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James Sinclair

Photo of James Sinclair

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 183-301

Pasadena, CA 91109

Phone:

818-354-4853

Curriculum Vitae:

Click here

Member of:

Planetary And Exoplanetary Atmospheres

Biography

James grew up in Aberdeen in the United Kingdom. He received a Masters in Astophysics from the University of St. Andrews and a DPhil in Atmospheric, Oceanic & Planetary Physics under the mentorship of Professor Patrick Irwin. He was hired at JPL as a Research Scientist in 2018 following a NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Education

  • DPhil Atmospheric, Oceanic & Planetary Physics, University of Oxford (2014)
  • MPhys Astrophysics, University of St. Andrews (2010)

Professional Experience

  • Research Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2018 – Present
    • Co-investigator, James Webb Space Telescope Cycle 1 General Observer “Dynamics and temporal variability in the atmosphere of Neptune”, 2022 – Present.
    • Co-investigator, James Webb Space Telescope Archival Research “Analysis of GTO observations of Uranus by the MIRI instrument”, 2022 – Present.
    • Co-investigator, James Webb Space Telescope Archival Research “Analysis of GTO observations of Neptune by the MIRI instrument”, 2022 – Present.
    • Co-investigator, NASA Solar System Observations “All Eyes on Jupiter: Exploring Atmospheric Variability with Thermal-Infrared Observations Supporting Juno and JWST”, 2022 - Present
    • Principal Investigator, NASA Solar System Observations “Stratospheric conditions at Jupiter's poles during the extended Juno mission”, 2020 – Present.
    • Co-investigator, NASA Cassini Data Analysis Program “An Investigation of Saturn's Clouds and Dynamics with a Simultaneous Analysis of CIRS, VIMS, and Radar/Radiometer Data”, 2020 – Present.
    • Principal Investigator, SOFIA Cycle 8 “Evolution of auroral heating and chemistry at Jupiter’s high latitudes”, 2020 – Present.
    • Co-investigator, NASA Cassini Data Analysis Program “An Investigation of Jupiter’s UV Great Dark Spot and High Latitude Stratospheric Features”, 2019 – Present.
    • Principal Investigator, SOFIA Cycle 7 “Auroral heating and chemistry at Jupiter’s high latitudes”, 2019 – Present.
    • Co-investigator, NASA Rosetta Data Analysis Program “Radiative Coupling of Gas and Dust in the Coma of Comet 67P”, 2018 – Present.
  • January – May 2018, Caltech Postdoctoral Fellow
  • January 2015 – January 2018, NASA Postdoctoral Fellow
    • Science Principal Investigator, NASA Solar System Observations “High Temporal-Cadence Observations of Jupiter’s Stratospheric Heating and Chemistry During the Juno Mission from Subaru-COMICS and SOFIA-EXES”, 2018 – Present.

University of Oxford

  • January 2014 – January 2015, Postdoctoral Research Associate

Community Service

  • Panelist for NASA review panels
  • Internal reviewer for JPL R&TD and ROSES proposals
  • Reviewer for journals including Icarus, Geophysical Research Letters, Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer and Nature.
  • Member of NOAO (now NOIRLab’s) Telescope Allocation Committee
  • Judge for AGU’s Outstanding Student Presentation Award.

Research Interests

  • Stratosphere-magnetosphere coupling on Jupiter
  • The structure, chemistry and dynamics of the stratospheres of the outer planets
  • Development of measurement concepts for the atmosphere of Venus and Uranus
  • Radiative transfer modelling of planet atmospheres
  • Radiative transfer inversions of imaging/spectroscopy to derive atmospheric parameters

Selected Awards

  • Sir Arthur Clarke Award, British Interplanetary Society (2018)
  • JPL Voyager award (2018)
  • NASA Group Achievement Award, CIRS, Cassini Composite Infrared Spectrometer Team (2018)
  • NASA Group Achievement Award, Composite Infrared Spectrometer Investigation Team (2018)

