Skip Navigation
Search for People:
Search for Projects:

Felix Seidel Caprez

Photo of Felix Seidel Caprez

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 233-200

Pasadena, CA 91109

Phone:

818-354-7604

Fax:

818.393.4619

Curriculum Vitae:

Click here

Member of:

Aerosols And Clouds

Biography

Felix Seidel is a Scientist, Principal Investigator, and Discipline Program Manager working for NASA at Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). He holds a Ph.D. in Natural Sciences and a M.S. in Atmospheric & Climate Sciences. His goal is to advance the societal impact of NASA and JPL Earth science through the formulation of scientific and programmatic compelling science and mission concepts. His scientific interests are in climate research (e.g., aerosol, radiation, cloud dynamics, and radiation), wildland fires, air quality, and weather.

He excels at ’big picture’ thinking and strategic planning. He loves to create and work with diverse and collaborative teams with a vision for effective solutions. His skills and experiences span across early concept maturation, research program and project management, science and team leadership, remote sensing, airborne and satellite instrument concept development, as well as data analysis.

Education

  • Ph.D., Radiative Transfer and Aerosol Remote Sensing, University of Zurich (2011)
  • M.S. (Dipl. Natw. ETH), Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, ETH Zurich, Switzerland (2004)
  • B.S. (Vordiplom ETH), Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich, Switzerland (2002)

Professional Experience

  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA (2019-present)
    • Contributes as JPL representative to NASA’s ESO Integration Framework Formulation
    • Manages the EVS-4 portfolio for JPL’s Earth Science Research & Mission Formulation Office (830)
    • Leads the JPL strategic initiative on wildfires
    • Runs JPL’s Atmospheric Composition and Weather & Atmospheric Dynamics programs as Discipline Program Manager
    • Interfaces with senior JPL and NASA HQ management
    • Establishes and coordinates wildfire science activities across NASA and JPL
    • Defined instrument requirements as AOS Instrument Scientist & co-leads AOS’s suborbital observing element
    • Co-lead strategic data science partnerships working group
    • Prepared Inter-Agency Agreements for NASA’s Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) mission
  • NASA, Headquarter, Washington DC, USA
    • Program Scientist (2017-2019)
  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA
    • Data Scientist (2016-2017)
    • Technologist / Scientific SW Engineer (2013-2016)
    • Senior Postdoctoral Scholar (2011-2013)
  • University of Zurich, Remote Sensing Laboratories, Zurich, Switzerland
    • Research Assistant (2010-2011)
    • Lecturer (2006-2011)
  • Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland
    • Lecturer (2006-2011)
  • Swiss National Point of Contact for Satellite Images, Zurich, Switzerland
    • Head (2009-2011)
    • Staff member (2004-2009)
  • European Space Agency
    • Astronaut Applicant (2008)

Research Interests

  • Atmospheric Composition
  • Remote sensing of aerosol, clouds, and atmospheric dynamics
  • Data analysis and geophysical retrievals
  • Remote sensing instrument development

Selected Awards

  • NASA Group Achievement Award (2020)
  • NASA Group Achievement Award (2019)
  • NASA Group Achievement Award (2017)
  • NASA Group Achievement Award (2014)
  • NASA Group Achievement Award (2014)
  • Outstanding Student Poster Award of the European Geosciences Union at the EGU General Assembly, Vienna (2011)

