Robert O. Green

Dr. Robert O. Green is the Principal Investigator of the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) that in 2018 was selected by NASA to fly on the International Space Station.

He is also the Director of the Microdevices Laboratory and a Senior Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.  For more than 25 years, his research has used advanced imaging spectrometer instrumentation to test hypotheses and pursue science investigations on Earth, Mars, Moon, and through the solar system.  He was the Instrument Scientist for the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) that discovered water/hydroxyl on the illuminated surface.  He is the Instrument Scientist for the Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa (MISE) that will address key science questions related to habitability for NASA’s Europa Clipper mission.


Education: 
  • PhD, Spectroscopy of the Three Phases of Water - University of California, Santa Barbara
  • MSc, Multitemporal Satellite Data Analysis - Applied Earth Sciences, Stanford University
  • BSc, Geology with chemistry and biology emphasis - Stanford University

Research Interests: 

Science questions posed in the context of the interaction of light with matter pursued with imaging spectroscopy in the optical portion of the spectrum.


Professional Experience: 

Environmental imaging spectroscopy research from 1983 to present. AVIRIS Experiment Scientist from 1989 to present. Science team member for 4 spaceborne and 5 airborne imaging spectrometers instruments. Focus on the end-to-end science requirements: science question to calibration to instrument to photons. Recent research activities include: spectroscopy of the three phases of water; snow and ice hydrology, wild fire measurement, ecology, atmospheric spectroscopy and radiative transfer; connection of instrument specification, characterization, calibration and validation to science and application objective.

Roles

  • JPL Senior Research Scientist
  • Experiment Scientist, Earth Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS)
  • Co-Investigator, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter CRISM imaging spectrometer
  • Co-Investigator, NASA Discovery Mission, Moon Mineral Mapper (M3)
  • JPL Lead Scientist, Earth airborne Mapping Reflected-energy Spectrometer

Selected Awards: 

Awards

  • NASA AVIRIS World Trade Center Disaster Support Achievement Award
  • NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal AVIRIS Science Flight Program and Research
  • NASA AVIRIS Science Operations Achievement Award
  • NASA AVIRIS Development Achievement Award

Honors

  • Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Extremadura, Spain, 2003

Selected Publications: 

