Son V. Nghiem, PhD

Contact Info: Jet Propulsion Laboratory M/S 300-235 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA 91109 Phone: 818.354.4321 Email: Click here Member of: Section Staff Biography: Dr. Nghiem has published over 220 scientific articles including refereed journal papers, book chapters, and conference papers. He received the 1999 Lew Allen Award for Excellence in recognition of his pioneering research in the areas of polarimetric scatterometry for Earth science remote sensing and contributions to future advanced satellite instrument concepts. He is a recipient of the 2006 NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal for developing scientific applications of scatterometry in land, ice, and snow processes. He received the 2008 NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for his contributions to understanding the melt state of the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, its significance in Earth science missions, and its implications in climate change. His research results have been reported by major news networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, BBC, The Weather Channel, National Geographic, Reuters, Associated Press, UPI, and about 1000 radio stations) in all 50 states and in many countries around the world. Education: PhD, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1991. MS, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1988. BS, Summa Cum Laude, Electrical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 1985. Research Interests: Environmental remote sensing and Earth science and applications including: electromagnetic scattering and emission, radar polarimetry, polarimetric interferometry, polarimetric radiometry, sea ice and lake ice, Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, global snow cover, ocean wind and lake wind, soil moisture, vegetation, wetlands, flood, drought, wildfire, river discharge, urban and suburban environments. Professional Experience: In 1991, Dr. Nghiem joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, where he is the Science Applications Development Lead of the Radar Science & Engineering Section. His research encompasses active and passive remote sensing, development of advanced satellite radars and radiometers, electromagnetic scattering and emission modeling, Earth science and applications. Selected Publications: (Show Recent Publications) J. L. Foster, D. K. Hall, J. B. Eylander, G. A. Riggs, S. V. Nghiem, M. Tedesco, E. Kim, P. M. Montesano, R. E. J. Kelly, K. A. Casey, and B. Choudhury, "A Blended Global Snow Product Using Visible, Passive Microwave and Scatterometer Satellite Data," International Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 32., No. 5, pp. 1371-1395. March 2011. S. V. Nghiem and G. Neumann, "Arctic Sea-Ice Monitoring," 2007 McGraw-Hill Yearbook of Science and Technology, 2007, pp. 12-15. 2007. D. K. Perovich, S. V. Nghiem, T. Markus, and A. Schweiger, "Seasonal Evolution and Interannual Variability of the Solar Energy Absorbed by the Arctic Sea Ice-Ocean System," Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 112, pp. C03005, doi:10.1029/2006JC003558. 2007. S. V. Nghiem, K. Steffen, R. Huff, and G. Neumann, "Snow accumulation and snowmelt monitoring in Greenland and Antarctica," Dynamic Planet, Eds. P. Tregoning and C. Rizos, Part I, pp. Chapter 5, pp. 31-38, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg. 2007. S. V. Nghiem and G. A. Leshkevich, "Satellite SAR Remote Sensing of Great Lakes Ice Cover – Part 1. Ice Backscatter Signatures," Journal of Great Lakes Research, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 722-735. December 2007. G. A. Leshkevich and S. V. Nghiem, "Satellite SAR Remote