Address
Geophysical Institute
University of Alaska Fairbanks
P.O. Box 757320
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320
(email: ksassen@gi.alaska.edu)
Education
1976 Ph.D. Atmospheric Sciences, University of Wyoming.
1973 M.S. Meteorology, New York University.
1970 B.S. Meteorology and Oceanography, New York University.
Positions Held
Professor, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks (May 2002 - present)
Chair of the Atmospheric Science Program (2002 – 2005)
Adjunct Professor of Meteorology, U. of Utah (April 2002 to present).
Research Professor of Meteorology, U. of Utah (July 1988 – April 2002).
Research Associate Professor of Meteorology, U. of Utah (July 1980 - June 1988).
Research Assistant Professor of Meteorology, U. of Utah (July 1977 - June 1980).
Research Instructor, University of Utah (November 1976 - June 1977).
Recent Professional Activity
Member, International Coordination-group for Laser Atmospheric Studies, ICLAS, 2004-present.
UCAR Member Representative, October 2002 - 2005.
Editor, Cirrus. Oxford University Press, 480 pp., 2002.
Member, CALIPSO Science Team, 2002 – present.
Member, CRYSTAL-FACE Science Team, 2002 – 2005.
Fellow, The Optical Society of America, 2000 – present.
Chair, AMS Symposium on Lidar Atmospheric Monitoring, January 2000.
Chair, AMS Committee on Laser Atmospheric Studies, 1998 – 2001.
Chair, OSA Topical Meeting on CIRRUS, October1998.
Guest Editor, Applied Optics Feature on Light and Color in the Open Air, March 1998.
Member, CloudSat Science Team, 1997 – present.
Editor, Selected Papers on Laser Applications on Remote Sensing, SPIE Optical Engineering Press, 661 pp., 1997.
Chair, OSA Topical Meeting on Light and Color in the Open Air, February 1997.
Member, GEWEX Cloud System Study, Cirrus Cloud Working Group, 1996 – present.
Member, ARM Science Team, 1990 – present.
Member, FIRE Science Team, 1986 – 2001.
SELECT RECENT PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
Carlin, B., Q. Fu, U. Lohmann, G. G. Mace, K. Sassen, and J. M. Comstock, 2002: High cloud horizontal inhomogeneity and solar albedo bias. J. Climate, 15, 2321-2339.
Liou, K.-N., S. C. Ou, Y. Takano, J. Roskovinsky, G. G. Mace, K. Sassen, and M. R. Poellot, 2002: Remote sensing of three-dimensional inhomogeneous cirrus clouds using satellite and mm-wave radar data. Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 10.1029/2002 GL014846.
Sassen, K., Z. Wang, C. M. R. Platt, and J. M. Comstock, 2003: Parameterization of infrared absorption in midlatitude cirrus clouds. J. Atmos. Sci., 60, 428-433.
Sassen, K., J. Zhu, and S. Benson, 2003: A midlatitude cirrus cloud climatology from the Facility for Atmospheric Remote Sensing: IV. Optical displays. Appl. Opt., 42, 332-341.
Sassen, K., 2003: Cirrus cloud iridescence: A rare case study. Appl. Opt., 42, 486-491.
Stephens, G. L., D. G. Vane, R. Boain, G. G. Mace, K. Sassen, Z. Wang, A. Illingworth, E. O’Conner, W. B. Rossow, S. L. Durden, S. Miller, R. Austin, A. Benedetti, and C. Mitrescu, 2003: The CloudSat mission and the A-train: A new dimension of space-based observations of clouds and precipitation. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 83, 1771-1790.
Sassen, K., W. P. Arnott, D. O’C. Starr, G. G. Mace, Z. Wang, and M. R. Poellot, 2003: Midlatitude cirrus clouds derived from hurricane Nora: A case study with implications for ice crystal nucleation and shape. J. Atmos. Sci., 60, 873-891.
Sassen, K., K.-N. Liou, Y. Takano, and V. I. Khvorostyanov, 2003: Diurnal effects in the composition of cirrus clouds. Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 1539, 10.1029/2003GL017034.
DeMott. P. J., K. Sassen, M. R. Poellot, D. Baumgardner, D. C. Rogers, S. Brooks, A. J. Prenni, and S. M. Kreidenweis, 2003: African dust aerosols as atmospheric ice nuclei. Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 1732, 10.1029/2003GL017410.
