In Memoriam: Dr. Richard S. Stolarski [1941–2024]

Renowned ozone scientist Dr. Richard “Rich” Stolarski died on February 22, 2024, at age 82 from the complications of prostate cancer. Rich was born at Fort Lewis, WA on November 22, 1941. After short stays in Kansas and Hawaii, Rich’s family settled in Tacoma, WA. He attended Stadium High School for three years and Wilson High School for his final year. He received his Bachelor of Science in physics and mathematics from the University of Puget Sound in 1963 and his Ph.D. from the University of Florida three years later in 1966 under Professor Alex Green. Rich was a University of Michigan post-doctoral fellow from 1967 – 1974 under Professor Andrew Nagy, where he met his colleague and friend Dr. Ralph Cicerone. 

Rich joined NASA in 1974 at the Manned Space Center (now the Johnson Space Center) as a research physicist in the Environmental Effects Projects Office. He moved to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in 1976 to join the fledgling Stratospheric Physics and Chemistry Branch. Rich was branch head (1979 – 1985) and a research scientist (1985 – 2010). He was the Program Scientist for the Atmospheric Effects of the Stratospheric Aircraft program at NASA headquarters from 1992 to 1995. From 2010 until his passing, Rich was a NASA Goddard Emeritus scientist and a Research Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. 

Rich’s atmospheric science career began during a period of great ferment. A proposed fleet of supersonic transport aircraft (SSTs) was being researched in the early 1970s, and scientists had proposed that nitrogen emissions from SST engines could deplete the Earth’s ozone layer. In 1974, Rich and Ralph Cicerone published their groundbreaking paper showing that reactive chlorine compounds derived from emissions by the NASA space shuttle could also deplete the ozone layer. Mario Molina and Sherry Rowland independently proposed that reactive chlorine could destroy ozone, and further hypothesized that human-produced chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) would be a source of reactive chlorine compounds. Molina and Rowland shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry for this work, and Stolarski and Cicerone were cited in the Royal Swedish Academy of Science’s press release for their contributions. Rich was awarded the United Nations Environmental Program’s Ozone Award in 1997, where “Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Richard S. Stolarski were the first to indicate the important role of chlorine monoxide in stratospheric ozone depletion.”

The severe ozone decline over Antarctica discovered by British Antarctic Survey scientists in the 1980s was simultaneously shocking, disturbing, and exciting. In parallel, Dr. P. K. Bhartia and others were examining extremely low ozone values measured by the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) aboard NASA’s Nimbus–7 satellite. Rich and colleagues found that TOMS showed that this severe Antarctic ozone decline was continental in scale, publishing the first paper on satellite observations of this ozone depletion. This rapid ozone decline combined with the continental scale led to the coining of the name “Antarctic Ozone Hole” to describe the phenomenon. The ozone hole’s appearance did not directly lead to the finalizing of the “Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer” (now signed by every nation on Earth), but it likely influenced negotiations for the treaty and supported later strengthening of the protocol with amendments in 1990 and 1992. Subsequent work showing that chlorine-containing substances were causing the ozone hole led to a complete banning of CFCs in 2010. Rich’s work on the Antarctic ozone hole was cited in his 2007 NASA Goddard Scientific Research Award as “… one of the most important papers in atmospheric science in the second half of the twentieth century.” Rich also received NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal for his ozone hole research and was named a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1996.

Rich continued his ozone layer research, contributing to the development of trend-quality data sets. In 1991 he published a seminal paper on ozone trends that showed the unambiguous decline of the ozone layer. In this paper he carefully removed “natural” ozone variations to reveal a steady downward ozone trend. Rich was recognized in 1991 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Ozone Protection Award for being “… a leader in the verification of ozone depletion from observational data.”