Sensing of Great Lakes Ice Cover – Part 2. Ice Classification and Mapping," Journal of Great Lakes Research, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 736-750. December 2007. Richter-Menge, J., S. V. Nghiem, D. K. Perovich, and I. G. Rigor, "Arctic Report Card 2007, Sea Ice Cover," peer-reviewed web publication, http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/. October 2007. (Download File) D. K. Perovich, B. Light, H. Eicken, K. F. Jones, K. Ruciman, and S. V. Nghiem, "Increasing Solar Heating of the Arctic Ocean and Adjacent Seas, 1982-2005: Variability and Ice-albedo Feedback," Geophys. Res. Lett., Vol. 34, pp. L19505, doi:10.1029/2007GL031480. October 2007. S. V. Nghiem, I. G. Rigor, D. K. Perovich, P. Clemente-Colon, J. W. Weatherly, and G. Neumann, "Rapid Reduction of Arctic Perennial Sea Ice," Geophys. Res. Lett., Vol. 34, pp. L19504, doi:10.1029/2007GL031138. October 2007. J. A. Richter-Menge, J. E. Overland, A. Proshutinsky, V. E. Romanovsky, R. L. Armstrong, J. Morison, S. V. Nghiem, N. G. Oberman, D. K. Perovich, I. G. Rigor, L. Bengtsson, R. Przybylak, A. I. Shiklomanov, D. Walker, and J. Walsh, "'Arctic', in State of the Climate in 2006, A. Arguez, Ed., Suppl.," Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., Vol. 88, No. 6, pp. 62-71. June 2007. G. R. Brakenridge, S. V. Nghiem, E. Anderson, and R. Mic, "Orbital Microwave Measurement of River Discharge and Ice Status," Water Resources Research, Vol. 43, pp. W04405, doi:10.1029/2006WR005238. April 2007. S. V. Nghiem, Y. Chao, G. Neumann, P. Li, D. K. Perovich, T. Street, and P. Clemente-Colon, "Depletion of perennial sea ice in the East Arctic Ocean," Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 33, pp. L17501, doi:10.1029/2006GL027198. 2006. G. R. Brakenridge, S. V. Nghiem, E. Anderson, and S. Chien, "Space-Based Measurement of River Runoff," EOS, Trans., Amer. Geophys. Union, Vol. 86, No. 19, pp. 185/188. 2005. S. V. Nghiem, M. L. Van Woert, and G. Neumann, "Rapid Formation of a Sea Ice Barrier East of Svalbard," Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 110, pp. C11013, doi:10.1029/2004JC002654. 2005. S. V. Nghiem, K. Steffen, G. Neumann, R. Huff, "Mapping of Ice Layer Extent and Snow Accumulation in the Percolation Zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet," Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 110, pp. F02017, doi:10.1029/2004JF000234. 2005. K. Steffen, S. V. Nghiem, R. Huff, and G. Neumann, "The Melt Anomalies of 2002 on the Greenland Ice Sheet from Active and Passive Microwave Satellite Observations," Geophysical Research Letter, Vol. 31, pp. L20402, doi:10.1029/2004GL020444. 2004. S. V. Nghiem, G. A. Leshkevich, and B. W. Stiles, "Wind Fields over the Great Lakes Measured by the SeaWinds Scatterometer on the QuikSCAT Satellite," Journal of Great Lakes Research, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 148-165. 2004. B. Ramsay, D. Flett, H. S. Andersen, R. Gill, S. V. Nghiem, and C. Bertoia, "Preparation for the Operational Use of RADARSAT-2 for Ice Monitoring," Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol. 30, No. 3, pp. 415-423. June 2004. R. Kwok, G. F. Cunningham, and S. V. Nghiem, "A Study of the Onset on the Melt over the Arctic Ocean in RADARSAT Synthetic Aperture Radar Data," Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 108, No. C11, pp. 27-1 to 27-13, doi:10.1029/2002JC001362. 2003. E. G. Njoku, T. J. Jackson, V. Lakshmi, T. K. Chan, S. V. Nghiem, "Soil Moisture Retrieval from AMSR-E," IEEE Transaction on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 215-229. February 2003. W. T. Liu, X. Xie, W. Tang, and S. V. Nghiem, "Wind Changes over the Western Pacific," East Asia and Western Pacific Meteorology and Climate, Vol. 4, pp. 23-37, World Scientific Co., London,. 