Otis Brown

Otis Brown

Climate Policy, Engagement, Resilience, Satellite Remote Sensing Phone: +1 828.257.3001 Email: Otis_Brown@ncsu.edu Orcid: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3111-1507

Biography

Dr. Otis Brown is the founding Director of NCICS, where he also serves as the Director of the North Carolina location of NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Satellite Earth System Studies (CISESS). He is also a Research Professor in the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at NC State University.

Dr. Brown’s specialties are the development of quantitative methods for the processing and use of satellite remotely sensed observations to study Earth System processes, satellite oceanography, and the development and application of new approaches to study climate variability, stakeholder engagement, and resiliency. Historically, his experimental focus was on western boundary current variability. However, recently his interests have shifted to areas of observable climate change impact and approaches to developing resiliency. These efforts include the use of longer-term, space-based observations to quantify the impacts of climatic variability, the engagement of stakeholders, and developing decision tools to support resiliency. He collaborated with Professor Mary Doyle at the University of Miami to found the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy as a sustainable approach to the training of the next generation of Earth System managers and researchers.

Dr. Brown received his Bachelor’s Degree in physics from NC State University and his Master’s and PhD degrees in physics from the University of Miami. Prior to joining NCICS and NC State in 2009, Dr. Brown was a professor at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami, where he served as Dean from 1995–1999. Dr. Brown is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Publications

2023

Willett, D.S.; J. Brannock; J. Dissen; P. Keown; K. Szura; O.B. Brown; A. Simonson, 2023: NOAA Open Data Dissemination: Petabyte-scale Earth system data in the cloud. Science Advances, 9:38. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adh0032

2022

Willett, D.S., B. White, T. Augspurger, J. Brannock, J. Dissen, P. Keown, O. Brown, and A. Simonson, 2022: Expanding access to open environmental data: advancements and next steps. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 103. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0158.1

Simonson, A., , O. Brown, J. Dissen, E.J. Kearns, K. Szura and J. Brannock, 2022: NOAA Open Data Dissemination (Formerly NOAA Big Data Project/Program). In Big Data Analytics in Earth, Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences, T. Huang, C. Lynnes and T.C. Vance eds., AGU Publications, John C. Wiley & Sons, Inc., 320 pages. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119467557.ch4

2020

Matthews, J. L., G. Peng, W. N. Meier, and O. Brown, 2020: Sensitivity of Arctic Sea Ice Extent to Sea Ice Concentration Threshold Choice and Its Implication to Ice Coverage Decadal Trends and Statistical Projections. Remote Sensing, 12, 807, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12050807

Waliser, D., P. J. Gleckler, R. Ferraro, K. E. Taylor, S. Ames, J. Biard, M. G. Bosilovich, O. Brown, H. Chepfer, L. Cinquini, P. Durack, V. Eyring, P. P. Mathieu, T. Lee, S. Pinnock, G. L. Potter, M. Rixen, R. Saunders, J. Shulz, J. N. Thepaut, and M. Tuma, 2020: Observations for Model Intercomparison Project (Obs4MIPs): Status for CMIP6. Geoscientific Model Development, 13, 2945-2958. http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2945-2020

2019

Moroni, D.F., H. Ramapriyan, G. Peng, J. Hobbs, J. Goldstein, R. Downs, R. Wolfe, C.-L. Shie, C.J. Merchant, M. Bourassa, J.L. Matthews, P. Cornillon, L. Bastin, K. Kehoe, B. Smith, J.L. Privette, A.C. Subramanian, O. Brown, and I. Ivánová, 2019: Understanding the Various Perspectives of Earth Science Observational Data Uncertainty. Figshare. http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.10271450.v1

2018

Peng, G., J. L. Privette, C. Tilmes, S. Bristol, T. Maycock, J. J. Bates, S. Hausman, O. Brown, and E. J. Kearns, 2018: A Conceptual Enterprise Framework for Managing Scientific Data Stewardship. Data Science Journal, 17:15. http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2018-015

2017

Ansari, S., S. Del Greco, E. Kearns, O. Brown, S. Wilkins, M. Ramamurthy, J. Weber, R. May, J. Sundwall, J. Layton, A. Gold, A. Pasch, and V. Lakshmanan, 2017: Unlocking the Potential of NEXRAD Data through NOAA’s Big Data Partnership. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 99, 189-204. http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0021.1