Assessments of ozone depletion are written reports from scientists that provide the foundation for the international Montreal Protocol and Vienna Convention. While many “national” reports were written following Rich’s 1974 paper, there was no international consensus. In December 1980, Rich led an international-based scientific summary of the stratosphere and an assessment of human impact on the ozone layer. This was followed by the 1985 three-volume international report (Atmospheric Ozone: 1985) in which Rich helped write the introduction as well as provide model contributions, reviews, and edits of the report. Ozone 1985 was the scientific basis for the landmark Montreal Protocol. Rich contributed to assessments in 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 in several roles. Rich attended many of the Les Diableret meetings where the primary executive summaries for Montreal Protocol policy makers were written. Rich’s calm influence and careful science statements at those meetings helped produce clear and consistent messages for the nations of the world in their Montreal Protocol deliberations. 

Rich’s modeling contributions began with one dimensional models (height) in the 1970s, evolving to height – latitude models in the 1980s, and fully three-dimensional models late in his career. He was expert at identifying the processes that controlled the simulated ozone distribution and its response to natural and human-produced perturbations. Late in his career at NASA, Rich took on the challenge of leading NASA Goddard’s chemistry–climate modeling project. Rich applied his strengths to this project, making sure that it focused on the scientific questions of the day and examining how ozone changes impact the temperature and dynamics of the stratosphere and troposphere. In 2009, Rich was awarded the NASA Robert H. Goddard Award of Merit, in part for having “… pioneered a new initiative in the model of the coupling of chemistry and climate, utilizing the GMAO climate model, and involving a large number of Goddard and outside scientists.”

In the 1990s the World Climate Research Program’s (WCRP) Stratospheric Processes effort was emerging, drawing together scientists from many nations to discuss our evolving understanding of the ozone layer. As an important contributor to conferences and summer schools organized by this WCRP effort, Rich could be found in the center of a crowd of early career scientists, discussing ozone, science, and life, thus fostering the next generation of leaders. He was elected a member of the International Ozone Commission (IO3C) in 1996, became the IO3C vice-president in 2008, and was elected as an “Honorary IO3C Member” in 2016.

Papers, citations, and awards are performance measures that rarely fully capture the totality of a scientist’s contribution and clearly fail to capture the essence of a life. Rich had an extremely distinguished science career with 155 publications in refereed science journals and 63 additional publications in other reports and science documents. Rich was a quick thinker with a curiosity and a love of learning that never faded. He was particularly adept at the use of models and analysis to identify the processes that control the ozone distribution, the interplay between chemical reactions and transport, and applying his knowledge to understand the stratospheric response to anthropogenic changes in composition and climate. He was a selfless contributor and an excellent collaborator. He was a friend and mentor to many, and through his mentorship his legacy will continue.

In addition to his scientific family, Rich is survived by his beloved wife of 59 years, Shirley Stolarski; daughter Susan Stolarski Datta and her husband Joy of Charleston, SC; son Steven Stolarski and his wife Vanessa of Purcellville, VA; three grandchildren, Kellen Datta, and Zachary and Maxwell Stolarski; brother Bob Stolarski and his wife Jean of Dewey, AZ; and brother-in-law Bob Jewett and his wife Janet of Loveland, CO.

Acknowledgments: The Earth Observer staff wishes to thank Paul A. Newman [GSFC] and Anne Douglass [GSFC, emeritus] for writing this In Memoriam.

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Summary of the Fifty-Second U.S.–Japan ASTER Science Team Meeting

Michael Abrams, NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, mjabrams@jpl.nasa.gov
Yasushi Yamaguchi, Nagoya University/Japan Science and Technology Agency, yasushi@nagoya-u.jp

Introduction

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Science Team (ST) organized a three-day workshop that took place September 11–13, 2023, at the offices of Japan Space Systems (JSS) in Tokyo. Over 40 people from Japan and the U.S. participated in the in-person meeting—some of whom are shown in the Photo below. U.S. participants included members from NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA’s Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LPDAAC), NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), University of Arizona (UA), Grace Consulting (GC), and University of Pittsburgh (Pitt). Japanese members included representatives from JSS, Ibaraki University (IU), Nagoya University (NU), University of Tokyo (UT), Geologic Survey of Japan (GSJ), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), University of Tsukuba (UTs), and Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan (RESTEC). 