2002. S. V. Nghiem, K. Steffen, R. Kwok, and W.-Y. Tsai, "Detection of Snow Melt Regions on the Greenland Ice Sheet Using Diurnal Backscatter Change," Journal of Glaciology, Vol. 47, No. 159, pp. 539-547. 2001. S. V. Nghiem and C. Bertoia, "Multi-Polarization C-band SAR Signatures of Arctic Sea Ice," Invited Paper, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, Focus Issue on Ice and Icebergs, Vol. 2, No. 5, pp. 387-402. 2001. S. V. Nghiem and W.-Y. Tsai, "Global Snow Monitoring with Ku-Band Scatterometer," IEEE Transitions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 39, No. 10, pp. 2118-2134. 2001. W. Y. Tsai, S. V. Nghiem, J. N. Huddleston, M. W. Spencer, B. W. Stiles, and R. D. West, "Polarimetric Scatterometry: A Promising Technique for Improving Ocean Surface Wind Measurements," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 1903-1921. July 2000. S. V. Nghiem, F. K. Li, E. J. Walsh, and S. H. Lou, "Radar Backscatter across the Gulf Stream Sea Surface Temperature Front," IEEE Transitions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 38, No. 2, Part II, pp. 926-941. March 2000. D. G. Barber and S. V. Nghiem, "The Role of Snow on the Thermal Dependence of Microwave Backscatter over Sea Ice," Journal, of Geophysical Research, Vol. 104, No. C11, pp. 25789-25803. November 1999. R. Kwok, S. V. Nghiem, S. H. Yueh, and D. D. Huynh, "Retrieval of Thin Ice Thickness from Multifrequency Polarimetric SAR Data," Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 51, No. 3, pp. 461-474. March 1999. K. C. Jezek, D. K. Perovich, K. M. Golden, C. A. Luther, D. G. Barber, P. Gogineni, T. C. Grenfell, A. K. Jordan, C. Mobley, S. V. Nghiem, and R. G. Onstott, "A Broad Spectral, Interdisciplinary Investigation of the Electromagnetic Properties of Sea Ice," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 1633-1641. September 1998. K. M. Golden, D. Borup, M. Cheney, E. Cherkaeva, M. S. Dawson, K. H. Ding, A. K. Fung, D. Isaacson, S. A. Johnson, A. K. Jordan, J. A. Kong, R. Kwok, S. V. Nghiem, R. G. Onstott, J. Sylvester, D. P. Winebrenner, and I. H. H. Zabel, "Inverse Electromagnetic Scattering Models for Sea Ice," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 1675-1704. September 1998. S. E. Shih, K. H. Ding, J. A. Kong, S. V. Nghiem, and A. K. Jordan, "Saline Ice Thickness Retrieval under Diurnal Thermal Cycling Conditions," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 1731-1742. September 1998. K. M. Golden, M. Cheney, K. H. Ding, A. K. Fung, T. C. Grenfell, D. Isaacson, J. A. Kong, S. V. Nghiem, J. Sylvester, and D. P. Winebrenner, "Forward Electromagnetic Scattering Models for Sea Ice," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 1655-1674. September 1998. T. C. Grenfell, D. G. Barber, A. K. Fung, A. J. Gow, K. C. Jezek, E. J. Knapp, S. V. Nghiem, R. G. Onstott, D. K. Perovich, C. S. Roesler, C. T. Swift, and F. Tanis, "Evolution of Electromagnetic Signatures of Sea Ice from Initial Formation to the Establishment of Thick First-Year Ice," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 1642-1654. September 1998. D. G. Barber, A. K. Fung, T. C. Grenfell, S. V. Nghiem, R. G. Onstott, V. Lytle, D. K. Perovich, and A. J. Gow, "The Role of Snow on Microwave Emission and Scattering over First-Year Sea Ice," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 1750-1763. September 1998. R. Kwok, S. V. Nghiem, S. Martin, D. P. Winebrenner, A. J. Gow, D. K. Perovich, C. T. Swift, D. G. Barber, K. M. Golden, and E. J. Knapp, "Laboratory Measurements of Sea Ice: Connections to Microwave Remote Sensing," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 1716-1730. September 