Sassen, K., P. J. DeMott, J. M. Prospero, and M. R. Poellot, 2003: Saharan dust storms and indirect aerosol effects on clouds: CRYSTAL-FACE results. Geophys. Res. Lett., 30, 1633, 10.1029/2003GL017371.
Wang, Z., K. Sassen, D. Whiteman, and B. Demoz, 2004: Studying altocumulus with ice virga using ground-based active and passive remote sensors. J. Appl. Meteor., 43, 449-460.
Sassen, K., J. R. Campbell, J. Zhu, P. Kollias, M. Shupe, and C. Williams, 2005: Lidar and triple-wavelength Doppler radar measurements of the melting layer: A revised model for dark and bright band phenomena. J. Appl. Meteor., 44, 301-312.
Sassen, K., 2005: Dusty ice clouds over Alaska. Nature, 434, 456.
Noel, V., and K. Sassen, 2005: Study of ice crystal orientation in ice clouds from scanning polarization lidar observations. J. Appl. Meteor., 44, 653-664.
Sassen, K., 2005: Halos in cirrus clouds: why are classic displays so rare? Appl. Opt., 44, 5684-5687.
Wang, L., and K. Sassen, 2006: Cirrus mammatus properties derived from an extended remote sensing dataset. J. Atmos. Sci., 63, 712-725.
Räisänen, P., A. Bogdan, K. Sassen, M. Kulmala and M. J. Molina, 2006: Impact of H2SO4/H2O coating and ice crystal size on radiative properties of sub-visible cirrus. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 4659-4667.
Bogdan, A., M. J. Molina, K. Sassen, and M. Kulmala, 2006: Formation of low temperature cirrus from H2SO4/H2O aerosol droplets. J. Phys. Chem. A, DOI: 10.1021/jp065898e.
Sassen, K., and V. I. Khvorostyanov, 2007: Microphysical and radiative properties of mixed phase altocumulus: A model evaluation of glaciation effects. Atmos. Res., 84, 390-398.
Sassen, K., J. Zhu, P. Webley, K. Dean, and P. Cobb, 2007: Volcanic ash plume identification using polarization lidar: Augustine Eruption, Alaska. Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L08803, doi:10.1029/2006GL027237.
Comstock, J. M., R. d’Entrement, D. DeSlover, G. G. Mace, S. Y. Matrosov, S. A. McFarlane, P. Minis, D. Mitchell, K. Sassen, M. D. Shupe, D. D. Turner, and Z. Wang, 2007: An intercomparison of microphysical retrieval algorithms for upper tropospheric ice clouds. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 88, 191-204.
Verlinde, J., J. Y. Harrington, G. M. McFarquhar, V. T. Yannuzzi, A. Avramov, S. Greenberg, N. Johnson, G. Zhang, M. R. Poellot, J. H. Mather, D. D. Turner, E. W. Eloranta, B. D. Zak, A. J. Prenni, J. S. Daniel, G. L. Kok, D. C. Tobin, R. Holz, K. Sassen, D. Spangenberg, P. Minnis, T. P. Tooman, M. D. Ivey, C. P. Bahrmann, P. J. DeMott, A. J. Heymsfield, and R. Schofield, 2007: The Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 88, 205-221.
Sassen, K., L. Wang, D. O’C. Starr, J. M. Comstock, and M. Quante, 2007: A midlatitude cirrus cloud climatology from the Facility for Atmospheric Remote Sensing: V. Cloud structural properties. J. Atmos. Sci., 64, 2483-2501.
Mölders, N., H. Luijting, and K. Sassen, 2007: Use of Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program data from Barrow, Alaska, for evaluation and development of snow albedo parameterizations. Meteorol. Appl. Phys., doi: 10.1007/s00708-007-0271-6.
Sassen, K., S. Matrosov, and J. Campbell, 2007: CloudSat spaceborne 94 GHz radar bright bands in the melting layer: An attenuation-driven upside-down lidar analog. Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L16818, doi:10.1029/2007GL030291.
Sassen, K., and Z. Wang, 2008: Classifying clouds around the globe with the CloudSat radar: 1-year of results. Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L04805, doi:10.1029/2007GL032591.