Peer Reviewed Journal Publications

  1. Green R. O., Roberts D., Dozier J., Painter T. H., "Measuring Surface Snow Grain Size and Liquid Water Fraction at the Regional Scale with Imaging Spectroscopy in the Sierra Nevada, California," Water Resources Research, in preparation, 2008-9.
  2. Milliken, RE, G.A. Swayze, R.E. Arvidson, J.L. Bishop, R.N. Clark, B.L. Ehlmann, R.O. Green, J.P. Grotzinger, R.V. Morris, S.L. Murchie, J.F. Mustard, C. Weitz, "Opaline silica in young deposits on Mars," Geology; v. 36; no. 11; p. 847–850, November 2008
  3. Mustard JF, Murchie SL, Pelkey SM, …Green, RO, et al., "Hydrated silicate minerals on mars observed by the Mars reconnaissance orbiter CRISM instrument," NATURE Volume: 454 Issue: 7202 Pages: 305-309 Published: JUL 17 2008
  4. Mouroulis P, Green RO, Wilson DW, " Optical design of a coastal ocean imaging spectrometer ", OPTICS EXPRESS Volume: 16 Issue: 12 Pages: 9087-9096 Published: JUN 9 2008
  5. Asner GP, Hughes RF, Vitousek PM, Eastwood ME, Green, RO, ‘Invasive plants transform the three-dimensional structure of rain forests,’ PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, Vol. 105 Iss. 11 P. 4519-4523 Published: MAR 18 2008
  6. Mouroulis P, Sellar RG, Wilson DW, Shea JJ, Green RO, “Optical design of a compact imaging spectrometer for planetary mineralogy,” OPTICAL ENGINEERING 46 (6): Art. No. 063001 JUN 2007
  7. Murchie S, el al., "Compact reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)," JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS 112 (E5): Art. No. E05S03 MAY 30 2007
  8. Green R. O., Painter T. H., Roberts D.A., and Dozier, Js., “Measuring the expressed abundance of the three phases of water with an imaging spectrometer over melting snow,” WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH 42 (10): Art. No. W10402 OCT 3 2006
  9. Dennison P. E., Charoensiri K., Roberts D.A., Peterson, S. H., and Green R. O., “Wildfire temperature and land cover modeling using hyperspectral data,” REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT 100 (2): 212-222 JAN 30 2006
  10. Ustin S. L., Roberts D. A., Gamon J. A., Asner G. P., Green R. O., “Using imaging spectroscopy to study ecosystem processes and properties”, BIOSCIENCE 54 (6): 523-534 JUN 2004
  11. Green, R. O., Betina E. Pavri and Thomas G. Chrien, "On-Orbit Radiometric and Spectral Calibration Characteristics of EO-1 Hyperion Derived with an Underflight of AVIRIS and In Situ Measurements at Salar de Arizaro, Argentina," IEEE Transaction on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2003.
  12. Painter T. H., Dozier J., Roberts D. A., Davis R. E., Green R. O., “Retrieval of subpixel snow-covered area and grain size from imaging spectrometer data”, REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT 85 (1): 64-77 APR 25 2003
  13. Green, R. O., Jeff Dozier, Dar Roberts2, Tom Painter, “Spectral Snow Reflectance Models for Grain Size and Liquid Water Fraction in Melting Snow for the Solar Reflected Spectrum”, Annals of Glaciology, 2002
  14. Green, R. O., B. Pavri, and J. Boardman, “On-orbit calibration of an ocean color sensor with an underflight of the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS),” Advanced Space Research, 2001
  15. Green R. O., “Atmospheric Water Vapor Sensitivity Analysis and Compensation Requirement Earth-Looking Imaging Spectrometers Measuring Radiance in the Solar Reflected Spectrum,” Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 2001
  16. Mouroulis P., Green R. O., Chrien T. G., “Design of pushbroom imaging spectrometers for optimum recovery of spectroscopic and spatial information,” APPL OPTICS 39: (13) 2210-2220 MAY 1 2000
  17. Green R. O., Eastwood M. L., Sarture C. M., et al., ”Imaging spectroscopy and the Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS),” REMOTE SENS ENVIRON 65: (3) 227-248 SEP 1998
  18. Painter T. H, Roberts DA, Green RO, et al., “The effect of grain size on spectral mixture analysis of snow-covered area from AVIRIS data,” REMOTE SENS ENVIRON 65: (3) 320-332 SEP 1998
  19. Roberts DA, Gardner M, Church R, Ustin S, Sheer G, Green RO,et al. “Mapping chaparral in the Santa Monica Mountains using multiple endmember spectral mixture models,” REMOTE SENS ENVIRON 65: (3) 267-279 SEP 1998
  20. Green R. O., “Spectral calibration requirement for Earth-looking imaging spectrometers in the solar-reflected spectrum,” APPL OPTICS 37: (4) 683-690 FEB 1 1998
  21. Roberts D. A., Green RO, Adams JB, “Temporal and spatial patterns in vegetation and atmospheric properties from AVIRIS,” REMOTE SENS ENVIRON 62: (3) 223-240 DEC 1997
  22. Gao B. C., Green R. O., “ Presence of terrestrial atmospheric gas-absorption bands in standard extraterrestrial solar irradiance curves in the near-infrared spectral region,” APPL OPTICS 34: (27) 6263-6268 SEP 20 1995
  23. Gao-BC; Goetz-AFH; Westwater-ER; Conel-JE; Green-Ro, Possible Near-Ir Channels For Remote-Sensing Precipitable Water-Vapor From Geostationary Satellite Platforms, Journal Of Applied Meteorology, 32(12) 1791-1801, 1993.
  24. Vane G, Green RO, Chrien TG, et al., “The airborne visible infrared imaging spectrometer (AVIRIS),” REMOTE SENS ENVIRON 44: (2-3) 127-143 MAY-JUN 1993

