People > NCSU Research & Education Team > Saxena

Dr. Vinod Saxena Professor North Carolina State University Department of Marine, Earth, & Atmospheric Sciences 5152 Jordan Hall Box 8208 Raleigh, NC 27695 Phone: 919.515.7290 Fax: 919.515.7802 Email: vin_saxena@ncsu.edu

Education

Postdoctoral, Cloud and Aerosol Physics, Univ. of Missouri-Rolla, 1968-71
Ph.D., Physics, Univ. of Rajasthan, India, 1964-67 (Degree conferred on Feb. 22, 1969)
M.S., Physics, Agra University, India, 1961-63
B.S., Physics, Agra University, India, 1957-61

Research Interests

Dr. Saxena has published more than 185 papers, book chapters, and articles in the following areas of researh. He has supervised several Ph.D. and M.S. theses. Physics and Chemistry of Clouds, Precipitation and Atmospheric Aerosols: Microphysics of cloud systems, development of instrumentation for monitoring the concentration of Aitken, cloud condensation and ice-forming nuclei, growth of cloud droplets and development of precipitation in clouds, study of fog characteristics and dissipation of warm fog, acidity and composition of clouds and fogs, cloud capture by forest ecosystems. Impact of polar stratospheric clouds on ozone layer ("Ozone hole" problem).

Air Quality and Acidic Deposition: Study of particulate pollutants and their impact on weather, gas-to-particle conversion processes in the atmosphere, mechanisms involving the generation and scavenging of natural aerosols. Transport properties of gases. Acid rain: dry and wet deposition of acidic substances.

Greenhouse Warming and Climate Change: Impact of cloud cover on surface temperature, climate feedback mechanisms: Greenland and Antarctic ice core studies; Ultraviolet Radiation of Ozone Depletion

Dr. Saxena has been teaching undergraduate courses in Atmospheric Physics, Atmospheric Thermodynamics, and Physical Meteorology. He has also been teaching graduate courses in Advanced Physical Meteorology, Advanced Cloud and Precipitation Physics, and Atmospheric Aerosols. He has been operating two research stations, one in Mount Mitchell State Park, NC, and the other at Black Mountain, NC.

Selected Publications

• Saxena, V. K. and Modrak, M., 2004: Black carbon aerosol measurements in the Southeast: Implications on Regional Climate, Atmospheric Resesarch, 63, in press.
  
  
• Petters, J., Saxena, V. K., Slusser, J.,Wenny, B., and Madronich, S., 2003: aerosol single scattering albedo retrieved from measurements of surface UV and a radiative transfer model. J. Geophys. Res., 108,doi: 10.1029/2002JD002360, AAC 11-1 - 11-7.
  
  
• Menon, S., V.K. Saxena, P. Durkee, B.N. Wenny, and K. Nielson, 2002: Role of sulfate aerosols in modifying the cloud-mediated radiative forcing: A closure experiment. Atmospheric Research, 61, 169-187.
  
  
• Im, J.-S., Saxena, V.K., and Wenny, B.N., 2001: An assessment of hygroscopic growth factors for aerosols in the surface boundary layer for computing direct radiative forcing. J. Geophys. Res., 106, 20,213-20,224.
  
  
• Im, J.-S., Saxena, V.K., and Wenny, B.N., 2001: Temporal trends of black carbon concentrations and regional climate forcing in the southeastern United States . Atmos. Environ., 35, 3293-3302.