1998. S. E. Shih, K. H. Ding, S. V. Nghiem, C. C. Hsu, J. A. Kong, and A. K. Jordan, "Thin Saline Ice Thickness Retrieval Using Time Series C-Band Polarimetric Radar Measurements," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 36, No. 5, pp. 1589-1598. September 1998. S. V. Nghiem, R. Kwok, S. H. Yueh, D. K. Perovich, A. J. Gow, C. C. Hsu, K. H. Ding, J. A. Kong, and T. C. Grenfell, "Diurnal Thermal Cycling Effects on Backscatter of Thin Sea Ice," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 111-124. January 1998. S. H. Yueh, W. J. Wilson, F. K. Li, S. V. Nghiem, and W. B. Ricketts, "Polarimetric Brightness Temperatures of Sea Surfaces Measured with Aircraft K- and Ka-Band Radiometers," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 35, No. 5, pp. 1177-1187. September 1997. D. E. Weissman, F. K. Li, S. H. Lou, S. V. Nghiem, G. Neumann, R. E. McIntosh, S. C. Carson, J. R. Carswell, H. C. Graber, and R. E. Jansen, "Measurements of Ocean Surface Stress Using Aircraft Scatterometers," Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 835-848. August 1997. S. V. Nghiem, F. K. Li, and G. Neumann, "The Dependence of Ocean Backscatter at Ku-Band on Oceanic and Atmospheric Parameters," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 581-600. May 1997. S. V. Nghiem, S. Martin, D. K. Perovich, R. Kwok, R. Drucker, and A. J. Gow, "A Laboratory Study of the Effects of Frost Flowers on C-Band Radar Backscatter from Sea Ice," Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 102, No. C2, pp. 3357-3370. February 1997. S. V. Nghiem, R. Kwok, S. H. Yueh, A. J. Gow, D. K. Perovich, J. A. Kong, and C. C. Hsu, "Evolution in Polarimetric Signatures of Thin Saline Ice under Constant Growth," Radio Science, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 127-151. January 1997. S. V. Nghiem, R. Kwok, J. A. Kong, R. T. Shin, S. A. Arcone, and A. J. Gow, "An Electrothermodynamic Model with Distributed Properties for Effective Permittivities of Sea Ice," Radio Science, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 297-311. March 1996. S. V. Nghiem, R. Kwok, S. H. Yueh, J. A. Kong, M. A. Tassoudji, C. C. Hsu, and R. T. Shin, "Polarimetric Scattering from Layered Media with Multiple Species of Scatterers," Radio Science, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp. 835-852. July 1995. S. V. Nghiem, R. Kwok, S. H. Yueh, and M. R. Drinkwater, "Polarimetric Signatures of Sea Ice, 1, Theoretical Model," Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 100, No. C7, pp. 13665-13679. July 1995. S. V. Nghiem, R. Kwok, S. H. Yueh, and M. R. Drinkwater, "Polarimetric Signatures of Sea Ice, 2, Experimental Observations," Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 100, No. C7, pp. 13681-13698. July 1995. S. V. Nghiem, F. K. Li, S. H. Lou, G. Neumann, R. E. McIntosh, S. C. Carson, J. R. Carswell, E. J. Walsh, M. A. Donelan, W. M. Drennan, "Observations of Ocean Radar Backscatter at Ku and C Bands in the Presence of Large Waves during the Surface Wave Dynamics Experiment," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 708-721. May 1995. S. H. Yueh, W. J. Wilson, F. K. Li, S. V. Nghiem, and W. B. Ricketts, "Polarimetric Measurements of Sea Surface Brightness Temperatures Using an Aircraft K-Band Radiometer," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 85-92. January 1995. J. R. Carswell, S. C. Carson, R. E. McIntosh, F. K. Li, G. Neumann, D. J. McLaughlin, J. C. Wilkerson, P. G. Black, and S. V. Nghiem, "Airborne Scatterometers: Investigating Ocean Backscatter Under Low- and High-Wind Conditions," Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 82, No. 12, pp. 1835-1860. December 1994. S. H. Yueh, R. Kwok, and S. V. Nghiem, "Polarimetric Scattering