in the U.S. Great Plains and Midwest. Journal of Climate, 25, No.16, 5471–5493.
Pincus, R., S. Platnick, S. A. Ackerman, R. S. Hemler, R. J. Hofmann, 2012: Reconciling simulated and observed views of clouds: MODIS, ISCCP, and the limits of instrument simulators. J. Climate , 25, 4699-4720. doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00267.1.
Crone, W. C., S. L. Dunwoody, R. K. Rediske, S. A. Ackerman, G. M. Zenner Peterson, and R. A. Yaros, 2011: Informal Science Education: A Practicum for Graduate Students. Accepted for publication in Innovative Higher Education 36:291–304
Maddux, B. C., S. A. Ackerman,and S. Platnick, 2010: Viewing Geometry Dependencies in MODIS Cloud Products. J. Atmos. Oceanic Tech. 27, no. 9, pp 1519-1528.
Winker, D. M., J. Pelon, J. A. Coakley Jr., S. A. Ackerman, R. J. Charlson, P. R. Colarco, P. Flamant, Q. Fu, R. Hoff, C. Kittaka, T. L. Kubar, H. LeTreut, M. P. McCormick, G. Megie, L. Poole, K. Powell, C. Trepte, M. A. Vaughan, and B. A. Wielicki, 2010: The CALIPSO Mission: A Global 3D View of Aerosols and Clouds. Bull. Amer. Met. Soc., 91, pp 1211-1229.
Zhao, T. X.-P, S. A. Ackerman, and Wei Guo, 2010: Dust and Smoke Detection for Multi-Channel Imagers, Remote Sens. 2010, 2(10), 2347-2368; doi:10.3390/rs2102347
Von P. Walden, V. P., R. L. Tanamachi, P. M. Rowe, H. E. Revercomb, D. C. Tobin, and S. A. Ackerman, 2010: Improvements in the data quality of the Interferometric Monitor of Greenhouse Gases (IMG). Applied Optics, 49, Issue 3, 520-528.
Foster, M. J., S. A. Ackerman, A. K. Heidinger, and B. C. Maddux, 2010: Global Cloudiness [in "State of the Climate in 2009"]. Bull. Amer. Met. Soc., 91, S34‐S35.
Liu, Y., S. A. Ackerman, B. C. Maddux, J. R. Key, and R. A. Frey, 2010: Errors in Cloud Detection Over the Arctic and Implications for Observing Feedback Mechanisms, J. Climate, 23, Issue 6, 1894-1907.
Wu, D. L., S. A. Ackerman, R. Davies, D. J. Diner, M. J. Garay, B.H. Kahn, B. C. Maddux, C. M. Moroney, G. L. Stephens, J. P. Veefkind, and M. A. Vaughn, 2009: Vertical distributions and relationships of cloud occurrence frequency as observed by MISR, AIRS, MODIS, OML, CALIPSO, and CloudSat. Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, Doi:10.1029/2009GL037464.
Sieglaff, J. M., T. J. Schmit, W. P. Menzel and S. A. Ackerman, 2009: Inferring Convective Weather Characteristics with Geostationary High-spectral Resolution IR Window Measurements: A Look into the Future, J. Atmos. Oceanic Tech., doi:10.1175/2009JTECHA1210.1, 1527-1541.
Foster, M. J., S. A. Ackerman, R. Bennartz, A. K. Heidinger, B. C. Maddux, and W. B. Rossow, 2009: Global Cloudiness [in "State of the Climate in 2008"]. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 90, S29‐S30.
Feltz, W. F., K. M. Bedka, J. A. Otkin, T. Greenwald, and S. A. Ackerman, 2009: Understanding Satellite-Observed Mountain Wave Signatures Using High-Resolution Numerical Model Data. Wea. Forecasting. 24, 76-86.
