About
Dr. Pengwang Zhai is an associate professor in the physics department. Before he joined UMBC, Dr. Zhai had been a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow and a research scientist at SSAI. To date he has published 55 peer-reviewed papers in light scattering, radiative transfer, and remote sensing theories.
Research interests
Dr. Zhai is interested in light scattering by nonspherical particles; vector radiative transfer theory; Aerosol remote sensing with multiangle and multispectral polarimetry and lidar; aerosol remote sensing using OCO2 oxygen A band high spectral radiometer and CALIPSO lidar; ocean color remote sensing; and semianalytic model for inherent optical properties of oceans.
Teaching interests
Physics core curriculum classes in both undergraduate and graduate levels; Atmospheric physics core curriculum classes.
Publications
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Neural Network Reflectance Prediction Model for Both Open Ocean and Coastal Waters
2020
Remote Sensing · 12 (9) · pp. 1421
Lipi Mukherjee, Pengwang Zhai, Meng Gao, Yongxiang Hu, Bryan Franz, P. Jeremy Werdell
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Cloud detection over snow and ice with oxygen A- and B-band observations from the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC)
2020
Atmospheric Measurement Techniques · 13 (3) · pp. 1575-1591
Yaping Zhou, Yuekui Yang, Meng Gao, Pengwang Zhai
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Atmospheric Correction of Satellite Ocean-Color Imagery During the PACE Era
2019
Frontiers in Earth Science · 7 · pp. 145
Robert J Frouin, Bryan A Franz, Amir Ibrahim, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Ziauddin Ahmad, Brian Cairns, Jacek Chowdhary, Heidi M Dierssen, Jing Tan, Oleg Dubovik, Xin Huang, Anthony B Davis, Olga Kalashnikova, David R Thompson, Lorraine A Remer, Emmanuel Boss, Odele Coddington, Pierre-Yves Deschamps, Bo-Cai Gao, Lydwine Gross, Otto Hasekamp, Ali Omar, Bruno Pelletier, Didier Ramon, François Steinmetz, Pengwang Zhai
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Retrieving Aerosol Characteristics From the PACE Mission, Part 1: Ocean Color Instrument
2019
Frontiers in Earth Science · 7 · pp. 152
Lorraine A Remer, Anthony B Davis, Shana Mattoo, Robert C Levy, Olga V Kalashnikova, Odele Coddington, Jacek Chowdhary, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Xiaoguang Xu, Ziauddin Ahmad, Emmanuel Boss, Brian Cairns, Heidi M Dierssen, David J Diner, Bryan Franz, Robert Frouin, Bo-Cai Gao, Amir Ibrahim, J. Vanderlei Martins, Ali H Omar, Omar Torres, Feng Xu, Pengwang Zhai, Lorraine A Remer, Anthony B Davis, Shana Mattoo, Robert C Levy, Olga V Kalashnikova, Odele Coddington, Jacek Chowdhary, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Xiaoguang Xu, Ziauddin Ahmad, Emmanuel Boss, Brian Cairns, Heidi M Dierssen, David J Diner, Bryan Franz, Robert Frouin, Bo-Cai Gao, Amir Ibrahim, Jose V Martins, Ali H Omar, Omar Torres, Feng Xu, Pengwang Zhai
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Retrieving Aerosol Characteristics From the PACE Mission, Part 2: Multi-Angle and Polarimetry
2019
Frontiers in Environmental Science · 7 · pp. 94
Lorraine A Remer, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Pengwang Zhai, Feng Xu, Olga V Kalashnikova, Jacek Chowdhary, Otto Hasekamp, Oleg Dubovik, Lianghai Wu, Ziauddin Ahmad, Emmanuel Boss, Brian Cairns, Odele Coddington, Anthony B Davis, Heidi M Dierssen, David J Diner, Bryan Franz, Robert Frouin, Bo-Cai Gao, Amir Ibrahim, Robert C Levy, Jose V Martins, Ali H Omar, Omar Torres
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Modeling Atmosphere-Ocean Radiative Transfer: A PACE Mission Perspective
2019
Frontiers in Earth Science · 7 · pp. 100
Jacek Chowdhary, Pengwang Zhai, Emmanuel Boss, Heidi Dierssen, Robert Frouin, Amir Ibrahim, Zhongping Lee, Lorraine A Remer, Michael Twardowski, Feng Xu, Xiaodong Zhang, Matteo Ottaviani, William Reed Espinosa, Didier Ramon
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Cloud remote sensing with EPIC/DSCOVR observations: A sensitivity study with radiative transfer simulations
2019
Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer · 230 · pp. 56-60
Meng Gao, Pengwang Zhai, Yuekui Yang, Yongxiang Hu
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Going Beyond Standard Ocean Color Observations: Lidar and Polarimetry
2019
Frontiers in Marine Science · 6 · pp. 251
Cédric Jamet, Amir Ibrahim, Ziauddin Ahmad, Federico Angelini, Marcel Babin, Michael J Behrenfeld, Emmanuel Boss, Brian Cairns, James Churnside, Jacek Chowdhary, Anthony B Davis, Davide Dionisi, Lucile Duforêt-Gaurier, Bryan Franz, Robert Frouin, Meng Gao, Deric Gray, Otto Hasekamp, Xianqiang He, Chris Hostetler, Olga V Kalashnikova, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Léo Lacour, Hubert Loisel, Vanderlei Martins, Eric Rehm, Lorraine A Remer, Idriss Sanhaj, Knut Stamnes, Snorre Stamnes, Stéphane Victori, Jeremy Werdell, Pengwang Zhai