The meeting objectives focused on discussing impacts of the 50% budget reductions to the Terra mission (including ASTER) that have been proposed in the NASA Budget for Fiscal Years (FY) 2024–26; revised spacecraft management protocols by the Flight Operations Team; data acquisition status; data calibration and validation; data distribution; status of Level-1 processing interruption; applications; and end-of-mission plans. After summarizing the opening plenary presentations, the remainder of this article provides highlights from meetings of the various ASTER working groups and the closing plenary session. 

Opening Plenary Session

Yasushi Yamaguchi [NU] and Michael Abrams [JPL—ASTER ST Leaders from Japan and the U.S., respectively] welcomed participants and reviewed the agenda for the opening plenary and the schedule for the week’s working groups.

Akira Tsuneto [AIST—Vice President], whose office is responsible for the ASTER project, presented a special welcome. As the former Director of Space Industry Office in the Japan Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), he was responsible for making ASTER data free to all users.

Michael Abrams [JPL] presented Jason Hendrickson’s [GSFC] slides on the operations status of NASA’s Terra platform—which has changed significantly since the last meeting. The Earth Science Mission Operations (ESMO) Flight Operations Team began implementing “Lights Out Operation,” reducing staff from 24/7 coverage and eliminating the night shift. These changes resulted in a small increase in data gaps and delayed anomaly response. In early 2023 Terra lost two of its 24 solar array shunts. Full power capability remains—however, there is only one spare shunt remaining. Those issues notwithstanding, Terra remains healthy after more than 23 years of operation. 

Chris Torbert [LPDAAC] presented ASTER product distribution statistics. The ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (DEM) continues to be the most ordered product. Torbert discussed the ASTER Preservation Content Specification for the end-of-mission archiving. There is a NASA document that describes the desired content of this archive. As described by the ST at the last meeting, most ASTER data products will be created as real files and placed in a searchable and orderable archive, accessed through NASA’s Earthdata tool, where mission preservation documents for other instruments (e.g., HIRDLS, ICESat/GLAS, TOMS) can be found.

Michael Abrams [JPL] presented highlights of science results based on ASTER data—including the 2023 Earth Science Senior Review. Terra presented its report to NASA Headquarters, but as of this meeting, the response is still pending. However, as stated earlier, a three-year budget reduction of 50% is anticipated.

Hitomi Inada [JSS] presented the status of the ASTER instrument. Although many of the monitored components [e.g., visible-near-infrared (VNIR) pointing motor] have exceeded their original useful life in orbit, they show no signs of decreases in performance. All temperature and current telemetry trends remain straight lines.

Tetsushi Tachikawa [JSS] summarized the status of ASTER observations since the beginning of the mission. He reported that all of the global observation programs are functioning normally, acquiring data as planned. The change of the orbit repeat after the October 2022 constellation exit maneuver has been accommodated in the ASTER scheduler.

Simon Hook [JPL] described the status of the multispectral thermal infrared (TIR) instrument on the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) as well as NASA’s future Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) mission, which is part of the planned Earth System Observatory.

Applications Working Group

The applications session offered a sample of the variety of applications that make use of data from ASTER, see examples below. Miyuki Muto [IU] shared her work to estimate the volume of waste in 19 landfills in 11 countries through analysis of ASTER DEM data over the past 20 years. Analysis of data from a site in India showed that the volume of waste increased four-fold over 20 years—see Figure 1. All the other monitored sites showed similar large increases in waste volume.