Selected Publications

  1. Sinclair, J. A. Greathouse, T. K., Giles, R. S., Lacy, J., Moses, J., Hue, V., Grodent, D., Bonfond, B., Tao, C., Cavalie, T., Dahl, E. K., Orton, G. S., Fletcher, L. N., Irwin, P. G J., 2023b. A high spatial and spectral resolution study of Jupiter’s mid-infrared auroral emissions and their response to a solar wind compression. Planetary Science Journal 4, 76.
  2. Sinclair, J. A., Lisse, C. M., Orton, G. S., Krishnamoorthy, M., Fletcher, L. N., Hora, J., Palotai, C., Hayward, T, 2023a. A retrospective analysis of mid-infrared observations of the Comet D/Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Wesley impacts on Jupiter. Icarus 394, 115404.
  3. Sinclair, J. A., Greathouse, T. K., Giles, R. S., Antunano, A., Moses, J. I., Fouchet, T., Bezard, B., Tao, C., Martin-Torres, J., Clark, G. B., Grodent, D., Orton, G. S., Hue, V., Fletcher, L. N., Irwin, P. G. J, 2020b. Spatial variations in the altitude of the CH4 homopause at Jupiter’s mid-to-high latitudes, as constrained from IRTF-TEXES spectra. Planetary Science Journal 1, 85.
  4. Sinclair, J. A., Orton, G. S., Fletcher, L. N., Roman, M., de Pater, I., Encrenaz, T., Hammel, H. B., Giles, R. S., Velusamy, T., Moses, J. I., Irwin, P. G. J., Momary, T. W., Rowe-Gurney, M., Tabataba-Vakili, F., 2020a. Spatial structure in Neptune’s 7.90-μm stratospheric CH4 emission, as measured by VLT-VISIR. Icarus 345, id. 113748.
  5. Sinclair, J. A., Moses, J. I., Hue, V., Greathouse, T. K., Orton, G. S., Fletcher, L. N., Irwin P. G. J., 2019b. ‘Jupiter’s auroral-related stratospheric heating and chemistry III: Abundances of C2H4, CH3C2H, C4H2 and C6H6 from Voyager-IRIS and Cassini-CIRS, Icarus 328, 176-193.
  6. Sinclair, J. A., Orton, G. S., Fernandes, J., Kasaba, Y., Sato, T. M., Fujiyoshi, T., Tao, C., Vogt, M. F., Grodent, D., Bonfond, B., Moses, J. I., Greathouse, T. K., Dunn, W., Giles, R. S., Tabataba-Vakili, F., Fletcher, L. N., Irwin, P. G. J., 2019a. ‘A brightening of Jupiter’s auroral 7.80-μm CH4 emission during a solar-wind compression’, Nature Astronomy 3, 607-613.
  7. Sinclair, J. A., Orton, G. S., Greathouse, T. K., Fletcher, L. N., Moses, J. I., Hue, V., Irwin, P. G. J., 2018, Jupiter's auroral-related stratospheric heating and chemistry II: Analysis of IRTF-TEXES spectra measured in December 2014, Icarus 300, 305-326
  8. Sinclair, J. A., Orton, G. S., Greathouse, T. K., Fletcher, L. N., Tao, C., Gladstone, G. R., Adriani, A., Dunn, W., Moses, J. I., Hue, V., Irwin, P. G. J., Melin, H., Giles, R. S., 2017b, Independent evolution of stratospheric temperatures in Jupiter's northern and southern auroral regions from 2014 to 2016, Geophysical Research Letters 44, 5345-5354.
  9. Sinclair, J. A., Orton, G. S., Greathouse, T. K., Fletcher, L. N., Moses, J. I., Hue, V., Irwin, P. G. J.,Jupiter's auroral-related stratospheric heating and chemistry I: Analysis of Voyager-IRIS and Cassini-CIRS spectra, Icarus 292, 305-326.
  10. Sinclair, J. A., Irwin, P. G. J., Fletcher, L. N., Greathouse, T., Guerlet, S., Hurley, J., Merlet, C., 2014, From Voyager-IRIS to Cassini-CIRS: Interannual variability in Saturn’s stratosphere?, Icarus 233, 281-292.
  11. Sinclair, J. A., Irwin, P. G. J., Fletcher, L. N., Moses, J. I., Greathouse, T. K., Friedson, A. J., Hesman, B., Hurley, J., Merlet, C., 2013, Seasonal variations of temperature, acetylene and ethane in Saturn’s atmosphere from 2005 to 2010, as observed by Cassini-CIRS, Icarus 225, 257-271.
  12. Sinclair, J. A., Helling, Ch., Greaves, J. S., 2010, The impact of stellar model spectra in disc detection, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 409(1), L49-L53.

Projects

Cassini-Huygens
Juno
JWST - James Webb Space Telescope
SOFIA
Voyager