2015

Kilpatrick, K. A., G. Podestá, S. Walsh, E. Williams, V. Halliwell, M. Szczodrak, O. B. Brown, P. J. Minnett, and R. Evans, 2015: A decade of sea surface temperature from MODIS. Remote Sensing of Environment, 165, 27-41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.04.023

2013

Trenberth, K. E., R. A. Anthes, A. Belward, O. Brown, T. Habermann, T. R. Karl, S. Running, B. Ryan, M. Tanner, and B. Wielicki, 2013: Challenges of a sustained climate observing system. In Climate Science for Serving Society, G. R. Asrar, and J. W. Hurrell, Eds., Springer Netherlands, 13-50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6692-1_2

2008

Beal, L. M., J. M. Hummon, E. Williams, and O. Brown, 2008: Five years of Florida Current Structure and Transport from the Royal Caribbean Cruise ship Explorer of the Seas, Journal of Geophysical Research, 113 (C06001). http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007JC004154

Framiñan, M. B., A. Valle-Levinson, H. H. Seplveda and O. B. Brown, 2008: Tidal Variations of Flow, Shear and Stratification at the Rio de La Plata Estuary Turbidity Front, Journal of Geophysical Research, 113 (C08035). http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2006JC004038

2004

Yang, Q., B. Parvin, A. J. Mariano, E. Ryan, R. H. Evans and O. B. Brown, 2004: Seasonal and interannual studies of vortices in sea surface temperature data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 25, 7-8, 1371-1376. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01431160310001592319

2001

Minnett, P. J., R. O. Knuteson, F. A. Best, B. J. Osborne, J. A. Hanafin and O. B. Brown, 2001: The Marine-Atmosphere Emitted Radiance Interferometer (M-AERI), a high-accuracy, sea-going infrared spectroradiometer. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 18, 994-1013. http://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(2001)018<0994:TMAERI>2.0.CO;2

Presentations

2019

Brown, O., and J. Brannock, 2019: BDP Data Broker Update. Earth Science Information Partner (ESIP) Summer Meeting, Tacoma, WA, July 16, 2019.

2018

Brown, O., and J. Brannock, 2018: Big Data Project (BDP) Data Broker Update. Earth Science Information Partner (ESIP) Summer Meeting, Tucson, AZ, July 17, 2018.

Kearns, E. J., S. Glass, O. Brown, J. Brannock, A. Simonson, and J. O'Neil, 2018: 2B.1: Making Data Available on the Cloud for Decision Support Applications through NOAA's Big Data Project. American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, Austin, TX, January 8, 2018.

2017

Brown, O., 2017: CICS research in North Carolina (CICS-NC). CICS Science Conference, College Park, MD, November 6, 2017.

Brown, O., 2017: 10 years of SECOORA: Panel Discussion. Southeast Coastal Observing Regional Association (SECOORA) Annual Meeting, Melbourne, FL, May 17, 2017.

2016

Brown, O., 2016: CICS-NC Overview and Accomplishments, CICS Science Conference, College Park, MD, November 29, 2016.

Thompson, T., O. Brown, and J. Dissen, 2016: Applying NOAA Big Data to Utilities - An Example, Utility Analytics Week, October 31, 2016.

2015

Brown, O., K. Kunkel, and J. Dissen, 2015: Storm Data for Utilities. Utility Analytics Storm Analytics Working Group Presentation, September 2015.

Brown, O., K. Kunkel, and J. Dissen, 2015: Opportunities in Climate Analytics for Utilities. Utility Analytics Executive Advisory Council, August 2015.

Brown, O., K. Kunkel, and J. Dissen, 2015: Storm Data for Utilities. Utility Analytics Storm Analytics Working Group Presentation, September 2015.

Brown, O., and K. E. Kunkel, 2015: State of the Climate Science in Identification of Risks; Presentation and Use of Data from National Climate Center and Affiliates. Invited talk, Executive Forum on Business and Climate Workshop: Private Property, Information Disclosure, and the Roles of Insurance and Government, Chapel, NC, March 20, 2015.

Dissen, J., J. L. Privette, T. G. Houston, D. P. Brown, K. Gleason, and R. A. Leduc Clarke, 2015: A New Approach to Climate Services at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). 2015 AMS Annual Meeting, January 7, 2015.

2014

Jones, P. R., N. A. Ritchey, G. Peng, V. A. Toner, H. Brown, and K. Roberts, 2014: ISO, FGDC, DIF and Dublin Core – making sense of metadata standards for Earth Science data. AGU Fall meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 15-19, 2014.