Crone, W. C., R. K. Rediske, S. A. Ackerman, and S. L. Dunwoody, 2009: Engaging Science and Engineering Graduate Students with Informal Science Education. American Society for Engineering Education. Extended abstracts of 116th Annual conference and Exposition, June 13-17, 2009, Austin, TX.
Liu, C-Y, J. Li, E. Weisz,. T. J. Schmit, S. A. Ackerman, and H-L Huang, 2008: Synergistic use of AIRS and MODIS radiance measurements for atmospheric profiling.GRL, 35, L21802, doi:10.1029/2008GL035859. , 1057-1072
Wagner, T. J., W. F. Feltz, and S. A. Ackerman, 2008: The Temporal Evolution of Convective Indices in Storm-Producing Environments, Wea. Forecasting, 23, 786-794.
Frey, R. A., S. A. Ackerman, Y. Liu, K. I. Strabala, H. Zhang, J. Key and X. Wang, 2008: Cloud Detection with MODIS, Part I: Recent Improvements in the MODIS Cloud Mask , JTECH. 25, 1057-1072
Ackerman, S. A., R. E. Holz, R. Frey, E. W. Eloranta, B. Maddux, and M. McGill, 2008: Cloud Detection with MODIS: Part II Validation. JTECH.25, 1073-1086
Wagner, T. J., W. F. Feltz, and S. A. Ackerman, 2007: The Temporal Evolution of Convective Indices in Storm-Producing Environments, Wea. Forecasting 23, 786- 794..
Brunner, J. C., S. A. Ackerman, A. S. Bachmeier, and R. M. Rabin, 2007: A Quantitative Analysis of the Enhanced-V Feature in Relation to Severe Weather. Wea. Forecasting, 22, No. 4, 853-872.
Schreiner, A. J., S. A. Ackerman, B. A. Baum, and A. K. Heidinger, 2007: A Multi-Spectral Technique for Detecting Low Level Cloudiness Near Sunrise. JTECH, 24, 10, 1800-1810.
Li, Z., J. Li, W. P. Menzel, T. J. Schmit, and S. A. Ackerman, 2007: Comparison between current and future environmental satellite imagers on cloud classification using MODIS. Remote Sensing of Environment. 108, 311-326.
Hong, G., P. Yang, H -L Huang, S. A. Ackerman, and I. N. Sokolik, 2006: High-resolution infrared spectral signature of overlapping cirrus clouds and mineral dust. JGR Lett. 33, L04805, 4pp.
Holz, R., S. A. Ackerman, P. Antonelli, F. Nagle, R. O. Knuteson, M. McGill, D. L. Hlavka, and W. D. Hart, 2006: An Improvement to the High Spectral Resolution CO2 Slicing Cloud Top Altitude Retrieval. J.Atmos. Oceanic Technol. 23, 5, 653-670
Hawkinson, J. A., W. Feltz, and S. A. Ackerman, 2005: A comparison of GOES sounder- and cloud lidar- and radar-retrieved cloud-top heights. J. Appl. Meteor., 44, Issue 8, 1234-1242.
Knox, J. A. and S. A. Ackerman, 2005: What do introductory meteorology students want to learn?. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 86, Issue 10, 1431-1435.
King, M. D., S. Platnick, P. Yang, G. T. Arnold, M. A. Gray, J. C. Riedi, S. A. Ackerman, and K. Liou, 2004: Remote
sensing of liquid water and ice cloud optical thickness and effective
radius in the Arctic: Application of airborne multispectral MAS data. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 21, Issue 6, 857-875.
Liu, Y., J. R. Key, R. A. Frey, S. A. Ackerman, and W. P. Menzel, 2004: Nighttime polar cloud detection with MODIS. Remote Sens. Environ., Volume 92, 181-194. Call Number: Reprint # 3815
Huang, H., P. Yang, H. Wei, B. A. Baum, Y. Hu, P. Antonelli, and S. A. Ackerman, 2004: Inference of ice cloud properties from high spectral resolution infrared observations. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 42, Issue 4, 842-853. Call Number: Reprint # 3923
Lee, Y., G. Wahba, and S. A. Ackerman, 2004: Cloud classification of satellite radiance data by multicategory support vector machines. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 21, Issue 2, 159-169, corrigendum.
