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Kristina Pistone

Research Scientist

Contents

Affiliation: Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI)

Branch: Biospheric Science Branch (SGE)

Email: kristina.pistone@nasa.gov & pistone@baeri.org

Websites: https://sites.google.com/site/kristinapistone/

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6130-0192

Bio:

Dr Kristina Pistone is a climate scientist at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute with over 10 years of experience in atmospheric and climate research. Her studies have focused on observational analyses (satellite, ground-based, airborne, and reanalysis fields) of the radiative effects (i.e., heating or cooling) of different anthropogenic activities. Her most recent work has focused on aerosol-cloud-meteorology interactions in regions with significant absorbing aerosol, such as biomass burning smoke particles. She has also used satellite observations to quantify the global heating due to Arctic ice decline, and conducted data analysis from ground-based air quality monitoring stations, including interfacing with local technicians. She also has significant experience in science communication to general, educational (K-16), and policy audiences, and is fluent in English and Spanish. Dr Pistone has a strong interest in applying her expertise towards not just quantifying but addressing the impacts of climate change, with attention to the equity and justice issues.

Education

PhD, Oceanography (Climate Science), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego “Observational estimates of planetary albedo changes due to anthropogenic effects”

MS, Oceanography, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego

BS, Physics with Specialization in Astrophysics (cum laude), UC San Diego

BA, Literatures in Spanish, Honors with High Distinction (cum laude), UC San Diego

Research Interests

Aerosol-cloud interactions; Air pollution; Arctic radiation budget; Atmospheric dynamics; Biomass burning aerosols; Environmental justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion; Planetary albedo; Radiative effects of clouds and aerosols (i.e., heating, cooling); Satellite and airborne remote sensing; Science communication, policy, outreach, and climate change education and action (bilingual English/Spanish)

Awards/Honors

  • NASA Ames Honor Award recipient, Contractor Employee, 2022: “For exceptional commitment to teamwork and equity by creating a welcoming, inclusive environment on field campaigns, while maintaining scientific rigor and mentoring the next generation.”
  • NASA Postdoctoral Program, Postdoctoral Fellow, administered by Universities Space Research Association at NASA Ames Research Center. Proposal: “In-situ and remotely- sensed radiative effects of absorbing aerosol on Arctic clouds,” Oct 2015-Oct 2017.
  • Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program, Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. Jan-April 2015.
  • Fulbright U.S. Student Program grantee, Chile (Environmental Sciences), Departamento de Geofísica, Universidad de Chile, March-Nov 2014.
  • National Science Foundation GK12 Fellow (Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education) June 2012-July 2013.

