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Dave McAdoo Honored with 2011 NOAA Administrator's Award
for Arctic Sea Ice Research

photo: Dave McAdoo

Dave McAdoo receiving his award from Dr. Jane Lubchenco, NESDIS Deputy AA Charlie Baker on the right


photo: Bill Pichel, Mary Glackin, Dave McAdoo, Laury Miller

Bill Pichel, NOAA Deputy Undersecretary Mary Glackin, Dave McAdoo, and Laury Miller

13 July 2011 - Dr. Jane Lubchenco announced the 2011 NOAA Administrators and Technology Transfer Award winners today, and among them was STAR's own Dr. Dave McAdoo of the Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry. Dr. McAdoo was honored for his "important scientific and leadership role in the development of satellite radar altimeter methods for monitoring the thickness and volume of Arctic sea ice". The ongoing loss of Arctic sea ice has important implications for climate change, and will have profound ecological and socio-economic impacts throughout the Arctic region, one of the most sensitive and critically important areas indentified in NOAA's strategic goals.

Satellite passive microwave observations show that the Arctic sea ice extent has shrunk since the late 1970s, with an historic minimum ice extent recorded in September 2007. However, areal measurements only tell part of the story. Measurements of sea ice thickness are needed to distinguish between new and multi-year ice and to estimate changes the volume of the ice pack. Dr. McAdoo has played a major role in the development of satellite altimeter methods for monitoring sea ice thickness and volume through his leadership of a series of complex, multi- agency airborne validation studies over the past decade. He worked with together with both CryoSat-2 scientists at ESA and NASA IceBridge airborne program scientists to make the particularly valuable validation 2010 flights become a reality.

In addition to his achievements in international and inter-agency science programming, Dr. McAdoo also provided outstanding science leadership by building a successful sea ice research team two map comparison: Change in Arctic Sea Ice Freeboard from ICESAT: March 2003 - March 2008 in the NOAA/NESDIS Center for Satellite Applications and Research's Laboratory for Satellite Altimetry (LSA) Branch. Dr. McAdoo's efforts will serve NOAA's expanding interests in the Arctic for many years to come. Dr. McAdoo was the only NESDIS scientist honored with an administrator's award this year.

The NOAA Administrators and Technology Transfer Award recipients will be honored at a ceremony to be held on Thursday, October 6, 2011, in the NOAA Auditorium in Silver Spring, Maryland. STAR congratulates Dr. McAdoo for his outstanding achievement.