Shobha Kondragunta received an M.S.
degree in chemistry from Florida Atlantic University in 1990, and a
Ph.D degree in chemistry from University of Maryland in 1997. She
worked as a UCAR postdoctoral fellow at the Environmental Protection
Agency for over a year before joining NOAA/NESDIS in 1999. She leads
projects under Remote Sensing of Air Quality initiative at
NOAA/NESDIS/STAR. As the lead air quality scientist, her duties
involve developing algorithms to derive air quality products and
applying them for monitoring and forecasting decision support system
tools, building multi-agency collaborative projects in the area of
satellite-based air quality product development and their
applications, holding workshops to discuss the status of on-going
projects, and briefing management on air quality activities. She is
the lead for GOES-R Aerosols/Atmospheric Chemistry/Air Quality
Algorithm Working Group and the co-lead for JPSS VIIRS aerosol
algorithm team.
She is currently leading the following projects:
Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) product development from the current (GOES) and next generation (GOES-R) geostationary satellites
Biomass burning emissions from a network of global geostationary satellites
Projects in support of NWS operational air quality forecast verification efforts
SNPP VIIRS aerosol product validation and development of new algorithms for smoke and dust detection
Improving operational PM2.5 forecasts by assimilation of satellite data
GOES-R and SNPP air quality proving ground activities
Collaborative work with University of Maryland at College Park (Russ Dickerson), Pennsylvania State University (Amy Huff) on air quality related work
Awards and Honors
In 2014, Dr. Kondragunta received the Dept. of Commerce Bronze Medal
for her efforts on the Suomi NPP EDR products team. The group was "Honored
for the timely creation and leadership of the team to increase the
scientific value of the Suomi satellite environmental data products to
meet NOAA users' needs."
In 2010, Dr. Kondragunta received the Department of Commerce gold medal
for scientific achievement in developing and advancing satellite-based
products in support of national air quality monitoring and
forecasting.
In 2002, Dr. Kondragunta received NOAA bronze medal for developing a
new total ozone product by combining information from two different
instruments, one measuring in the Infrared and one in the Ultraviolet.
Dr. Kondragunta routinely reviews proposals for EPA and NASA, and
manuscripts for journals such as Geophysical Research letters, Atmospheric
Environment, and Journal of Geophysical Research.
Team members
Dr. Kondragunta's work is supported by Pubu Ciren (IMSG), Ho-Chun Huang
(UMD-CICS), Jingfeng Huang (UMD-CICS), Stephen Superczynski (SRG), Chuanyu
Xu (IMSG), Xiaoyang Zhang (South Dakota State University), Qiang Zhao
(IMSG), and Hai Zhang (IMSG).
Data, algorithms, and images presented on STAR websites are intended for experimental use only and are not supported on an operational basis.
More information
Dept. of Commerce • NOAA • NESDIS • Website Owner: STAR • Contact webmaster • Last revised: October 27, 2015
Shobha Kondragunta
Shobha Kondragunta received an M.S.
degree in chemistry from Florida Atlantic University in 1990, and a
Ph.D degree in chemistry from University of Maryland in 1997. She
worked as a UCAR postdoctoral fellow at the Environmental Protection
Agency for over a year before joining NOAA/NESDIS in 1999. She leads
projects under Remote Sensing of Air Quality initiative at
NOAA/NESDIS/STAR. As the lead air quality scientist, her duties
involve developing algorithms to derive air quality products and
applying them for monitoring and forecasting decision support system
tools, building multi-agency collaborative projects in the area of
satellite-based air quality product development and their
applications, holding workshops to discuss the status of on-going
projects, and briefing management on air quality activities. She is
the lead for GOES-R Aerosols/Atmospheric Chemistry/Air Quality
Algorithm Working Group and the co-lead for JPSS VIIRS aerosol
algorithm team.