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Shobha Kondragunta

Satellite Meteorology and Climatology Division

Satellite Calibration and Data Assimilation Branch
Research Scientist

Publications

To view Dr. Kondragunta's publications, visit:

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photo: Shobha KondraguntaShobha Kondragunta received an M.S. degree in chemistry from Florida Atlantic University in 1990, and a PhD 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. In 2021, she was appointed as the product lead for the GeoXO atmospheric composition instrument. She also leads GOES-R and JPSS aerosols and atmospheric composition product development and applications. The global biomass burning emissions product that she developed is used by the National Weather Service global and regional air quality forecasting models. She is the lead for the CEOS atmospheric composition virtual composition aerosols and air quality working group. Products she and her team have developed are distributed to operational air quality forecasters, incident meteorologists, state/local environmental agencies, and the EPA through the AerosolWatch website. The public can also follow her team's activities via @AerosolWatch on Twitter.

Dr. Kondragunta is currently serving as a co-chair for one of the two working groups of the Air Quality and Community Health Research Subcommittee (ACRS) established by the White House National Science and Technology Council. As a co-chair, she will be drafting a guidance document on the best practices for air quality characterization and community engagement that can lead to environmental justice and equity for vulnerable populations.

Dr. Kondragunta is a member of NOAA's Fire Observation, Research, and Services Team (FOReST) and NOAA Atmospheric Composition from Space (NACS) team. The NACS team is particularly engaged in developing collaborations across multiple line offices within NOAA. As a member of these teams, she contributes to the development of long-term plans for satellite product development and applications.


Awards and Honors

In 2023, as a member of GeoXO Program Science Working Group, Dr. Kondragunta received the NASA Group Achievement Award.

In 2022, Dr. Kondragunta received the Department of Commerce (DOC) group Silver Medal "for development and implementation of Air Quality Model v6 to significantly advance operational air quality predictions for the Nation" and DOC group Bronze Medal "for ensuring that NOAA's next generation geostationary satellite system will meet the most critical observing needs for our nation and partners".

In 2021, Dr. Kondragunta received the NOAA Administrator’s Award “For developing a critical capability using NOAA satellite assets to benchmark the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on economic activity and air quality.” Dr. Kondragunta also received two group Dept. of Commerce (DOC) Bronze Medals “For the development of the Global Ensemble Forecast System – Aerosols (GEFS- Aerosols) model to support air quality alerts and visibility forecasts.” and “For expeditiously and skillfully coordinating research that leveraged the unique scientific opportunity resulting from the COVID-19 global pandemic.” She was also named the 2021 NESDIS Collaboration Award winner for her work in support of GeoXO User Engagement.

In 2020, Dr. Kondragunta received the NASA Group Achievement Award "For outstanding scientific achievements of the Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments Experiment – Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) airborne Earth science mission team”.

In 2016, Dr. Kondragunta received the DOC Bronze Medal “For enhancing the accuracy of Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite aerosol products and ensuring that products reach the operational user community with reduced latency.”

In 2014, Dr. Kondragunta received the DOC 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 DOC 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 the 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 reviews manuscripts for journals such as Geophysical Research Letters, Atmospheric Environment, and Journal of Geophysical Research.

Team members

Dr. Kondragunta's work is supported by Michael Cheeseman (IMSG), Pubu Ciren (IMSG), Amy Huff (IMSG), Fangjun Li (South Dakota State University), Jim Limbacher (IMSG), Zigang Wei (IMSG), Chuanyu Xu (IMSG), Xiaoyang Zhang (South Dakota State University), Hai Zhang (IMSG), and Aihua Zhu (IMSG)


E-mail: Shobha.Kondragunta@noaa.gov