Selected Additional Publications

  1. Green, R.O.,Pieters, C., Mouroulis, P., Koch, T., "The Moon Mineralogy Mapper Imaging Spectrometer: Science Measurement Characteristics and Laboratory Calibration Results," Aerospace Conference, 2008 IEEE, 1-8 March 2008
  2. Green, RO, Asner G., Ungar S, Knox R, “Science Objectives, Requirements and Concept for a NASA Mission to Measure Global Plant Physiology and Functional Types for Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecosystems,” Measurement Characteristics and Laboratory Calibration Results," Aerospace Conference, 2008 IEEE, 1-8 March 2008
  3. Green RO, Pieters C, Mouroulis P,Sellar G, Eastwood M, Geier S, and Shea J, “Calibration, Shipment and Initial Spacecraft Integration of the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) Imaging Spectrometer for the Chandrayaan-1 Mission,” Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII Num. 1803, 2008
  4. Green RO, Pieters C, Mouroulis P, Sellar G, Eastwood M, Geier S, and Shea J, “The Moon Mineralogy Mapper: Characteristics and Early Laboratory Calibration Results,” Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII Num. 2354, 2007
  5. Green, R. O., Clark R., Boardman J., Pavri B., Sarture C., "Initial Estimates from AVIRIS of the Temperature and Fractional Areas of Fires at the World Trade Center Disaster Site," Eleventh Airborne Earth Science Workshop, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL-Pub 03-04, 2003.
  6. Asner, G.P. and R.O. Green. 2001. Imaging spectroscopy measures desertification in the Southwest U.S. and Argentina. EOS Transactions 82(49):601-606.
  7. Green, R. O., "Measuring the Spectral Expression of Carbon Dioxide in the Solar Reflected Spectrum with AVIRIS," Proc. Tenth Airborne Earth Science Workshop, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL Pub. 02-1, 2001
  8. Green, R. O. "Estimating the Expressed Temperature and Fractional Area of Hot Lava at the Kilauea Vent with AVIRIS Spectral Measurements," Proc. Tenth Airborne Earth Science Workshop, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL Pub. 02-1, 2001
  9. Boardman, J. W. and Robert O. Green, “Exploring the Spectral Variability of the Earth as Measured by AVIRIS in 1999,” Proc. Ninth Airborne Earth Science Workshop, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2000
  10. Green, R. O. and Joseph Boardman, “Exploration of the Relationship between Information Content and Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Spatial Resolution in AVIRIS Spectral Data,” Proc. Ninth Airborne Earth Science Workshop, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2000
  11. Green, R. O, “Radiance to Reflectance Inversion Results for Several AVIRIS Low Altitude Acquisitions,” Proc. Eighth Airborne Earth Science Workshop, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1999
  12. Green R.O. Minimum High Fire Temperatures Measured from AVIRIS Spectral Measurements from Brazil in 1995, Proc. Seventh Airborne Earth Science Workshop, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL Pub. 97-21, Vol. 1, pp 185-192, 1998
  13. Green, R. O., Dozier, J., Inversion for the Vapor, Liquid and Frozen Phases of the Water Molecule over Mount Rainier, WA from Solar Reflected Spectra Measured by the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS), American Geophysical Union, San Francisco, Spring 1996.
  14. Green, R. O., Estimation of Biomass Fire Temperature and Areal Extent from Calibrated AVIRIS Spectra, Proc. Sixth Annual Airborne Earth Science Workshop, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL Public 96-, Vol. 1, March 3-5, 1996.
  15. Green, R. O., Dar A. Roberts and James E. Conel, Characterization and Compensation of the Atmosphere for the Inversion of AVIRIS Calibrated Radiance to Apparent Surface Reflectance, Proc. Sixth Annual Airborne Earth Science Workshop, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL Pub 96-4, Vol. 1, March 3-5, 1996.
  16. Green, R. O. and Jeff Dozier, Retrieval of Surface Snow Grain size and Melt Water from AVIRIS Spectra, Proc. Sixth Annual Airborne Earth Science Workshop, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL Public 96-, Vol. 1, March 3-5, 1996.
  17. Green R. O., Dar A. Roberts, John A. Gamon and Jeff Dozier, "Expression of the Molecules Chlorophyll and Liquid Water in the Vegetation Canopies of the Old Jack Pine Site at BOREAS as Derived from Spectra Measured by the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS)", American Geophysical Union, Spring-95, BOREAS-Session, Baltimore, 1995
  18. Green, R.O., and Dar A. Roberts, "Comparison of MODTRAN Modeled and AVIRIS Measured Water Vapor Absorption in the Solar Reflected Spectrum Over a Range from 0.5 to 15.0 Precipitable Millimeters on the Slopes of the 5700 meter Mexican Volcano, Pico de Orizaba.", 18th Annual Review Conference on Atmospheric Transmission Models, Phillips Lab, Hanscom AFB, 6-8 June 1995
  19. Green, R. O., Dar A. Roberts, James E. Conel, and Jeff Dozier, "Imaging Spectrometer Measurement of Water Vapor in the 400 to 2500 nm Spectral Region", Optical Society of America, Optical Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere, Salt Lake City, Feb 5-9, Vol 2, 1995