and Emission Properties of Targets with Reflection Symmetry," Radio Science, Vol. 29, No. 6, pp. 1409-1420. November 1994. S. H. Yueh, R. Kwok, F. K. Li, S. V. Nghiem, W. J. Wilson, and J. A. Kong, "Polarimetric Passive Remote Sensing of Ocean Wind Vectors," Radio Science, Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 799-814. July 1994. S. H. Yueh, S. V. Nghiem, R. Kwok, W. J. Wilson, F. K. Li, J. T. Johnson, and J. A. Kong, "Polarimetric Thermal Emission from Periodic Water Surfaces," Radio Science, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 87-96. January 1994. J. T. Johnson, J. A. Kong, R. T. Shin, S. H. Yueh, S. V. Nghiem, and R. Kwok, "Polarimetric Thermal Emission from Rough Ocean Surfaces," Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 43-59. 1994. S. V. Nghiem, S. H. Yueh, R. Kwok, and D. T. Nguyen, "Polarimetric Remote Sensing of Geophysical Medium Structures," Radio Science, Vol. 28, No. 6, pp. 1111-1130. November 1993. S. H. Yueh, S. V. Nghiem, and R. Kwok, "Symmetrization of Cross-Polarized Responses in Polarimetric Radar Images Using Reciprocity," IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 1180-1185. November 1993. S. V. Nghiem, R. Kwok, J. A. Kong, and R. T. Shin, "A Model with Ellipsoidal Scatterers for Polarimetric Remote Sensing of Anisotropic Layered Media," Radio Science, Vol. 28, No. 5, pp. 687-703. September 1993. S. V. Nghiem, T. Le Toan, J. A. Kong, H. C. Han, and M. Borgeaud, "Layer Model with Random Spheroidal Scatterers for Remote Sensing of Vegetation Canopy," Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 49-76. January 1993. S. V. Nghiem, S. H. Yueh, R. Kwok, and F. K. Li, "Symmetry Properties in Polarimetric Remote Sensing," Radio Science, Vol. 27, No. 5, pp. 693-711. September 1992. D. P. Winebrenner, J. Bredow, A. K. Fung, M. R. Drinkwater, S. V. Nghiem, A. J. Gow, D. K. Perovich, T. C. Grenfell, H. C. Han, J. A. Kong, J. K. Lee, S. Mudaliar, R. G. Onstott, L. Tsang, and R. D. West, "Microwave Sea Ice Signature Modeling," Microwave Remote Sensing of Sea Ice, edited by F. D. Carsey, Geophysical Monograph 68, Chap. 8, pp. 137-175. 1992. N. C. Chu, J. A. Kong, H. A. Yueh, S. V. Nghiem, J. G. Fleischman, S. Ayasli, and R. T. Shin, "Variance of Phase Fluctuations of Waves Propagation through a Random Medium," Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 169-197. 1992. S. V. Nghiem, M. E. Veysoglu, J. A. Kong, R. T. Shin, K. O'Neill, and A. W. Lohanick, "Polarimetric Passive Remote Sensing of a Periodic Soil Surface: Microwave Measurements and Analysis," Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, Vol. 5, No. 9, pp. 997-1005. 1991. S. V. Nghiem, M. Borgeaud, J. A. Kong, and R. T. Shin, "Polarimetric Remote Sensing of Geophysical Media with Layer Random Medium Model," Progress in Electromagnetics Research, edited by J. A. Kong, Vol. 3, Chap. 1, pp. 1-73. 1990. M. C. Lee, S. V. Nghiem, and C. Yoo, "Effects of Irregularity Anisotropy on Faraday Polarization Fluctuations," Journal of Geophysical Research, Space Physics, Vol. 94, No. A11, pp. 15421-15424. 1989. M. Borgeaud, S. V. Nghiem, R. T. Shin, and J. A. Kong, "Theoretical Models for Polarimetric Microwave Remote Sensing of Earth Terrain," Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 61-81. 1989. M. C. Lee, S. V. Nghiem, and C. Yoo, "Effects of Irregularity Anisotropy on Faraday Polarization Fluctuations," Journal of Geophysical Research, Space Physics, Vol. 94, No. A11, pp. 15421-15424. 1989. M. Borgeaud, S. V. Nghiem, R. T. Shin, and J. A. Kong, "Theoretical Models for Polarimetric Microwave Remote Sensing of Earth Terrain," Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 61-81. 1989.

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