Michael Ramsey [Pitt] discussed detecting volcanic eruption precursors using the entire ASTER TIR archive for six selected volcanoes: Etna, Fuego, Kliuchevskoi, Lascar, Vulcano, and Popocatepetl—four of these are shown in Figure 2. He and his students developed statistical methods to detect both low- and high-temperature anomalies. The team performed a cluster analysis on four volcanoes. By calculating and plotting heat flux versus mean temperature-above-background versus maximum temperature-above-background, clusters for eruption styles can be identified—see Figure 2. These results offer potential applicability to other volcanoes.

Calibration/Validation Working Group

This working group monitors the radiometric performance of ASTER’s VNIR and TIR instruments. The team performs calibration and validation of these instruments by analysis of onboard calibration lamps or blackbody, as well as measurements of pseudo-invariant ground targets during field campaigns. No changes in instrument performance were found based on validation activities during the past year. The radiometric calibration coefficients will remain unchanged for the foreseeable future.

Temperature–Emissivity Working Group

The Temperature–Emissivity Working Group focuses on ASTER’s kinetic temperature and emissivity (T–E) products and their applications, including monitoring instrument performance and calibration. They also review the status of the nighttime TIR global map program. In situ measurement campaigns in Japan and the U.S. use lakes and dry lake beds for ground-based calibration campaigns. Recent campaign results indicate that the TIR instrument perform within required calibration limits—see Figure 3. The team also noted the successful completion of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)–ASTER 375-m (~1230-ft) near-real-time land-surface temperature algorithm using ASTER emissivity for corrections. Review of the thermal global mapping acquisition program indicated that it was proceeding as planned with no changes needed. 

Operations and Mission Planning Working Group

The Operations and Mission Planning working group oversees and reviews the acquisition programs executed by the ASTER scheduler. The working group schedules ASTER data acquisitions daily to accommodate ASTER’s average 8% duty cycle. An automated program selects 600–700 daily scenes from the more than 3000 in the request archive. 

Tetsushi Tachikawa [JSS] reviewed the status of acquisition scheduling. Urgent observations receive the highest priority and can be scheduled close to acquisition time. Approximately 70 scenes are programmed per month—with over 95% acquisition success. By contrast, global mapping data acquisitions receive the lowest priority and fill in the scenes for the daily quota. The objective is for ASTER to acquire at least one cloud-free image for every place on Earth. Due to persistent cloud cover, success is typically ~85%. The group restarts the program after several years, with the next scheduled restart in October 2024. The thermal group submits aerial requirements to acquire global nighttime coverage with the thermal bands, which will continue as scheduled. There are also acquisition programs that focus on islands, volcanoes, glaciers, and cloudy areas. The global volcano image acquisition program will continue with no change to the observation parameters. Acquisition of images of islands and over cloudy areas will also continue in current form. The global glacier acquisition program will be modified to change the VNIR gain settings to optimize images over snow and ice. 

Chris Torbert [LPDAAC] reported that software fixes were ongoing for the (currently non-functional) expedited data processing at the LPDAAC.

Closing Plenary Session

Each working group chairperson summarized the presentations, discussions, and recommendations that occurred during each session. Consensus holds the ASTER instrument is operating normally, with no indications of any component failures. The backlog of unprocessed scenes resulting from the 2022 constellation exit maneuver impact on production software should clear by early October 2023. The closing highlighted the impact of the 50% budget reduction on the Flight Operation Team at GSFC with only a small increase in lost data (1–2%) due to the absence of operators to attempt immediate recovery. 

Conclusion

The fifty-second ASTER ST Meeting successfully covered all of the critical issues introduced during the opening plenary session. Working groups updated instrument scheduling, instrument performance, archiving plans, and new applications. The plan is for the 2024 meeting to take place at the same venue in Tokyo.

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NASA Lucy Images Reveal Asteroid Dinkinesh to be Surprisingly Complex

Images from the November 2023 flyby of asteroid Dinkinesh by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft show a trough on Dinkinesh where a large piece — about a quarter of the asteroid — suddenly shifted, a ridge, and a separate contact binary satellite (now known as Selam). Scientists say this complicated structure shows that Dinkinesh and Selam have significant internal strength and a complex, dynamic history.

