Crystal Barker Schaaf is a new professor of Remote Sensing/GIS, Environmental, Earth and Ocean Sciences (EEOS) in the college of Science and Mathematics at UMB. Over the past 30 years Schaaf has worked closely with UMB. She has now come to the university to continue doing so, and to provide research opportunities.

Schaaf has spent the last 15 to 16 years working on NASA’s NEOPESS Preparatory Project (NPP) which she described as “the next-generation polar orbiting weather satellite.” Schaaf continued, “It will provide data for both long-term and short-term climate models and weather conditions.”

The NPP spacecraft was launched on Oct. 28, 2010 at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base. Schaaf is a part of the NASA VIIRS Science team, and was invited to witness the spacecraft’s lift off. Schaaf decided to share such a moment with her students. “As the spacecraft was ascending,” she said, “I kept on sending pictures and information to my students. This way they would be included in the event.”

The Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) is one of the five instruments in the NPP satellite platform. Schaaf said, “VIIRS is a full-blown weather satellite imaging sensor on board the NPP satellite platform orbiting weather satellite.” She continued, “VIIRS is an imager that takes pictures of the clouds, oceans, and land surfaces in a lot of spectral channels.”

Schaaf is responsible for evaluating the quality of the VIIRS ‘albedo and reflectance’ products. She explained, “Albedo is the term used to describe the proportion of solar radiation that strikes the Earth’s surface and is reflected back out to space.” Schaaf continued, “From a satellite we can make observations of the amount of radiation that is being reflected and also determine how much radiation is being absorbed.”

VIIRS’s first pictures were received on November 21.

Schaaf just started teaching at UMB this past September. Schaaf claims, “I have really enjoyed my short time at UMB. I really like all of my fellow colleagues in EEOS.” She continued, “I also love Remote Sensing class – they have been very interested, interesting, and engaged. It is a lot of fun teaching them about satellites and satellite data.”

Schaaf has been doing research for the past 15 years, and she has brought her NASA equipment to continue to do so here at UMB. Schaaf will be working on the development and use of operational products from NASA during her time at UMB.

Working with satellites has always been a big part of Schaaf’s life. She said, “I would not change it for anything.” Schaaf explained, “In working with satellites, we not only get to see beautiful pictures, but we also get to use that to make climate models and see how we can help with what will happen in the future.”

Working with satellites has also helped Schaaf pursue other things she is interested in. Schaaf explained, “I enjoy traveling to interesting parts of the world to attend conferences or collaborate with foreign colleagues.”