Tyler Thorsen

Research Scientist
NASA Langley Research Center
Lidar Science Branch
Mail Stop 420
Hampton, Virginia
tyler.thorsen@nasa.gov

I am a Research Scientist at NASA Langley Research Center in the Lidar Science Branch working on several different projects as a member of the CALIPSO project team, the CERES project team, and as the Deputy Project Scientist on the Luce mission. In general, my research revolves around the remote sensing of clouds and aerosols along with studying their impacts on the Earth's energy budget.

Education

• Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences; University of Washington; Seattle, WA (2014)
• B.S. in Meteorology; Pennsylvania State University; State College, PA (2008)

Past Positions

• NASA Postdoctoral Fellow; NASA Langley Research Center; Hampton, VA (2015-2016)
• Postdoctoral Research Associate; University of Washington; Seattle, WA (2015)
• Graduate Research Assistant; University of Washington; Seattle, WA (2008-2014)

Publications

Google Scholar Profile

2025

• Ham, S-H.; Loeb, N. G.; Kato, S.; Thorsen, T. J.; Voigt, A.; Smith, W. L. and Winker, D. M. Zonal Cloud Trends Observed by Passive MODIS and Active CALIOP and CPR Sensors. Journal of Climate, 2025.


• Thorsen, T. J.; Ryan, R. A. and Vaughan, M. A. Validation of Aerosol Optical Depth Retrieved From CALIPSO Lidar Ocean Surface Backscatter. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 130 (7), 2025.


• Kato, S.; Loeb, N. G.; Rose, F. G.; Ham, S-H.; Thorsen, T. J.; Rutan, D. A.; Miller, W. F.; Caldwell, T. E.; Doelling, D. R. and Sun-Mack, S. Seamless Continuity in CERES Energy Balanced and Filled (EBAF) Surface Radiation Budget across Multiple Satellites. Journal of Climate, 38 (11): 2461-2478, 2025.



2024

• Loeb, N. G.; Ham, S-H.; Allan, R. P.; Thorsen, T. J.; Meyssignac, B.; Kato, S.; Johnson, G. C. and Lyman, J. M. Observational Assessment of Changes in Earth’s Energy Imbalance Since 2000. Surveys in Geophysics, 45 (6): 1757-1783, 2024.



2022

• Wang, M.; Balmes, K. A.; Thorsen, T. J.; Willick, D. and Fu, Q. An Investigation of the Ice Cloud Detection Sensitivity of Cloud Radars Using the Raman Lidar at the ARM SGP Site. Remote Sensing, 14 (14): 3466, 2022.


• Kato, S.; Thorsen, T. J.; Ham, S-H.; Loeb, N. G.; Ferrare, R. A.; Winker, D. M.; Barker, H.; Stephens, G. L.; Schmidt, S.; Meyer, K. G. and Cairns, B. Effect of Spectral Variability of Aerosol Optical Properties on Direct Aerosol Radiative Effect. Frontiers in Remote Sensing, 3, 2022.



2021

• Balmes, K. A.; Fu, Q. and Thorsen, T. J. The Diurnal Variation of the Aerosol Optical Depth at the ARM SGP Site. Earth and Space Science, 8 (10), 2021.


• Su, W.; Liang, L.; Myhre, G.; Thorsen, T. J.; Loeb, N. G.; Schuster, G. L.; Ginoux, P.; Paulot, F.; Neubauer, D.; Checa‐Garcia, R.; Matsui, H.; Tsigaridis, K.; Skeie, R. B.; Takemura, T.; Bauer, S. E. and Schulz, M. Understanding Top‐of‐Atmosphere Flux Bias in the AeroCom Phase III Models: A Clear‐Sky Perspective. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 13 (9), 2021.


• Ham, S-H.; Kato, S.; Rose, F. G.; Loeb, N. G.; Xu, K-M.; Thorsen, T.; Bosilovich, M. G.; Sun-Mack, S.; Chen, Y. and Miller, W. F. Examining Cloud Macrophysical Changes over the Pacific for 2007--2017 Using CALIPSO, CloudSat, and MODIS Observations. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 2021.


• Loeb, N. G.; Johnson, G. C.; Thorsen, T. J.; Lyman, J. M.; Rose, F. G. and Kato, S. Satellite and Ocean Data Reveal Marked Increase in Earth’s Heating Rate. Geophysical Research Letters, 48 (13), 2021.


• Thorsen, T. J.; Winker, D. M. and Ferrare, R. A. Uncertainty in Observational Estimates of the Aerosol Direct Radiative Effect and Forcing. Journal of Climate, 34 (1): 195-214, 2021.



2020

• Kato, S.; Rutan, D. A.; Rose, F. G.; Caldwell, T. E.; Ham, S-H.; Radkevich, A.; Thorsen, T. J.; Viudez-Mora, A.; Fillmore, D. and Huang, X. Uncertainty in Satellite-Derived Surface Irradiances and Challenges in Producing Surface Radiation Budget Climate Data Record. Remote Sensing, 12 (12): 1950, 2020.


• Thorsen, T. J.; Ferrare, R. A.; Kato, S. and Winker, D. M. Aerosol Direct Radiative Effect Sensitivity Analysis. Journal of Climate, 33 (14): 6119-6139, 2020.


