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Heidar Thor Thrastarson

Photo of Heidar Thor Thrastarson

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 233-300

Pasadena, CA 91109

Phone:

818.354.0533

Fax:

818.354.5148

Curriculum Vitae:

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Member of:

Atmospheric Physics And Weather

Biography

Dr. Thrastarson was born and raised in Iceland, where he got his first Physics degree and thereafter worked in radiation physics at the Icelandic National Hospital. He furthered his education in Uppsala, Sweden, where he specialized in astrophysics and then got his PhD in London, where he started working on modelling of planetary atmospheres and, in particular, extrasolar planets. He came to JPL as a NASA Postdoctoral fellow in November 2011 and is currently a technologist in the Atmospheric Physics and Weather group. His work at JPL has focused on planetary atmospheres, ranging from extrasolar planets to the Earth, from theoretical Climate Models to practical applications of satellite data.

Education

  • PhD, Astrophysics, Queen Mary University of London, UK (2011)
  • MSc, Physics, Uppsala University, Sweden (2007)
  • BSc, Physics, University of Iceland (2003)

Professional Experience

  • Research Technologist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (2018-present)
  • Assistant Researcher, Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles (2015-2018)
  • Caltech Postdoctoral Scholar at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (2015)
  • NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (2011-2015)
  • Teaching assistant at Queen Mary University of London, UK (2007-2010)
  • Observations assistant at the Swedish 1-meter Solar Telescope, La Palma, Spain (2007)
  • Physicist in radiotherapy for cancer at Landspitali - University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland (2003-2006)
  • Teaching assistant at Iceland Technical University and University of Iceland (2004-2005)
  • Research Assistant at the Iceland Science Institute (2002 and 2003)

Community Service

  • Review Panel Service for NASA
  • Referee for The Astrophysical Journal and Icarus
  • Local Organizing Committee for the Extreme Solar Systems IV conference (2019)
  • Convener for the session "Nonlinear Processes in Planetary Atmospheres and Protoplanetary Disks" at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (2012)

Research Interests

  • Climate and health applications, using climate data in disease modeling and prediction
  • Dynamics and physics of planetary atmospheres, including boundary layers, clouds and convection, wave-flow interaction, large scale variability, thermodynamic structure and comparative climatology
  • Observational atmospheric data analysis and application, including satellite infrared sounding and radio occultations
  • Physical and numerical aspects of General Circulation Modeling and radiative-convective modeling
  • Characterization of extrasolar planets

Selected Awards

  • JPL Outstanding Postdoc Research Award, Planetary Science and Life Detection (2013)
  • NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship
  • Royal Astronomical Society Research and Grants Fund
  • Institute of Physics Research Student Conference Fund

CR Barber Trust Fund

  • Anna and Allan Löfbergs Stipend

Selected Publications

  1. Cho, J. Y-K., Thrastarson, H. Th., T.T. Koskinen, P.L. Read., S.M. Tobias, W. Moon, and J.W. Skinner (2019). "Jets of Exoplanets and the Sun". In Galperin, B. and P.L. Read (eds.) (2019) Zonal Jets. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  2. Kurowski, M.J., Thrastarson, H. Th., Suselj, K. & Teixeira, J. (2019). "Towards Unifying the Planetary Boundary Layer and Shallow Convection in CAM5 with the Eddy-Diffusivity/Mass-Flux Approach". Atmosphere, Volume 10(9), pp. 484.
  3. Tinetti, G. et. al. (2015). "The EChO Science Case". Experimental Astronomy, Volume 40, Issue 2-3, pp. 329-391.
  4. Cho, J. Y-K., Polichtchouk, I. & Thrastarson, H. Th. (2015). “Sensitivity and Variability Redux in Hot-Jupiter Flow Simulations”. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 454, pp. 3423-3431.
  5. Polichtchouk, I., Cho, J.Y-K, Watkins, C., Thrastarson, H. Th., Umurhan, O.M. & de la Torre Juarez, M. (2014). "Intercomparison of General Circulation Models for Hot Extrasolar Planets”. Icarus, Volume 229, pp. 355-377.
  6. Thrastarson, H. Th. & Cho, J.Y-K. (2011). "Relaxation Time and Dissipation Interaction in Hot Planet Atmospheric Flow Simulations". Astrophysical Journal, Volume 729, pp. 117.
  7. Thrastarson, H. Th. & Cho, J.Y-K. (2010). "Effects of Initial Flow on Close-in Planet Atmospheric Circulation". Astrophysical Journal, Volume 716, 1, pp. 144-153.

Projects

AIRS