• NSIDC

Dr. Christopher G. Fox  Former Director, NGDC

We are sad to see him go but... After 36 years of government service and 10 years as the former Director of the National Geophysical Data Center, Dr. Christopher G. Fox has retired effective January 2nd, 2013. Dr. Eric Kihn () is now Acting Director of NGDC.

A parting message from Chris: Dear Colleagues, This morning I informed all NGDC employees of my planned retirement from NOAA effective January 2, 2013. I am extremely proud of the work that we have accomplished at NGDC over the past ten years and am confident that I am leaving a leadership team (and deep bench) in place to assure that NGDC will continue to provide quality data services at great value to our partners and the American taxpayer. I also look back with great pride at my 18 years as a research oceanographer with PMEL's Vents Program, and my early career with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Geological Survey. I met each of you as I traveled this path and will cherish many professional and personal memories as I occupy my designated rocking chair on the porch of the Old Oceanographers Home. Martha and I plan to remain in Colorado long enough to get our daughter Emily graduated from college this summer and launched and then plan to return (with son Ben) to the Coast in our adopted home of the Pacific Northwest. Thank you all for contributing to a rewarding and enjoyable 36-year career of public service. -cf

Dr. Christopher Fox has served as Director of the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) in Boulder, Colorado since April, 2004, after serving as Acting Director beginning December, 2002. His scientific background in marine geophysics prepared him for much of NGDC's mission but he has had on-the-job training in other areas such as space physics, satellite data processing, whole earth modeling, and large-scale data management systems. Since arriving at NGDC, Dr. Fox has overseen the move of NOAA's Comprehensive Large-Array data Stewardship System (CLASS) operational site to NGDC, a significant expansion in tsunami-related data activities following the December 26, 2004 disaster in the Indian Ocean, the adoption of responsibilities for the Nation's magnetic field modeling, the establishment of a dual site for GPS-CORS observing system collection, and the revitalization of other areas of NOAA's mission especially ionosphere characterization and bathymetric/hydrographic support. NGDC is also home to the World Data Service for Geophysics and the International Hydrographic Organization Data Centre for Digital Bathymetry (IHO-DCDB). NGDC is positioned to provide advanced archive and data management services to the rest of NOAA and provide a center of integration for national and international efforts such as Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS).

Recently, NGDC was named as the data integration and analysis center for the United States Extended Continental Shelf Project in support of the U.S. activities in response to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Dr. Fox is the Interagency Task Force lead for data management.

Before joining NGDC, Dr. Fox served as a Principal Investigator within the VENTS Program of NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory from June, 1985 to April, 2004. He led a diversified program in marine mapping, geophysics, and underwater acoustics. The project is located at NOAA's laboratories within the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon. In recognition of his efforts in developing the U.S. Navy's Sound Surveillance System for environmental applications while at PMEL, Dr. Fox was awarded the Department of Commerce Gold Medal in 1994. In 1996, one of Dr. Fox's publications concerning the detection and response to a submarine volcanic eruption in the Juan de Fuca Ridge was selected as a NOAA outstanding scientific paper. Dr. Fox also held an appointment as an Associate Professor (Courtesy) at Oregon State University's College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences.

Prior to his service with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Dr. Fox worked for the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where he participated in a wide variety of studies including the numerical modelling of seafloor microtopographic roughness and the development of automated cartographic mapping from multibeam sonar systems. Prior to joining NAVOCEANO, Dr. Fox worked within the U.S. Geological Survey developing numerical simulations of geothermal reservoir dynamics.

Dr. Fox currently serves on various NESDIS and NOAA-wide committees, and in many international capacities including Vice-Chair of the Guiding Committee of GEBCO (Generalized Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans)and the GEBCO representative to GEO. In the past, Dr. Fox has chaired several working groups including a marine mammal acoustics group for the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission, and the Event Detection and Response working group for the InterRidge Program and has served in various capacities for the U.S. Navy, the U.S. RIDGE Program, and the NEPTUNE Project.

Dr. Fox was a member of the charter class of the NOAA Leadership Competencies Development Program.

Education

• Ph.D., Geological Sciences, Columbia University, 1985
• M.Phil., Geological Sciences, Columbia University, 1982
• Sc.M., Geological Sciences, Brown University, 1976
• A.B.(honors), Geology, University of Tennessee, 1974

Publication List

Research Web Pages

• Acoustic Monitoring Research Project
• Sound in the Sea Project
• Ocean Seismicity Theme Page
• Marine Mammal Bioacoustics

Contact Information

NOAA/NESDIS/NGDC
325 Broadway, E/GC, Rm 1B148
Boulder, Colorado 80305-3328 USA

VOICE: (303) 497-6215
CELL: (303) 598-9910
FAX: (303) 497-6386

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