“We want to understand the strengths of small bodies in our solar system because that’s critical for understanding how planets like Earth got here,” said Hal Levison, Lucy principal investigator at the Boulder, Colorado, branch of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “Basically, the planets formed when zillions of smaller objects orbiting the Sun, like asteroids, ran into each other. How objects behave when they hit each other, whether they break apart or stick together, has a lot to do with their strength and internal structure.” Levison is lead author of a paper on these observations published May 29 in Nature.

Researchers think that Dinkinesh is revealing its internal structure by how it has responded to stress. Over millions of years rotating in the sunlight, the tiny forces coming from the thermal radiation emitted from the asteroid’s warm surface generated a small torque that caused Dinkinesh to gradually rotate faster, building up centrifugal stresses until part of the asteroid shifted into a more elongated shape. This event likely caused debris to enter into a close orbit, which became the raw material that produced the ridge and satellite.

If Dinkinesh were much weaker, more like a fluid pile of sand, its particles would have gradually moved toward the equator and flown off into orbit as it spun faster. However, the images suggest that it was able to hold together longer, more like a rock, with more strength than a fluid, eventually giving way under stress and fragmenting into large pieces. (Although the amount of strength needed to fragment a small asteroid like Dinkinesh is miniscule compared to most rocks on Earth.)

“The trough suggests an abrupt failure, more an earthquake with a gradual buildup of stress and then a sudden release, instead of a slow process like a sand dune forming,” said Keith Noll of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, project scientist for Lucy and a co-author of the paper.

“These features tell us that Dinkinesh has some strength, and they let us do a little historical reconstruction to see how this asteroid evolved,” said Levison. “It broke, things moved apart and formed a disk of material during that failure, some of which rained back onto the surface to make the ridge.”

The researchers think some of the material in the disk formed the moon Selam, which is actually two objects touching each other, a configuration called a contact binary. Details of how this unusual moon formed remain mysterious.

Dinkinesh and its satellite are the first two of 11 asteroids that Lucy’s team plans to explore over its 12-year journey. After skimming the inner edge of the main asteroid belt, Lucy is now heading back toward Earth for a gravity assist in December 2024. That close flyby will propel the spacecraft back through the main asteroid belt, where it will observe asteroid Donaldjohanson in 2025, and then on to the first of the encounters with the Trojan asteroids that lead and trail Jupiter in its orbit of the Sun beginning in 2027.

Lucy’s principal investigator is based out of the Boulder, Colorado, branch of Southwest Research Institute, headquartered in San Antonio. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and safety and mission assurance. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, built and operates the spacecraft. Lucy is the 13th mission in NASA’s Discovery Program. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Discovery Program for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

For more information about NASA’s Lucy mission, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/mission/lucy

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William Steigerwald

NASA Stennis Helps Family Build a Generational Legacy

For Lee English Jr., the sound of a ringing phone probably sounds a lot like the roar of a rocket engine test at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

During the 1970s, when 9-year-old English Jr. picked up the ringing phone, someone from the south Mississippi test site might say, “Tell your dad we just dropped LOX.”

The caller was referring to the liquid oxygen propellant used to help fuel a new space shuttle engine undergoing developmental testing at NASA Stennis.

To the English family, NASA Stennis stands alongside cherished family heirlooms. It is a treasured place where one generation helped lead the way for ensuing ones to find career success. Both English Jr. and his son, Noah, have followed in Lee English Sr.’s footsteps to work at NASA Stennis.

English Sr., an engineer working for the Rocketdyne Division of Rockwell International Corporation in the 1970s, moved his family to Mississippi from California when work was just beginning on how to test engines for NASA’s new Space Shuttle Program.

He is remembered as a “key guy” who helped develop the testing blueprints. He had to be available for consultation at a moment’s notice since testing could happen at all hours, including at night. He also is credited with conducting the first seven space shuttle main engine tests at the Fred Haise Test Stand (formerly A-1 Test Stand).