Select Publications

  • Cochrane, S. P., Schmidt, K. S., Chen, H., Pilewskie, P., Kittelman, S., Redemann, J., LeBlanc, S., Pistone, K., Segal Rozenhaimer, M., Kacenelenbogen, M., Shinozuka, Y., Flynn, C., Ferrare, R., Burton, S., Hostetler, C., Mallet, M., and Zuidema, P.: Biomass burning aerosol heating rates from the ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) 2016 and 2017 experiments, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 61–77, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-61-2022, 2022.
  • Doherty, S. J., Saide, P. E., Zuidema, P., Shinozuka, Y., Ferrada, G. A., Gordon, H., Mallet, M., Meyer, K., Painemal, D., Howell, S. G., Freitag, S., Dobracki, A., Podolske, J. R., Burton, S. P., Ferrare, R. A., Howes, C., Nabat, P., Carmichael, G. R., da Silva, A., Pistone, K., Chang, I., Gao, L., Wood, R., and Redemann, J.: Modeled and observed properties related to the direct aerosol radiative effect of biomass burning aerosol over the southeastern Atlantic, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1–46, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1-2022, 2022.
  • K. Pistone, P. Zuidema, R. Wood, M. Diamond, A. M. da Silva, G. Ferrada, P. Saide, R. Ueyama, J.-M. Ryoo, L. Pfister, J. Podolske, D. Noone, R. Bennett, E. Stith, G. Carmichael, J. Redemann, C. Flynn, S. LeBlanc, M. Segal-Rozenhaimer, Y. Shinozuka: Exploring the elevated water vapor signal associated with the free tropospheric biomass burning plume over the southeast Atlantic Ocean, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9643–9668, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9643-2021, 2021.
  • 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, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1507–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, 2021.
  • S.P. Cochrane, K.S. Schmidt, H. Chen, P. Pilewskie, S. Kittelman, J. Redemann, S. LeBlanc, K. Pistone, M. Kacenelenbogen, M. Segal Rozenhaimer, Y. Shinozuka, C. Flynn, A. Dobracki, P. Zuidema, S. Howell, S. Freitag, and S. Doherty (2021). “Empirically derived parameterizations of the direct aerosol radiative effect based on ORACLES aircraft observations,” Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 567–593, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-567-2021.
  • S.E. LeBlanc, J. Redemann, C. Flynn, K. Pistone, M. Kacenelenbogen, M. Segal- Rosenheimer, Y. Shinozuka, S. Dunagan, R.P. Dahlgren, K. Meyer, J. Podolske, S.G. Howell, S. Freitag, J. Small-Griswold, B. Holben, M. Diamond, R. Wood, P. Formenti, S. Piketh, G. Maggs-Kölling, M. Gerber, and A. Namwoonde (2020). “Above-cloud aerosol optical depth from airborne observations in the southeast Atlantic,” Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1565–1590, doi:10.5194/acp-20-1565-2020.
  • S.P. Cochrane, K.S. Schmidt, H. Chen, P. Pilewskie, S. Kittelman, J. Redemann, S. LeBlanc, K. Pistone, M. Kacenelenbogen, M. Segal Rozenhaimer, Y. Shinozuka, C. Flynn, S. Platnick, K. Meyer, R. Ferrare, S. Burton, C. Hostetler, S. Howell, S. Freitag, A. Dobracki, S. Doherty (2019). “Above-cloud aerosol radiative effects based on ORACLES 2016 and ORACLES 2017 aircraft experiments,” Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6505–6528, doi:10.5194/amt-12-6505-2019.
  • K. Pistone, J. Redemann, S. Doherty, P. Zuidema, S. Burton, B. Cairns, S. Cochrane, R. Ferrare, C. Flynn, S. Freitag, S. G. Howell, M. Kacenelenbogen, S. LeBlanc, X. Liu, K.S. Schmidt, A.J. Sedlacek III, M. Segal-Rozenhaimer, Y. Shinozuka, S. Stamnes, B. van Diedenhoven, G. Van Harten, and F. Xu (2019). “Intercomparison of biomass burning aerosol optical properties from in-situ and remote-sensing instruments in ORACLES-2016,” Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9181-9208, doi:10.5194/acp-19-9181-2019.
  • K. Pistone, I. Eisenman, V. Ramanathan (2019). “Radiative Heating of an Ice-free Arctic Ocean,” Geophysical Research Letters, 46. doi:10.1029/2019GL082914.
  • A.M. Sayer, N.C. Hsu, J. Lee, W.V. Kim, S. Burton, M.A. Fenn, R.A. Ferrare, M. Kacenelenbogen, S. LeBlanc, K. Pistone, J. Redemann, M. Segal-Rozenhaimer, Y. Shinozuka, and S.-C. Tsay (2019). “Two decades observing smoke above clouds in the south-eastern Atlantic Ocean: Deep Blue algorithm updates and validation with ORACLES field campaign data,” Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 12, 3595-3627, doi:10.5194/amt-12-3595-2019.
  • E.M. Wilcox, R.M. Thomas, P.S. Praveen, K. Pistone, F. Bender, and V. Ramanathan (2016). “Black carbon solar absorption suppresses turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layer,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(42):11794-11799, doi:10.1073/pnas.1525746113.
  • K. Pistone, P.S. Praveen, R.M. Thomas, V. Ramanathan, E.M. Wilcox, and F. A.-M. Bender (2016). “Observed correlations between aerosol and cloud properties in an Indian Ocean trade cumulus regime,” Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 5203-5227, doi:10.5194/acp-16-5203-2016.
  • K. Pistone, I. Eisenman, and V. Ramanathan (2014), “Observational determination of albedo decrease caused by vanishing Arctic sea ice,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(9):3322-3326, doi:10.1073/pnas.1318201111

Press Release/Websites

BAERI podcast interview – October 2022

  • https://medium.com/bay-area-environmental-research-institute/kristina- pistone-on-what-its-like-to-work-as-a-climate-scientist-d08410faffe6

Interview with Engineers & Scientists Acting Locally: Climate Scientist Tackles Global Aerosols and Sunnyvale Sustainability – July 2022

AGU welcomes first cohort of Local Science Partners – December 2021

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