NASA Langley’s Richard Eckman and Robert Damadeo were elected to the prestigious International Ozone Commission (IO3C) at this year’s Quadrennial Ozone Symposium, held in Boulder, Colorado, from July 15-19, 2024. Membership in the IO3C is highly selective, limited to about 30 leading scientists globally, and is determined through a peer election process. Members serve four-year terms with the possibility of renewal, contributing to the global study and analysis of atmospheric processes related to ozone.
The IO3C plays a crucial role in organizing studies of ozone worldwide, including ground-based and satellite measurement programs to better understand atmospheric composition and ozone dynamics. The study of ozone, Earth’s sunscreen, is important because of the large role it plays in protecting the Earth from harmful levels of ultraviolet solar radiation, as well as its role as a greenhouse gas in Earth’s climate system.
Eckman started his career in atmospheric science research almost 40 years ago as a grad student at the University of Colorado. In 1988, he joined the NASA Langley Atmospheric Sciences Division and was involved in atmospheric modeling and data analysis. Over the last 15 years, Eckman has been managing the Atmospheric Composition Modeling and Analysis Program (ACMAP) at NASA Headquarters, as well as serving as the Program Scientist for the Earth science instruments on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) and the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III on the International Space Station.
“I am honored to be recognized by the IO3C and elected as a member of the commission. It’s been a dream career, and the IO3C recognition is like icing on the cake,” said Eckman.
Damadeo currently serves as a Co-Principal Investigator for the SAGE IV project, and the Lead Algorithm Scientist for the SAGE III on ISS mission.
Not only has Damadeo worked on past, present and future SAGE missions, but he continues to do extensive research on long-term trends in stratospheric ozone. In particular, he has been a part of the LOTUS (Long-term Ozone Trends and Uncertainties in the Stratosphere) effort since its inception in 2016 and is currently the leader. LOTUS is an APARC (Atmospheric Processes And their Role in Climate) sponsored effort whose primary goal is to foster collaboration within the scientific community to provide vital contributions to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Ozone Assessment in an organized and cohesive way. Work performed under LOTUS has been responsible for a significant amount of content featured in the 2018 and 2022 Assessments.
“I am honored to be elected to the IO3C by my peers and colleagues,” said Damadeo.
To learn more about the IO3C, please visit https://www.io3c.org.
