Links to my weather stations:
Tucson (AZ), USA
Las Condes (Region Metropolitana), CHILE
I have a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Universidad de Santiago de Chile (USACH), a M.Sc. degree in atmospheric sciences from the University of Arizona, and a Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences with a minor in planetary sciences awarded by the University of Arizona. All my graduate education I did under supervision of Dr. E. R. Kursinski.
From 1990 until 2001, I worked on site-testing studies, in collaboration with several radio astronomy institutes in the United States, Europe, and Japan. These studies helped identify the Llano de Chajnantor, at 5050 m altitude -on the west slope of the Andes in northern Chile – as the best place for the deployment of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA). I have also participated in the technical evaluation of prototype radio antennas for the ALMA project.
From 2007 until 2008, I had the opportunity to participate in the last stage of the site testing conducted to identify the best location for the Thirty Meter Telescope project.
From 2008 – 2020, conducted atmospheric research in topics related to atmospheric turbulence, precipitable water vapor, and meteorological conditions at sites of interest for the Thirty-Meter Telescope project. The last period (starting in 2016) held the position of Adaptive Optics Systems Scientist, as a member of the Systems Scientists/Operations team at the Thirty-Meter International Observatory.
From July 2020 until present, holds the Atmosphere Scientist position at the European Southern Observatory, a member of the Science Operations Systems scientists team and Co-Chair of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) AstroWeather Working Group.
Research Interests
- Atmospheric Water Vapor: The study of the distribution and variability of water vapor in the Earth’s atmosphere. Water vapor radiometry, modeling of the mm, sub-mm, and infrared (NIR to FIR) spectral emission of planetary atmospheres. I have written radiative transfer code, mainly in Matlab©, for modeling emission of gases such as H2O, CO2, O3, N2O, CO, CH4, etc… and for environments such as the atmospheres of Earth, Mars and Titan (the largest moon of Saturn).
- Atmospheric turbulence: specifically, propagation of electromagnetic waves through a turbulent and absorbing medium.
- Active remote sensing of the Earth’s atmosphere by means of the Radio Occultation technique using the Active Temperature, Ozone, Moisture Microwave Spectrometer (ATOMMS).
- Adaptive Optics: A technique by which is possible to correct the wavefront of electromagnetic signals that have been distorted by atmospheric turbulence along their path through the atmosphere. I am participating in several studies intended to study the generation of artificial beacons in the mesosphere (Laser Guide Stars) to be used as a reference to monitor the atmospheric turbulence phase aberrations to be corrected by means of AO systems. The laser light, at 589 nm wavelength, propagates from the telescopes to the mesosphere where interacts (through absorption) with the Na atoms layer that exists between 85-km and 120-km above mean sea level. The source of Na atoms is the ablation of meteoritic material that penetrates in the Earth atmosphere.
Professional Memberships
I am a member of the American Meteorological Society (AMS Soc), The International Astronomical Union (IAU), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the American Astronomical Society (AAS)/Division of Planetary Sciences (DPS), La Sociedad Chilena de Astronomía (SOCHIAS).
Member of the following committees:
* International Astronomical Union, Organizing Committee Member of Inter-Division B-C Commission Protection of Existing and Potential Observatory Sites
* Sociedad Chilena de Astronomía, Grupo de Trabajo para la Contaminación Lumínica (GTCL)
* Sociedad Chilena de Astronomía , Sub-Comité de Radio del GTCL
* Chilean low Earth Orbit satellite (CLEOsat) group
* IAU Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference (CPS)
Updated: September 29th, 2023