Carl Mears

Vice President / Senior Research Scientist

Office: 707-545-2904 x21

mears@remss.com

Bio

Dr. Mears has a B.S. in Physics from the University of Washington (1985), and a PhD. in Physics from University of California, Berkeley (1991), where his thesis research involved the development of quantum-noise-limited superconducting microwave heterodyne receivers. He joined Remote Sensing Systems in 1998. Since then, he has validated SSM/I and TMI winds versus in situ measurements, developed and validated a rain-flagging algorithm for the QuikScat Scatterometer. Over the past decade he has focused on the construction and maintenance of climate-quality data records, including those atmospheric temperatures from MSU and AMSU, and total column water vapor from SSM/I, AMSRE, SSMIS, and WindSat.  He has also studied the use of these data sets for the detection and attribution of human-induced climate change.  Dr. Mears was a convening lead author for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program Sythesis and Assessment product 1.1 (the first CCSP report to reach final form), and a contributing author to the IGPP 4th and 5th assessment reports. He is also a member of the WCRP Stratospheric Trends Working Group, which is part of the Stratospheric Processes and their Role in Climate (SPARC) project.

 

Current Projects

• Lower Tropospheric Climate Data Records Based on AMSU Channel 4.  The purpose of this project is to develop an alternative to the TLT product based on MSU Channel 2 and AMSU channel 5.  The TLT product is created by extrapolating the MSU2 and AMSU5 data to lower altitude.  The new product does not require extrapolation, but does require the development of algorithms to remove emission from Earth's surface.  This project is funded by NOAA's Office of Global Programs.
• Complete Error Characterization of the DISCOVER Earth System Data Records.  The purpose of this project is to add error bars to each and every measurement produced as part of the DISCOVER project.  The project is a collaboration between Remote Sensing Systems, Atmospheric and Environmental Research, University of Wisconsin, and State University of New York, Albany.  This project is funded by the NASA Earth Science Directorate.
• Improved and Extended Atmospheric Temperature Measurements from Microwave Sounders.  The purpose of this project is to completely redo the current MSU and AMSU atmospheric data records using more advanced and consistent methods.  This project is funded by the NASA Earth Sciences Directorate.
• Climate Data Record Production.  The purpose of this project is to continue production of the current versions Climate Data Records (CDRs) for archiving at the National Climatic Data Center.  This project is funded by the Cooperative Institude for Climate and Satellites (CICS).

 

 