“Every time we do something new, you don’t know what you don’t know,” said Maury Vander, chief of the NASA Stennis Test Operations Division. “These teams were taking the first steps toward getting an engine ready that was required to make the shuttle successful.”

Initial hot fires were one second or less. “There was a lot to learn,” Vander said. “The new engine was extremely complicated, taking about 20 tests to achieve a duration of two seconds, then reaching a duration of 10 seconds on test number 42.”

Now, a team of operators from NASA; Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3 Harris Technologies company; and Syncom Space Services (S3) routinely test RS-25 engines for 500 seconds. The evolved version of the space shuttle main engine, manufactured by Aerojet Rocketdyne, helps power NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket for Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond.

From answering the telephone to answering the call to continue a legacy, English Jr., now 60, has worked in various roles for over three decades at NASA Stennis. As an instrumentation technician for S3, he now helps collect and process engine performance data during hot fires.

“There’s a sense of pride when you see something you feel like your family has worked towards for lots and lots of years,” English Jr. said. “At the time, I’m sure when my dad and the team were doing their work, they never thought we would be using those same engines to try to go to Mars or even back to the Moon.”

As English Jr. helps collect data on engine performance, his son, Noah, 28, works with S3 as a senior mechanical technician to support propellant transfer for engine testing.

“This place is special and not only for my family,” Noah said. “This place is special for Mississippi. The jobs and opportunity here are a big part of Mississippi. It would be amazing in the future to have a child who works out here and have the legacy continue.”

English Sr.’s last visit to NASA Stennis came more than seven years ago. He passed away in 2019 at the age of 88. “He was amazed at how efficient things had gotten over the years,” English Jr. recalled. The assessment is a tribute, not only to the groundbreaking work of the original test team but to countless others – like his son and grandson – who have followed and who work daily to ensure NASA Stennis is better than they found it for the benefit of all.

For information about NASA’s Stennis Space Center, visit: Stennis Space Center – NASA.

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LaToya Dean

Sols 4199-4201: Driving Through a Puzzle

Earth planning date: Tuesday, May 28, 2024

For the last several months, Curiosity has been steadily climbing through the bedrock layers of the upper sulfate unit. While each stop had its own collection of bedrock blocks tilting one way or another, you could imagine putting each scene back together into one coherent package of layers, undoing the work that erosion and time had wrought. In Curiosity’s current location, Gediz Vallis, the puzzle is not so neatly put back together. The valley floor is a jumble of different rock types, as is the ridge that fills the valley, and the rocks are like the pieces you find when you open up a puzzle: different colors and different shapes that as a whole yield a larger picture. Curiosity’s task in today’s plan was to start sorting through the puzzle pieces to continue constructing the larger picture, or geologic history, of Gediz Vallis.

We found individual smooth white pieces at “Hidden Lakes” and “Reggae Pole,” a smooth gray piece at “Rixford Pass,” and a dark gray, rough piece at “Garnet Lake.” “Barrett Lakes” was made up of gray, pale orange, and white pieces, as was “Vennacher Needle,” although the latter appear to have a pattern in the distribution of the pieces. We also acquired numerous mosaics across the wider scene to grab a record of as many pieces as possible. Most notably, we imaged the next big piece we plan to visit in this plan’s drive, “Whitebark Pass.” It has the same variety of colors that Barrett Lakes and Vennacher Needle do, but the pieces are in more orderly proximity to one another, making it easier to figure out the bigger picture.

We did not just spend time looking at complicated rock jumbles. We added observations of dust loading, dust devils, and clouds to capture the chaotic-in-its-own-way atmosphere. REMS, RAD, and DAN measurements occur regularly in the plan, and we dedicated imaging time to the orderly layers of the “Kukenan” butte – a Martian puzzle, albeit a slightly easier one to put together. 

Written by Michelle Minitti, Planetary Geologist at Framework

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