ALEX J. DeCARIA

Department of Earth Sciences
P.O. Box 1002, Millersville University
Millersville, PA 17551-0302
alex.decaria@millersville.edu
(717) 871-4739


EDUCATION

Ph.D. 2000

University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Major: Meteorology

Dissertation: The Effects of Convection and Lightning on the Chemistry of the Troposphere Studied with Cloud, Transport, and Chemistry Models

Advisors: Dr. Russ Dickerson and Dr. Ken Pickering


M.S. (With Distinction) 1992

Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA

Major: Meteorology and Physical Oceanography

Thesis: Multi-fractal Analysis of Nocturnal Boundary Layer Time Series from the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory


B.S. (Magna Cum Laude) 1985

University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Major: Meteorology
Minor: Physics

TEACHING AND WORK EXPERIENCE

 

Associate Professor of Meteorology, Millersville University, Millersville, PA, August 2005 – Present

 

Assistant Professor of Meteorology, Millersville University, Millersville, PA, August 2000 – August 2005

 

Student, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 1996 – 2000.  Earned Ph.D. in Meteorology.

 

Meteorology and Oceanography Officer with U.S. Navy (achieved rank of Lieutenant Commander) from 1985 - 1996. Specific assignments included:

 

Tropical Cyclone Forecaster, Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Guam, 1994 - 1996. Qualified as Typhoon Duty Officer, responsible for forecasting the track and intensity and issuing tropical cyclone warnings for all tropical cyclones in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean basins, in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

 

Operations Officer, Naval Oceanography Command Facility, Jacksonville, FL, 1993 - 1994. Supervised over 50 people in providing aviation forecasts and severe weather warnings for Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, FL.

 

Mobile Environmental Team Officer, Naval Oceanography Command Facility, Jacksonville, FL, 1992 - 1993. Deployed to various ships, submarines, and shore locations providing environmental forecasts.

 

Student, Naval Postraduate School, Monterey, CA, 1990 – 1992.  Earned M.S. in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography.

 

Executive Officer, Naval Oceanography Command Facility, Keflavik, Iceland, 1988 - 1989. Supervised over 20 people in providing aviation forecasts and severe weather warnings for Naval Air Station, Keflavik, Iceland.

 

Surface Warfare Officer, USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65), 1985 - 1988. Qualified and stood watch as underway and in-port officer-of-the-deck (OOD), and earned surface warfare officer badge.  Designated general quarters OOD.   Also held jobs as Radio Officer and Reactor Department Administrative Assistant.  Participated in two Western Pacific (WESTPAC) deployments, including transit of Suez Canal.

 

PUBLICATIONS

 

“The Carnot cycle and area-specific work equivalence on a skew T-log p diagram,” A.J. DeCaria, Mon. Wea. Rev., 2008 (in press)

 

“Relating static energy to potential temperature:  A caution,” A.J. DeCaria, J. Atmos. Sci., 64, 1410–1412., 2007

 

“Lightning-generated NOX and its Impact on Tropospheric Ozone Production: A 3-D Modeling Study of a STERAO-A Thunderstorm,” A.J. DeCaria, K.E. Pickering, G.L.  Stenchikov, and L.E. Ott, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D14303, doi:10.1029/2004JD005556, 2005

 

“Simulation of the fine structure of the July 12, 1996 STERAO-A storm accounting for effects of terrain and interaction with mesoscale flow,” G. Stenchikov, K. Pickering, A. DeCaria, W.-K Tao, J. Scala, L. Ott, D. Bartels, and T. Matejka, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D14304, doi:10.1029/2004JD005582, 2005

 

"Trace gas transport and scavenging in PEM-Tropics B South Pacific Convergence Zone convection," Pickering, K.E., A. M. Thompson, H. Kim, A.J. DeCaria, L. Pfister, T.L. Kucsera, J.C. Witte, M. A. Avery, D.R. Blake, J.H. Crawford, B.G. Heikes, G.W. Sachse, S.T. Sandholm, and R.W. Talbot, J. Geophys. Res. 106, 32,591-32,602, 2001.

 

"A cloud-scale model study of lightning-generated NOx in an individual thunderstorm during STERAO-A," A.J. DeCaria, K.E. Pickering, G.L. Stenchikov, J.R. Scala, J.L. Stith, J.E. Dye, B.A. Ridley, and P. Laroche, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 11,601-11,616, 2000.

 

"A self-affine multi-fractal wave/turbulence discrimination method using data from single point fast response sensors in a nocturnal atmospheric boundary layer," R.F. Kamada and A.J. DeCaria, Naval Postgraduate School Technical Report (NPS-PH-92-008), 1991.

 

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

 

“Correlation Between Lightning Strike Density and Terrain Elevation over Southeastern Pennsylvania,” A.J. DeCaria and M.J. Babij, Association of American Geographers East and West Lakes, Kalamazoo, MI, 2003

 

“Using ArcGIS to Study the Correlation between Lightning Strike Density and Terrain Elevation, ” A.J. DeCaria and M.J. Babij, UNIDATA Summer Workshop, Boulder, CO, 2003

 

 “A Map of Lightning Strike Density for Southeastern Pennsylvania, and Correlation with Terrain Elevation, ” A.J. DeCaria and M.J. Babij, Digital Mapping Techniques ’03, Millersville, PA, 2003

 

 

"A three-dimensional cloud-scale modeling study of lightning generated NOx in a Colorado thunderstorm," A.J. DeCaria, K.E.Pickering, G.L. Stenchikov and W.-K. Tao, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 1999.

 

"Lightning-generated NO and photochemical ozone production - Model simulation and results," A.J. DeCaria, K. Pickering, A. Thompson, T. Kucsera, G. Stenchikov, and J. Scala, American Meteorological Society Symposium on Interdisciplinary Issues in Atmospheric Chemistry, Dallas, TX, 1999.

 

"Model simulation of lightning produced NOx in a Colorado thunderstorm," A.J. DeCaria, K.E.Pickering, J.R. Scala, and G.L. Stenchikov, American Geosphysical Union Spring Meeting, Boston, 1998.

 

"Cloud model simulations of STERAO-A deep convection: Sensitivity to initial conditions," A.J. DeCaria, J.R. Scala, G.L. Stenchikov, K.E. Pickering, J.L. Stith, G. Huebler, and S.A. Rutledge, American Geosphysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, 1997.

 

"Convective transport for trace gases in STERAO-A," K.E. Pickering, A.J. DeCaria, G.L. Stenchikov, J.R. Scala, A.M. Thompson, J.L. Stith, B. Ridley, K. Baumann, G. Huebler, D. Parrish, and M. Buhr, American Geosphysical Union Fall Meeting, San Francisco, 1997.

 

AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND SCHOLARSHIPS

- Senior Teaching Associate Award, University of Maryland, 1999
- NASA Earth System Science Graduate Fellowship, 1998 - 2000
- University of Maryland Graduate Fellowship, 1996 - 1998

AFFILIATIONS

 

- American Geophysical Union

- American Meteorological Society