Publications

• Mears, C.; Lee, T.; Ricciardulli, L.; Wang, X.; Wentz, F. Improving the Accuracy of the Cross-Calibrated Multi-Platform (CCMP) Ocean Vector Winds. Remote Sens. 2022, 14, 4230. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14174230
• Mears, C. A., Scott, J., Wentz, F. J., Ricciardulli, L., Leidner, S. M., Hoffman, R., & Atlas, R. (2019). A Near-Real-Time Version of the Cross-Calibrated Multiplatform (CCMP) Ocean Surface Wind Velocity Data Set. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 124, 6997– 7010. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015367
• Mears, C. A., Smith, D. K., Ricciardulli, L., Wang, J., Huelsing, H., & Wentz, F. J. (2018). Construction and Uncertainty Estimation of a Satellite-Derived Total Precipitable Water Data Record Over the World's Oceans. Earth and Space Science, 5, 197– 210. https://doi.org/10.1002/2018EA000363
• Philipona, R., Mears, C., Fujiwara, M., Jeannet, P., Thorne, P., Bodeker, G., et al. (2018). Radiosondes show that after decades of cooling, the lower stratosphere is now warming. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 123, 12,509– 12,522. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD028901
• Randel, W. J., Polvani, L., Wu, F., Kinnison, D. E., Zou, C.‐Z., & Mears, C. (2017). Troposphere‐stratosphere temperature trends derived from satellite data compared with ensemble simulations from WACCM. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 122, 9651– 9667, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027158
• A. K. Steiner, F. Ladstädter, W. J. Randel, A. C. Maycock, Q. Fu, C. Claud, H. Gleisner, L. Haimberger, S.-P. Ho, P. Keckhut T. Leblanc, C. Mears, L. M. Polvani, B. D. Santer, T. Schmidt, V. Sofieva, R. Wing, C.-Z. Zou, (2020). Observed Temperature Changes in the Troposphere and Stratosphere from 1979 to 2018. J. Climate, 33, 8165–8194, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0998.1
• Benjamin D. Santer*, Stephen Po-Chedley, Mark D. Zelinka, Ivana Cvijanovic, Céline Bonfils, Paul J. Durack, Qiang Fu, Jeffrey Kiehl, Carl Mears, Jeffrey Painter, Giuliana Pallotta, Susan Solomon, Frank J. Wentz, Cheng-Zhi Zou, (2018). Human influence on the seasonal cycle of tropospheric temperature. Science 20, 361. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aas8806
• Benjamin D. Santer, Susan Solomon, Giuliana Pallotta, Carl Mears, Stephen Po-Chedley, Qiang Fu, Frank Wentz, Cheng-Zhi Zou, Jeffrey Painter, Ivana Cvijanovic Céline Bonfils, (2017): Comparing Tropospheric Warming in Climate Models and Satellite Data. J. Climate, 30, 373–392, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0333.1
• Benjamin D. Santer, Céline J. W. Bonfils, Qiang Fu, John C. Fyfe, Gabriele C. Hegerl, Carl Mears, Jeffrey F. Painter, Stephen Po-Chedley, Frank J. Wentz, Mark D. Zelinka, Cheng-Zhi Zou (2019). Celebrating the anniversary of three key events in climate change science. Nat. Clim. Chang. 9, 180–182. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0424-x
• Benjamin D. Santer, John C. Fyfe, Giuliana Pallotta, Gregory M. Flato, Gerald A. Meehl, Matthew H. England, Ed Hawkins, Michael E. Mann, Jeffrey F. Painter, Céline Bonfils, Ivana Cvijanovic, Carl Mears, Frank J. Wentz, Stephen Po-Chedley, Qiang Fu,Cheng-Zhi Zou (2017). Causes of differences in model and satellite tropospheric warming rates. Nature Geosci 10, 478–485. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2973
• Marc Schröder, Maarit Lockhoff, Frank Fell, John Forsythe, Tim Trent, Ralf Bennartz, Eva Borbas, Michael G. Bosilovich, Elisa Castelli, Hans Hersbach, Misako Kachi, Shinya Kobayashi, E. Robert Kursinski, Diego Loyola, Carl Mears, Rene Preusker, William B. Rossow, Suranjana Saha, (2018). The GEWEX Water Vapor Assessment archive of water vapour products from satellite observations and reanalyses. Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1093–1117. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1093-2018