McCourt, M. L.; W. W. McMillan, S. A. Ackerman, R. Holz, H. E. Revercomb, and D. Tobin, 2004: Using the 'blue spike' to characterize biomass-burning sites during Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI) 2000. J. of Geophys. Res., Volume 109.
Yang, P., B. A. Baum, A. J. Heymsfield, Y. X. Hu, H. Huang, S. Tsay, and S. A. Ackerman, 2003: Single-scattering properties of droxtals. J. Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, 79, 1159-1169.
Platnick, S., M. D. King, S. A. Ackerman, W. P. Menzel, B. A. Baum, J. C. Riedi, and R. A. Frey, 2003: The MODIS cloud products: Algorithms and examples from Terra. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 41, Issue 2, 459-473.
Moeller, C. C., H. E. Revercomb, S. A. Ackerman, W. P. Menzel, and R. O. Knuteson, 2003 Evaluation of MODIS thermal IR and L1B radiances during SAFARI 2000. J. Geophys. Res., Volume 108, (SAF 30-1)-(SAF 30-12).
King, M. D., W. P. Menzel, Y. J. Kaufmann, D. Tanre, B. Gao, S. Platnick, S. A. Ackerman, L. A. Remer, R. Pincus, and P. A. Hubanks, 2003: Cloud and aerosol properties, precipitable water, and profiles of temperature and water vapor from MODIS. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 41, Issue 2, 442-458.
Inoue, T. and S. A. Ackerman, 2002: Radiative effects of various cloud types as classified by the split window technique over the eastern sub-tropical Pacific derived from
colloctated ERBE and AVHRR data. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 80, Issue 6, 1383-1394.
Whittaker, T. M. and S. A. Ackerman, 2002: Interactive web-based learning with Java. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 83, Issue 7, 970-975.
Baum, B. A., P. F. Soulen, K. I. Strabala, M. D. King, S. A. Ackerman, W. P. Menzel, and P. Yang, 2000: Remote sensing of cloud properties using MODIS airborne simulator imagery during SUCCESS. 2. Cloud thermodynamic phase. J. Geophys. Res., 105, 11,781-11,792.
Chang, F., Z. Li, and S. A. Ackerman, 2000: Examining the relationship between cloud and radiation quantities derived from satellite observations and model calculations. J. Climate, 13, Issue 21, 3842-3859.
Riggs, G. A., D. K. Hall, and S. A. Ackerman, 1999: Sea ice extent and classification mapping with the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer airborne simulator. Remote Sens. Environ., 68, Issue 2, 152-163.
King, M. D.; S. Tsay, S. A. Ackerman, and N. F. Larsen, 1998: Discriminating heavy aerosol, clouds, and fires during SCAR-B: Application of airborne multispectral MAS data. J. Geophys. Res., 103, 31,989-31,999.
Ackerman, S. A., K. I. Strabala, W. P. Menzel, R. A. Frey, C. C. Moeller, and L. E. Gumley, 1998: Discriminating clear sky from clouds with MODIS. J. Geophys. Res., 103, 32,141-32,157.
Smith, W. L., S. Ackerman, H. Revercomb, H. Huang, D. H. DeSlover, W. Feltz, and L. Gumley, 1998: Infrared spectral absorption of nearly invisible cirrus clouds. Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, Issue 8, 1137-1140.
Ackerman, S. A., C. C. Moeller, K. I. Strabala, H. E. Gerber, L. E. Gumley, W. P. Menzel, and S. Tsay, 1998: Retrieval of effective microphysical properties of clouds: A wave cloud case study. Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, Issue 8, 1121-1124.
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