Congratulations to Prive' on Promotion

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 15:37:08 -0500
gestar2

Congratulations to Nikki Prive' (610.1/MSU), who has been promoted from Associate Research Scientist to Senior Research Scientist within GESTAR II! We asked her about her role and research as well as what drives her in her work in the GMAO at NASA GSFC.

Dr. Prive' works on Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) studies to evaluate potential new satellite instruments for observing Earth’s atmosphere. "We simulate new and existing instruments to test how well new observations would be able to improve weather forecasts. Recently I have been supporting several NASA missions with OSSE studies. One mission is the Microwave Barometric Radar and Sounder (MBARS) differential absorption radar instrument for measuring surface air pressures over the ocean. Currently, we do not have any way to measure air pressure over the ocean except with buoys and ships, so there are few observations available to use for weather forecasting. I am running experiments to see how much impact a spaceborne platform for measuring surface pressures would have on forecast skill depending on the choice of orbit."

"Weather forecasting is vital to so many aspects of society and more accurate forecasts would provide immense benefits. This work [in the Global Modeling Assimilation Office (GMAO)] helps instrument teams to optimize their instrument design to yield the best improvements to weather forecasts, and provides information that assists decision-makers when choosing future instrument platforms."

We couldn't resist asking Dr. Prive', a noted ice cream enthusiast: what's your favorite flavor? Answer: Butter brickle.