• Shu-Peng Ho, Liang Peng, Carl Mears, and Richard A. Anthes (2018). Comparison of global observations and trends of total precipitable water derived from microwave radiometers and COSMIC radio occultation from 2006 to 2013. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 259–274. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-259-2018
• Mears, C. A., and F. J. Wentz (2017), A Satellite-Derived Lower-Tropospheric Atmospheric Temperature Dataset Using an Optimized Adjustment for Diurnal Effects, Journal of Climate, 30(19), 7695-7718, doi: 10.1175/jcli-d-16-0768.1.
• Mears, C. A., and F. J. Wentz (2016), Sensitivity of Satellite-Derived Tropospheric Temperature Trends to the Diurnal Cycle Adjustment, Journal of Climate, 29(10), 3629-3646, doi: DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-15- 0744.1.
• Mears, C. A., F. J. Wentz and P. W. Thorne, (2012) Assessing the Value of Microwave Sounding Unit-Radiosonde Comparisons in Ascertaining Errors in Climate Data Records of Tropospheric Temperatures, J. Geophys. Res., 117(D19), D19103,  doi:10.1029/2012JD017710.
• Thompson, D. W. J., D. J. Seidel, W. J. Randel, C.-Z. Zou, A. H. Butler, C. Mears, A. Osso, C. Long and R. Lin, (2012) The Mystery of Recent Stratospheric Temperature Trends, Nature, 491(7426), 692-697,  doi:10.1038/nature11579.
• Santer, B. D., J. F. Painter, C. A. Mears, C. Doutriaux, P. Caldwell, J. M. Arblaster, P. J. Cameron-Smith, N. P. Gillett, P. J. Gleckler, J. Lanzante, J. Perlwitz, S. Solomon, P. A. Stott, K. E. Taylor, L. Terray, P. W. Thorne, M. F. Wehner, F. J. Wentz, T. M. L. Wigley, L. J. Wilcox and C. Z. Zou, (2012) Identifying Human Influences on Atmospheric Temperature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(1), 26-33,  doi:10.1073/pnas.1210514109.
• Mears, C. A., F. J. Wentz, P. Thorne and D. Bernie, (2011) Assessing Uncertainty in Estimates of Atmospheric Temperature Changes From MSU and AMSU Using a Monte-Carlo Estimation Technique, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D08112, doi:10.1029/2010JD014954.
• Santer, B. D., C. A. Mears, C. Doutriaux, P. M. Caldwell, P. J. Gleckler, T. M. L. Wigley, S. Solomon, N. Gillett, D. P. Ivanova, T. R. Karl, J. R. Lanzante, G. A. Meehl, P. A. Stott, K. E. Taylor, P. W. Thorne, M. F. Wehner and F. J. Wentz, (2011) Separating Signal and Noise in Atmospheric Temperature Changes: The Importance of Timescale, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D22105, doi:10.1029/2011JD016263.
• Mears, C. A., J. Wang, S. P. Ho and L. Zhang, (2010) Total Column Water Vapor in State of the Climate in 2009, Peterson, T.C., and M.O. Baringer, Eds., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 92.
• Mears, C. A. and F. J. Wentz, (2009) Construction of the RSS V3.2 Lower Tropospheric Dataset From the MSU and AMSU Microwave Sounders, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 26, 1493-1509.
• Mears, C. A. and F. J. Wentz, (2009) Construction of the Remote Sensing Systems V3.2 Atmospheric Temperature Records From the MSU and AMSU Microwave Sounders, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 26, 1040-1056.
• Randel, W. J., K. P. Shine, J. Austin, J. Barnett, C. Claud, N. P. Gillett, P. Keckhut, U. Langematz, R. Lin, C. Long, C. A. Mears, A. Miller, J. Nash, D. J. Seidel, D. W. J. Thompson, F. Wu and S. Yoden, (2009) An Update of Observed Stratospheric Temperature Trends, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D02107, doi:10.1029/2008JD010421.
• Santer, B. D., K. E. Taylor, P. J. Gleckler, C. Bonfils, T. P. Barnett, D. W. Pierce, T. M. L. Wigley, C. A. Mears, F. J. Wentz, W. Bruggemann, N. Gillett, S. A. Klein, S. Solomon, P. A. Stott and M. F. Wehner, (2009) Incorporating Model Quality Information in Climate Change Detection and Attribution Studies, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 106(35), 14778-14783,  doi:10.1073/pnas.0901736106.