  20. Green, Robert O., Charles M. Sarture, Christopher J. Chovit, Jessica A. Faust, Pavul Hajek and H. Ian Novak, "AVIRIS: A New Approach to Earth Remote Sensing", Optics and Photonics News, Vol 6, No. 1, 1995
  21. Green, Robert O. and James E. Conel "Movement of Water Vapor in the Atmosphere Measured by an Imaging Spectrometer at Rogers Dry Lake, CA", Proc. Fifth Annual Airborne Earth Science Workshop, JPL Public 95-1, 1995.
  22. Green, Robert O., James E. Conel, and Dar A. Roberts, "Measurement of Atmospheric Water Vapor, Leaf Liquid Water and Reflectance With AVIRIS at the Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study: Initial Results", Proc. Fifth Annual Airborne Earth Science Workshop, JPL Public 95-1, 1995.
  23. Green, Robert O. and Jeff Dozier, "Measurement of the Spectral Absorption of Liquid Water in Melting Snow With an Imaging Spectrometer", Proc. Fifth Annual Airborne Earth Science Workshop, JPL Public 95-1, 1995.
  24. Green, Robert O. and Dar A. Roberts, "Vegetation Species Composition and Canopy Architecture Information Expressed in Leaf Water Absorption Measured in the 1000 nm and 2200 nm Spectral Region by an Imaging Spectrometer", Proc. Fifth Annual Airborne Earth Science Workshop, JPL Public 95-1, 1995.
  25. Green, Robert O. and Bo-Cai Gao' "A Proposed Update to the Solar Irradiance Spectrum Used in LOWTRAN and MODTRAN", Proc. Fourth Annual Airborne GeoScience Workshop, JPL Public 93-26, 1993.
  26. Green, Robert O., James E. Conel and Dar A. Roberts, "Estimation of Aerosol Optical Depth and Calculation of Apparent Surface Reflectance from Radiance Measured by the Airborne Visible-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) Using MODTRAN2", SPIE Conf. 1937, Imaging Spectromety of the Terrestrial Environment, 12 p. 1993.
  27. Green, Robert O., James E. Conel and Thomas G. Chrien, "Airborne Visible-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS): Sensor System, Inflight Calibration and Reflectance Calculation", International Symposium on Spectral Sensing Research (ISSSR), pp. 22, 1992
  28. Green,R.O., James E. Conel, Jack Margolis, Carol Bruegge and Gordon Hoover, "An Inversion Algorithm for Retrieval of Atmospheric and Leaf Water Absorption from AVIRIS Radiance with Compensation for Atmospheric Scattering", in Proceedings of the Third AVIRIS Workshop, R.O. Green , editor, JPL Publication, 1991.
  29. Green, R.O., “Retrieval of Reflectance from AVIRIS Radiance Using a Radiative Transfer Code,” in Proceedings of the Third AVIRIS Workshop, R.O. Green , editor, JPL Publication, 1991.
  30. Green, R.O. and G.Vane, "Compositional mapping of the lithologic units of the Clark Mountain, California basement terrain with the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer" , Proc. SPIE Conference on Aerospace Sensing, Imaging Spectroscopy of the Terrestrial Environment, Orlando, Florida, 16-20 April, (1990).
  31. Bruegge, C. J., J. E. Conel, J.S. Margolis, R.O. Green, G.Toon, V. Carrere, R. G. Holm, and G. Hoover, "In-situ atmospheric water¬ vapor retrieval in support of AVIRIS validation", Proc. SPIE Conference on Aerospace Sensing, Imaging Spectroscopy of the Terrestrial Environment, Orlando, Florida, 16-20 April, 1990.
  32. Green, R. O., V. Carrere and J. E. Conel. “Measurement of atmospheric water vapor using the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer,” Proc. ASPRS conference on Image Processing '89, Reno, Nevada, 23-26 April 1989.
  33. Green, R.O. and G. Vane, “Lithology and structure within the basement terrain adjacent to Clark Mountain, California mapped with calibrated data from the Airborne Visible/ InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer,” International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS '89), Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1988.
  34. Conel, J. E., R. O. Green, V. Carrere, J. S. Margolis, G. Vane, C. Bruegge, and R. Alley, “Spectroscopic measurement of atmospheric water vapor and determination evaporation from land and water surfaces using the Airborne Visible/InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS),” International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS '89), Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1988.
  35. Conel, J.E., R.O. Green, G. Vane, C.J. Bruegge, R.E. Alley, and B.J. Curtiss. Airborne Imaging Spectrometer-2: Radiometric and spectral characteristics and comparison of ways to compensate for the atmosphere, SPIE Proceedings, 1987.
  36. Green, Robert O. Detection of Hydrocarbon Microseeps and Related Geobotanical Anomalies Using Multi-date Image Subtraction, Railroad Valley, Nevada. Presented at the 19th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment, Ann Arbor, Michigan. October 21-25, 1985.

More than 500 conference papers published on-line http://aviris.jpl.nasa.gov.

Robert O. Green
Address: 
4800 Oak Grove Dr.
Pasadena, CA 91109
Phone: 818.354.9136
Fax Number: 818.393.4773