Selected Publications

  1. Warneke, C., Schwarz, J. P., Dibb, J., Kalashnikova, O., Frost, G., Al-Saad, J., et al., (incl. Seidel, F. C.): Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ), Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 128, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JD037758, 2023.
  2. Redemann, J., Wood, R., Zuidema, P., Doherty, S. J., Luna, B., LeBlanc, S. E., Diamond, M. S., Shinozuka, Y., Chang, I. Y., Ueyama, R., Pfister, L., Ryoo, J.-M., Dobracki, A. N., da Silva, A. M., Longo, K. M., Kacenelenbogen, M. S., Flynn, C. J., Pistone, K., Knox, N. M., Piketh, S. J., Haywood, J. M., Formenti, P., Mallet, M., Stier, P., Ackerman, A. S., Bauer, S. E., Fridlind, A. M., Carmichael, G. R., Saide, P. E., Ferrada, G. A., Howell, S. G., Freitag, S., Cairns, B., Holben, B. N., Knobelspiesse, K. D., Tanelli, S., L’Ecuyer, T. S., Dzambo, A. M., Sy, O. O., McFarquhar, G. M., Poellot, M. R., Gupta, S., O’Brien, J. R., Nenes, A., Kacarab, M., Wong, J. P. S., Small-Griswold, J. D., Thornhill, K. L., Noone, D., Podolske, J. R., Schmidt, K. S., Pilewskie, P., Chen, H., Cochrane, S. P., Sedlacek, A. J., Lang, T. J., Stith, E., Segal-Rozenhaimer, M., Ferrare, R. A., Burton, S. P., Hostetler, C. A., Diner, D. J., Seidel, F. C., Platnick, S. E., Myers, J. S., Meyer, K. G., Spangenberg, D. A., Maring, H., and Gao, L.: An overview of the ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) project: aerosol–cloud–radiation interactions in the southeast Atlantic basin, Atmospheric Chemistry Physics, 21, 1507–1563, doi:10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021.https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, 2021.
  3. Knobelspiesse, K., Barbosa, H. M. J., Bradley, C., Bruegge, C., Cairns, B., Chen, G., Chowdhary, J., Cook, A., Di Noia, A., van Diedenhoven, B., Diner, D. J., Ferrare, R., Fu, G., Gao, M., Garay, M., Hair, J., Harper, D., van Harten, G., Hasekamp, O., Helmlinger, M., Hostetler, C., Kalashnikova, O., Kupchock, A., Longo De Freitas, K., Maring, H., Martins, J. V., McBride, B., McGill, M., Norlin, K., Puthukkudy, A., Rheingans, B., Rietjens, J., Seidel, F. C., da Silva, A., Smit, M., Stamnes, S., Tan, Q., Val, S., Wasilewski, A., Xu, F., Xu, X., and Yorks, J.: The Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar (ACEPOL) airborne field campaign, Earth System Science Data, 12, 2183–2208, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2183-2020, 2020.
  4. Garay, M. J., M. L. Witek, R. A. Kahn, F. C. Seidel, J. A. Limbacher, M. A. Bull, D. J. Diner, E. G. Hansen, O. V. Kalashnikova, H. Lee, A. M. Nastan, and Y. Yu, Introducing the 4.4 km spatial resolution Multi-Angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) aerosol product, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 593-628, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-593-2020,2020.
  5. Fu, G., O. Hasekamp, J. Rietjens, M. Smit, A. Di Noia, B. Cairns, A. Wasilewski, D. Diner, F. Seidel, F. Xu, K. Knobelspiesse, M. Gao, A. da Silva, S. Burton, C. Hostetler, J. Hair, and R. Ferrare, Aerosol retrievals from different polarimeters during the ACEPOL campaign using a common retrieval algorithm, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 553-573, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-553-2020, 2020.
  6. Ceamanos, X., S. Moparthy, D. Carrer, and F. C. Seidel, Assessing the potential of geostationary satellites for aerosol remote sensing based on critical surface albedo, Remote Sensing, 11(24), 2958, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11242958, 2019.
  7. Thompson, D. R., K. N. Babu, A. J. Braverman, M. L. Eastwood, R. O. Green, J. M. Hobbs, J. B. Jewell, B. Kindel, S. Massie, M. Mishra, A. Mathur, V. Natraj, P. A. Townsend, F. C. Seidel, and M. J. Turmon, Optimal estimation of spectral surface reflectance in challenging atmospheres, Remote Sens. Environ., 232(UNSP 111258), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2019.111258, 2019.