• Dawson, K. W.; Ferrare, R. A.; Moore, R. H.; Clayton, M. B.; Thorsen, T. J. and Eloranta, E. W. Ambient Aerosol Hygroscopic Growth From Combined Raman Lidar and HSRL. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 125 (7), 2020.



2019

• Po‐Chedley, S.; Zelinka, M. D.; Jeevanjee, N.; Thorsen, T. J. and Santer, B. D. Climatology Explains Intermodel Spread in Tropical Upper Tropospheric Cloud and Relative Humidity Response to Greenhouse Warming. Geophysical Research Letters, 46 (22): 13399-13409, 2019.


• Balmes, K. A.; Fu, Q. and Thorsen, T. J. Differences in Ice Cloud Optical Depth From CALIPSO and Ground‐Based Raman Lidar at the ARM SGP and TWP Sites. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 124 (3): 1755-1778, 2019.



2018

• Mardi, A. H.; Dadashazar, H.; MacDonald, A. B.; Braun, R. A.; Crosbie, E.; Xian, P.; Thorsen, T. J.; Coggon, M. M.; Fenn, M. A.; Ferrare, R. A.; Hair, J. W.; Woods, R. K.; Jonsson, H. H.; Flagan, R. C.; Seinfeld, J. H. and Sorooshian, A. Biomass Burning Plumes in the Vicinity of the California Coast: Airborne Characterization of Physicochemical Properties, Heating Rates, and Spatiotemporal Features. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 123 (23), 2018.


• Thorsen, T. J.; Kato, S.; Loeb, N. G. and Rose, F. G. Observation-Based Decomposition of Radiative Perturbations and Radiative Kernels. Journal of Climate, 31 (24): 10039-10058, 2018.


• Loeb, N. G.; Thorsen, T. J.; Norris, J. R.; Wang, H. and Su, W. Changes in Earth’s Energy Budget during and after the “Pause” in Global Warming: An Observational Perspective. Climate, 6 (3): 62, 2018.


• Kato, S.; Rose, F. G.; Rutan, D. A.; Thorsen, T. J.; Loeb, N. G.; Doelling, D. R.; Huang, X.; Smith, W. L.; Su, W. and Ham, S-H. Surface Irradiances of Edition 4.0 Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) Energy Balanced and Filled (EBAF) Data Product. Journal of Climate, 31 (11): 4501-4527, 2018.



2017

• Thorsen, T. J.; Ferrare, R. A.; Hostetler, C. A.; Vaughan, M. A. and Fu, Q. The impact of lidar detection sensitivity on assessing aerosol direct radiative effects. Geophysical Research Letters, 44 (17): 9059-9067, 2017.


• Riihimaki, L. D.; Comstock, J. M.; Luke, E.; Thorsen, T. J. and Fu, Q. A case study of microphysical structures and hydrometeor phase in convection using radar Doppler spectra at Darwin, Australia. Geophysical Research Letters, 44 (14): 7519-7527, 2017.



2016

• Kato, S.; Xu, K-M.; Wong, T.; Loeb, N. G.; Rose, F. G.; Trenberth, K. E. and Thorsen, T. J. Investigation of the Residual in Column-Integrated Atmospheric Energy Balance Using Cloud Objects. Journal of Climate, 29 (20): 7435-7452, 2016.



2015

• Thorsen, T. J. and Fu, Q. CALIPSO‐inferred aerosol direct radiative effects: Bias estimates using ground‐based Raman lidars. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 120 (23), 2015.


• Thorsen, T. J. and Fu, Q. Automated Retrieval of Cloud and Aerosol Properties from the ARM Raman Lidar. Part II: Extinction. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 32 (11): 1999-2023, 2015.


• Thorsen, T. J.; Fu, Q.; Newsom, R. K.; Turner, D. D. and Comstock, J. M. Automated Retrieval of Cloud and Aerosol Properties from the ARM Raman Lidar. Part I: Feature Detection. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 32 (11): 1977-1998, 2015.


• Po-Chedley, S.; Thorsen, T. J. and Fu, Q. Removing Diurnal Cycle Contamination in Satellite-Derived Tropospheric Temperatures: Understanding Tropical Tropospheric Trend Discrepancies. Journal of Climate, 28 (6): 2274-2290, 2015.



2013

• Thorsen, T. J.; Fu, Q.; Comstock, J. M.; Sivaraman, C.; Vaughan, M. A.; Winker, D. M. and Turner, D. D. Macrophysical properties of tropical cirrus clouds from the CALIPSO satellite and from ground‐based micropulse and Raman lidars. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 118 (16): 9209-9220, 2013.


• Thorsen, T. J.; Fu, Q. and Comstock, J. M. Cloud effects on radiative heating rate profiles over Darwin using ARM and A‐train radar/lidar observations. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 118 (11): 5637-5654, 2013.



2011

• Thorsen, T. J.; Fu, Q. and Comstock, J. Comparison of the CALIPSO satellite and ground-based observations of cirrus clouds at the ARM TWP sites: COMPARISON OF CALIPSO/MPL OBSERVATIONS. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 116 (D21), 2011.



2009

• Fu, Q.; Thorsen, T.J.; Su, J.; Ge, J.M. and Huang, J.P. Test of Mie-based single-scattering properties of non-spherical dust aerosols in radiative flux calculations. Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, 110 (14-16): 1640-1653, 2009.