Campbell, J. R., K. Sassen, and E. J. Welton, 2008: Elevated cloud and aerosol layer retrievals from micropulse lidar signal profiles. J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., (in press).
Webley, P. W., D. Atkinson, R. L. Collins, K. Dean, J. Fochesatto, K. Sassen, C. F. Cahill, A. Prata, C. J. Flynn, and K. Mizutani, 2008: Predicting and validating the tracking of a volcanic ash cloud during the 2006 eruption of Mt. Augustine volcano, Alaska, USA. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 89, (in press).
Wang, L., and K. Sassen, 2008: Wavelet analysis of cirrus multiscale structures from lidar backscattering: A cirrus uncinus complex case study. J. Appl. Meteor. Climat., (submitted).
Campbell, J. R., and K. Sassen, 2008: Polar stratospheric clouds at the South Pole from five years of continuous lidar data: Macrophysial and thermodynamic properties. J. Geophys. Res. (submitted).
Sassen, K., and V. I. Khvorostyanov, 2008: Indirect cloud effects from boreal forest fire smoke: Evidence for ice nucleation from polarization lidar data and cloud model simulations. Environ. Res. Lett., (submitted).
Sassen, K., Z. Wang, and D. Liu. 2008: The global distribution of cirrus clouds from CloudSat/CALIPSO measurements. J. Geophys. Res., (submitted).
Books
“Selected Papers on Laser Applications on Remote Sensing”, SPIE Milestone Series Vol. MS 141, W. B. Grant, E. V. Browell, R. T. Menzies, K. Sassen, and C.-Y. She, Eds. SPIE Optical Engineering Press, 661 pp. (1997).
“Cirrus”, D. Lynch, K. Sassen, D. O’C. Starr, and G. L. Stephens, Eds. Oxford University Press, 480 pp. (2002).
Book Chapters
Sassen, K., 2000: Lidar Backscatter Depolarization Technique for Cloud and Aerosol Research, in “Light Scattering by Nonspherical Particles: Theory, Measurements, and Geophysical Applications”, M. L. Mishchenko, J. W. Hovenier, and L. D. Travis, Eds. Academic Press, ISBN 0-12-498660-9, 393-416.
Khvorostyanov, V. I., and K. Sassen, 2002: Microphysical Processes in Cirrus and Their Impact on Radiation: A Mesoscale Modeling Perspective, in “Cirrus”, D. Lynch, K. Sassen, D. O’C. Starr, and G. L. Stephens, Eds. Oxford University Press, 397-432.
Lynch, D., and K. Sassen, 2002: Subvisual Cirrus, in “Cirrus”, D. Lynch, K. Sassen, D. O’C. Starr, and G. L. Stephens, Eds. Oxford University Press, 256-264.
Lynch, D., K. Sassen, A. Del Genio, A. J. Heymsfield, P. Minnis, M. C. R. Platt, M. Quante, U. Schuman, and H. Sundqvist, 2002: Cirrus: The Future, in “Cirrus”, D. Lynch, K. Sassen, D. O’C. Starr, and G. L. Stephens, Eds. Oxford University Press, 449-456.
Sassen, K., 2002: Cirrus Clouds: A Modern Perspective, in “Cirrus”, D. Lynch, K. Sassen, D. O’C. Starr, and G. L. Stephens, Eds. Oxford University Press, 11-40.
Sassen, K, and G. G. Mace, 2002: Ground Based Remote Sensing of Cirrus Clouds, in “Cirrus”, D. Lynch, K. Sassen, D. O’C. Starr, and G. L. Stephens, Eds. Oxford University Press, 168-195.
Sassen, K., 2002: Native American Rock Art and the Great Salt Lake: An Ancient Tradition and Unique Heritage, in “Great Salt Lake, 1980 Through 1998”, J. W. Gwynn, Ed., Utah Geological and Mineral Survey, Salt Lake City, 589-596.
Sassen, K., 2005: Polarization in Lidar, in “Lidar”, C. Weitkamp. Ed. Springer Press, 19-42.
Sassen, K., 2007: Identifying Atmospheric Aerosols with Polarization Lidar, in “Advanced Environmental Monitoring”, Springer-Verlag GmbH, 136-142.