North Africa and Europe, NASA Earth Observatory, 2012. Image by Norman Kuring, NASA GSFC, using data from the VIIRS instrument aboard Suomi NPP.
NATIONAL EXPERTS ON CLIMATE OBSERVATION
Dr. Diane Stanitski (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and
Dr. John Adler (Captain, NOAA Corps (Ret.), National Ecological Observatory Network)
Will Discuss
Observational Geography: Technology and Applications for our World
Friday, October 30th
3:00 – 4:15 PM
Armstrong Hall Room #101, Department of Geography, Minnesota State University, Mankato, MN
All are welcome to attend. Sponsored by the MSU Department of Geography
Dr. Diane Stanitski is a Program Manager in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) Climate Program Office, and a Physical Scientist at the NOAA Earth System Research
Laboratory. Her primary role involves overseeing long-term ocean observations around the world to
improve our understanding of changing climate. Diane also provides support to the US Global
Change Research Program, coordinating NOAA’s climate efforts with other federal agencies and
she conducts research on the duration of the annual snow-free season in Barrow, Alaska.
Before joining NOAA, Diane was an educator for 15 years, as a professor of physical geography at
Shippensburg University, PA; at the University of Colorado at Boulder; and at the United States
Naval Academy. She has written four children’s science books, and is currently working on two
others about climate and ocean instrumentation. Her career includes research conducted in the
Outback of Australia, the depths of the Grand Canyon, and on the summit of the Greenland Ice
Sheet. She received her Master’s and Ph.D. in Geography from Arizona State University.
Dr. John Adler currently works for the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)
conducting airborne remote sensing missions over various biomes throughout the United States
utilizing LIDAR and hyperspectral systems. Captain Adler recently retired after 26 years of service
with the NOAA Corps and the U.S. Navy, where he served as an aerial navigator and satellite
engineer. He obtained his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and
holds a Master’s in Space Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey,
California.
Dr. Adler has utilized various platforms to conduct Earth Observations, including autonomous
underwater vehicles, manned and unmanned aircraft, in-situ towers, and space-borne satellites. His
varied scientific operations have taken him to the North and South Poles, in addition to logging 85
hurricane eyewall penetrations.