Roy Gordon Grainger (born 19 February 1962) is a New Zealand physicist. He is head of the Earth Observation Data Group in the Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics Sub-Department at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and a Tutorial Fellow in

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a ...

Education

Grainger was educated at

Auckland Grammar School Auckland Grammar School (often simplified to Auckland Grammar, or Grammar), established in 1869, is a State school, state, Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding secondary school for Single-sex education, boys in Auckland, New Zealand. ...

before attending the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

to read physics. He gained a

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

Atmospheric Physics Within the atmospheric sciences, atmospheric physics is the application of physics to the study of the atmosphere. Atmospheric physicists attempt to model Earth's atmosphere and the atmospheres of the other planets using fluid flow equations, rad ...

on the subject of

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

of cloud properties, where his supervisor was Stuart Bradley. The title of his doctoral thesis was ''The calculation of cloud parameters from AVHRR data''. He worked for a short time in UV research at the New Zealand Meteorological Service before taking up a post-doctoral position in the Physics Department in Oxford, where his research was focused on measurement of stratospheric aerosols using the ISAMS satellite instrument designed at Oxford. In 1998, he returned to New Zealand to accept a Lectureship at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

, where he conducted new instrumental work to measure aerosol properties.

Research

Grainger is the Principal Investigator of the Optimal Retrieval of Aerosol and Cloud (ORAC) project,http://proj.badc.rl.ac.uk/orac/wiki/WikiStart ORAC Website which is a community code to optimally estimate aerosol and cloud properties from satellite imagery, and was principally responsible for starting this project. The Earth Observation Data Group which he heads is primarily interested in atmospheric trace gases and clouds (especially with regard to processes which control climate), and conducts satellite studies of atmospheric aerosols.

Personal life

Grainger lives in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, England, and is the great-grandson of Alfred Henry Grainger, after whom

Grainger Falls Grainger Falls is a waterfall in Fiordland, New Zealand. It is a combination of a tiered and fan type waterfall. Grainger Falls was first recorded by Andreas Reischek, an Austrian who explored New Zealand in the 1880s. He named the waterfall ...

is named.

References

External links

Homepage at St Hugh's College, University of Oxford

Homepage at the Atmospheric Physics Department, Oxford {{DEFAULTSORT:Grainger, Roy Gordon Atmospheric scientists Academics of the University of Oxford Fellows of St Hugh's College, Oxford New Zealand scientists Living people 1962 births People educated at Auckland Grammar School University of Auckland alumni Academic staff of the University of Canterbury People from Thames, New Zealand