• Santer, B. D., P. W. Thorne, L. Haimberger, K. E. Taylor, T. M. L. Wigley, J. R. Lanzante, S. Solomon, M. Free, P. J. Gleckler, P. D. Jones, T. R. Karl, S. A. Klein, C. A. Mears, D. Nychka, G. A. Schmidt, S. C. Sherwood and F. J. Wentz, (2008) Consistency of Modelled and Observed Temperature Trends in the Tropical Troposphere, International Journal of Climatology, 28(13), 1703-1722.
• Mears, C. A., B. D. Santer, F. J. Wentz, K. E. Taylor and M. F. Wehner, (2007) Relationship Between Temperature and Precipitable Water Changes Over Tropical Oceans, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L24709, doi:10.1029/2007GL031936.
• Santer, B. D., C. A. Mears, F. J. Wentz, K. E. Taylor, P. J. Gleckler, T. M. L. Wigley, T. P. Barnett, J. S. Boyle, W. Bruggemann, N. P. Gillett, S. Klein, D. W. Pierce, P. A. Stott and M. F. Wehner, (2007) Identification of Human-Induced Changes in Atmospheric Moisture Content, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 104, 15248-15253.
• Wentz, F. J., L. Ricciardulli, K. A. Hilburn and C. A. Mears, (2007) How Much More Rain Will Global Warming Bring?, Science, 317, 233-235.
• Mears, C. A., C. E. Forest, R. W. Spencer, R. S. Vose and R. W. Reynolds, (2006), What is our understanding of the contribution made by observational or methodological uncertainties to the previously reported vertical differences in temperature trends, in Temperature Trends in the Lower Atmosphere: Steps for Understanding and Reconciling Differences, vol. Synthesis and Assessment Product 1.1, Chapter 4, edited by T. R. Karl, S. J. Hassol, C. D. Miller and W. L. Murray, U.S. Climate Change Science Program, Washington, DC.
• Mears, C. A. and F. J. Wentz, (2005) The Effect of Drifting Measurement Time on Satellite-Derived Lower Tropospheric Temperature, Science, 309, 1548-1551.
• Santer, B. D., T. M. L. Wigley, C. A. Mears, F. J. Wentz, S. A. Klein, D. J. Seidel, K. E. Taylor, P. W. Thorne, M. F. Wehner, P. J. Gleckler, J. S. Boyle, W. D. Collins, K. W. Dixon, C. Doutriaux, M. Free, Q. Fu, J. E. Hansen, G. S. Jones, R. Ruedy, T. R. Karl, J. R. Lanzante, G. A. Meehl, V. Ramaswamy, G. Russell and G. A. Schmidt, (2005) Amplification of Surface Temperature Trends and Variability in the Tropical Atmosphere, Science, 309(5740), 1511-1556.
• Thorne, P. W., D. E. Parker, J. R. Christy and C. A. Mears, (2005) Uncertainties in Climate Trends: Lessons From Upper-Air Temperature Records, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 86(10), 1437-1442.
• Gentemann, C. L., F. J. Wentz, C. A. Mears and D. K. Smith, (2004) In Situ Validation of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Sea Surface Temperatures, J. Geophys. Res., 109, C04021, doi:10.1029/2003JC002092.
• Santer, B. D., T. M. L. Wigley, A. J. Simmons, P. Kallberg, G. Kelly, S. Uppala, C. Ammann, J. S. Boyle, W. Bruggemann, C. Doutriaux, M. Fiorino, C. A. Mears, G. A. Meehl, R. Sausen, K. E. Taylor, W. M. Washington, M. F. Wehner and F. J. Wentz, (2004) Identification of Anthropogenic Climate Change Using a Second-Generation Reanalysis, J. Geophys. Res., 109, D21104, doi:10.1029/2004JD005075.
• Seidel, D. J., J. K. Angell, J. R. Christy, M. Free, S. A. Klein, J. R. Lanzante, C. A. Mears, D. E. Parker, M. C. Schabel, R. W. Spencer, A. Sterin, P. Thorne and F. J. Wentz, (2004) Uncertainty in Signals of Large-Scale Climate Variations in Radiosonde and Satellite Upper-Air Temperature Datasets, Journal of Climate, 17(11), 2225-2240.
• Mears, C. A., M. C. Schabel and F. J. Wentz, (2003) A Reanalysis of the MSU Channel 2 Tropospheric Temperature Record, Journal of Climate, 16(22), 3650-3664.
• Santer, B. D., T. M. L. Wigley, G. A. Meehl, M. F. Wehner, C. A. Mears, M. C. Schabel, F. J. Wentz, C. Ammann, J. Arblaster, T. W. Bettge, W. M. Washington, K. E. Taylor, J. S. Boyle, W. Bruggemann and C. Doutriaux, (2003) Influence of Satellite Data Uncertainties on the Detection of Externally-Forced Climate Change, Science, 300(5623), 1280-1284.
• Mears, C. A., D. K. Smith and F. J. Wentz, (2001) Comparison of Special Sensor Microwave Imager and Buoy-Measured Wind Speeds From 1987 - 1997, J. Geophys. Res., 106(C6), 11719-11729.