  8. Knobelspiesse, K., Q. Tan, C. Bruegge, B. Cairns, J. Chowdhary, B. van Diedenhoven, D. Diner, R. Ferrare, G. van Harten, V. Jovanovic, M. Ottaviani, J. Redemann, F. C. Seidel, and K. Sinclair, Intercomparison of airborne multi-angle polarimeter observations from the polarimeter definition experiment, Appl. Optics, 58(3), 650-669, https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.58.000650, 2019.
  9. Seidel, F. C., E. N. Stavros, M. L. Cable, R. Green, and A. Freeman, Imaging spectrometer emulates Landsat: A case study with airborne visible infrared imaging spectrometer (AVIRIS) and operational land imager (OLI) data, Remote Sensing of Environment, 215, 157 - 169, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.05.030, 2018.
  10. van Harten, G., D. J. Diner, B. J. S. Daugherty, B. E. Rheingans, M. A. Bull, F. C. Seidel, R. A. Chipman, B. Cairns, A. P. Wasilewski, and K. D. Knobelspiesse, Calibration and validation of airborne multiangle spectropolarimetric imager (airmspi) polarization measurements, Appl. Optics, 57(16), 4499-4513,https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.57.004499, 2018.
  11. Kalashnikova, O. V., M. J. Garay, K. H. Bates, C. M. Kenseth, W. Kong, C. D. Cappa, A. I. Lyapustin, H. H. Jonsson, F. C. Seidel, F. Xu, D. J. Diner, and J. H. Seinfeld, Photopolarimetric sensitivity to black carbon content of wildfire smoke: Results from the 2016 impact-pm field campaign, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 123(10), 5376-5396, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JD028032, 2018.
  12. Xu, F., G. van Harten, D. J. Diner, A. B. Davis, F. C. Seidel, B. Rheingans, M. Tosca, M. D. Alexandrov, B. Cairns, R. A. Ferrare, S. P. Burton, M. A. Fenn, C. A. Hostetler, R. Wood, and J. Redemann, Coupled retrieval of liquid water cloud and above-cloud aerosol properties using the airborne multiangle spectropolarimetric imager (AirMSPI), J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 123(6), 3175-3204,https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027926, 2018.
  13. Witek, M. L., D. J. Diner, M. J. Garay, F. Xu, M. A. Bull, and F. C. Seidel, Improving MISR AOD retrievals with low-light-level corrections for veiling light, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing, 56 (3), 1251-1268, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2017.2727342, 2018a.
  14. Witek, M. L., M. J. Garay, D. J. Diner, M. A. Bull, and F. C. Seidel, New approach to the retrieval of AOD and its uncertainty from MISR observations over dark water, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11(1), 429-439, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-429-2018, 2018b.
  15. Tosca, M. G., J. Campbell, M. Garay, S. Lolli, F. C. Seidel, J. Marquis, and O. Kalashnikova, Attributing accelerated summertime warming in the southeast united states to recent reductions in aerosol burden: Indications from vertically-resolved observations, Remote Sens., 9(7), https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9070674, 2017.
  16. Xu, F., van Harten, G., Diner, D.J., Kalashnikova, O., Seidel, F.C., Bruegge, C.J., Dubovik, O., Coupled retrieval of aerosol properties and land surface reflection using the Airborne Multiangle SpectroPolarimetric Imager (AirMSPI), Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 122, 7004–7026, doi:10.1002/2017JD026776. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD026776, 2017.
  17. Xu, F., O. Dubovik, P.-W. Zhai, D. J. Diner, O. V. Kalashnikova, F. C. Seidel, P. Litvinov, A. Bovchaliuk, M. J. Garay, G. van Harten, and A. B. Davis, Joint retrieval of aerosol and water-leaving radiance from multispectral, multiangular and polarimetric measurements over ocean, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 2016, 2877-2907, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2877-2016, 2016.
  18. Seidel, F. C., K. Rittger, S. M. Skiles, N. P. Molotch, and T. H. Painter, Case study of spatial and temporal variability of snow cover, grain size, albedo and radiative forcing in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountain snowpack derived from imaging spectroscopy, The Cryosphere, 10(3), 1229-1244, d https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-1229-2016, 2016.
  19. Painter, T. H., D. F. Berisford, J. W. Boardman, K. J. Bormann, J. S. Deems, F. Gehrke, A. Hedrick, M. Joyce, R. Laidlaw, D. Marks, C. Mattmann, B. McGurk, P. Ramirez, M. Richardson, S. M. Skiles, F. C. Seidel, and A. Winstral, The airborne snow observatory: Fusion of scanning lidar, imaging spectrometer, and physically-based modeling for mapping snow water equivalent and snow albedo, Remote Sensing of Environment, 184, 139-152, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.06.018, 2016.
  20. Thompson, D.R., F. C. Seidel, B. C. Gao, M. M. Gierach, R. O. Green, R. M. Kudela, and P. Mouroulis, Optimizing irradiance estimates for coastal and inland water imaging spectroscopy, Geophysical Research Letters, 42(10), 4116-4123, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL063287, 2015GL063287, 2015.
  21. Schaepman, M., M. Jehle, A. Hueni, P. D'Odorico, D. A., J. Weyermann, F. Schneider, V. Laurent, C. Popp, F. C. Seidel, K. Lenhard, P. Gege, C. Küchler, J. Brazile, P. Kohler, L. De Vos, K. Meuleman, R. Meynart, M. Kneubühler, D. Schläpfer, and K. Itten, Advanced radiometry measurements and earth science applications with the airborne prism experiment (apex), Remote Sensing of Environment, 158, 207-219, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2014.11.014, 2015.
  22. Thompson, D. R., M. de la Torre Juarez, C. M. Barker, J. Holeman, S. Lundeen, S. Mullian, T. H. Painter, E. Podest, F. C. Seidel, and E. Ustinov, Airborne imaging spectroscopy to monitor urban mosquito microhabitats, Remote Sensing of Environment, 137(0), 226-233, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2013.06.015, 2013.
  23. Painter, T. H., F. C. Seidel, A. C. Bryant, S. McKenzie Skiles, and K. Rittger, Imaging spectroscopy of albedo and radiative forcing by light-absorbing impurities in mountain snow, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 118(17), 9511-9523, https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrd.50520, 2013.
  24. Seidel, F. C., and C. Popp, Critical surface albedo and its implications to aerosol remote sensing, Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 5(7), 1653-1665, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-5-1653-2012, 2012.
  25. Seidel, F., A. Kokhanovsky, and M. Schaepman, Fast retrieval of aerosol optical depth and its sensitivity to surface albedo using remote sensing data, Atmospheric Research, 116(0), 22 - 32, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2011.03.006, 2012.
  26. Seidel, F. C., A. A. Kokhanovsky, and M. E. Schaepman, Fast and simple model for atmospheric radiative transfer, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 3(4), 1129- 1141, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-3-1129-2010, 2010.
  27. Seidel, F., D. Schläpfer, J. Nieke, and K. I. Itten, Sensor performance requirements for the retrieval of atmospheric aerosols by airborne optical remote sensing, Sensors, 8(3), 1901-1914, http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s803190, 2008.
  28. Itten, K. I., F. Dell'Endice, A. Hueni, M. Kneubühler, D. Schläpfer, D. Odermatt, F. Seidel, S. Huber, J. Schopfer, T. Kellenberger, Y. Bühler, P. D'Odorico, J. Nieke, E. Alberti, and K. Meuleman, APEX- the Hyperspectral ESA Airborne Prism Experiment, Sensors, 8(10), 6235-6259, http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s8106235, 2008.

Projects

ACCP
AirMSPI
MAIA
MISR