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Radiative Transfer Modeling of Phytoplankton Fluorescence Quenching Processes
2018
MDPI Remote Sensing · 10 (8) · pp. 1039
Pengwang Zhai, Emmanuel Boss, Bryan Franz, Jeremy Werdell, Yongxiang Hu
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Atmospheric correction for hyperspectral ocean color retrieval with application to the Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO)
2018
Remote Sensing of Environment · 204 · pp. 60-75
Amir Ibrahim, Bryan Franz, Zia Ahmad, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Richard Healy, Bo-cai Gao, Pengwang Zhai
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Equivalence of internal and external mixture schemes of single scattering properties in vector radiative transfer
2017
Applied Optics · 56 (14) · pp. 4105-4112
Lipi Mukherjee, Pengwang Zhai, Yongxiang Hu, David M Winker
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Spectral sea surface reflectance of skylight
2017
Optics Express · 25 (4) · pp. A1-A13
Xiaodong Zhang, Shuangyan He, Afshin Shabani, Pengwang Zhai, Keping Du
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Joint retrieval of aerosol and water-leaving radiance from
multispectral, multiangular and polarimetric measurements over ocean
2016
Atmospheric Measurement Techniques · 9 (7) · pp. 2877-2907
F. Xu, O. Dubovik, Pengwang Zhai, D. J Diner, O. V Kalashnikova, F. C Seidel, P. Litvinov, A. Bovchaliuk, M. J Garay, G. van Harten, A. B Davis
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Contribution of Raman scattering to polarized radiation field in ocean waters
2015
Optics Express · 23 (18) · pp. 23582-23596
Pengwang Zhai, Yongxiang Hu, David M Winker, Bryan Franz, Emmanuel Boss
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Uncertainty in the bidirectional reflectance model for oceanic waters
2015
Appl. Opt. · 54 (13) · pp. 4061–4069
Pengwang Zhai, Yongxiang Hu, Charles R Trepte, David M Winker, Patricia L Lucker, Zhongping Lee, Damien B Josset
Presentations
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An Improved Pseudo-Spherical Shell (IPSS) Algorithm for Modeling Vector Radiative Transfer 2021
AGU Fall Meeting · American Geophysical Union · Oral Presentation
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Instantaneous Photosynthetically Available Radiation (IPAR) Prediction models based on Neural Network for both open ocean and coastal waters. 2021
AGU Fall Meeting · American Geophysical Union · Poster
Kamal Aryal (Author & Presenter), Pengwang Zhai (Author)
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Seeking optimal bio-optical models for remote sensing of ocean color 2021
AGU Fall Meeting · American Geophysical Union · Poster
Neranga Kaluappuwa Hannadige (Author), Pengwang Zhai (Author & Presenter)
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Theoretical support for developing the PACE atmospheric correction algorithm: radiative transfer and polarimetric retrieval of aerosol and ocean color properties: Updates 2021
Plankton Aerosol Cloud and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Science Team · NASA · Oral Presentation
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Aerosol and ocean color properties retrieved from the ACEPOL multi-angle polarimeter measurements 2019
American Geophysical Union · Oral Presentation
Neranga Kaluappuwa Hannadige (Author), Pengwang Zhai (Author & Presenter)
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A Radiative Transfer Simulator for DSCOVR/EPIC and Its Application to a Sensitivity Study of Cloud Property 2018
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting · American Geophysical Union · Poster
Pengwang Zhai (Author & Presenter), Meng Gao (Author)
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Validation of Aerosol Single Scattering Albedos Retrieved from Collocated OCO-2 and CALIPSO Measurements 2018
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting · American Geophysical Union · Poster
Anthony Bratt (Author & Presenter), Pengwang Zhai, David Winker (Author), Yongxiang Hu (Author)
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Atmospheric correction for coastal waters based on multi-angle polarimetric observations 2018
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting · American Geophysical Union · Poster
Meng Gao (Author & Presenter), Pengwang Zhai (Author), Bryan Franz (Author), Yongxiang Hu (Author), Kirk Knobelspiesse (Author), Paul Jeremy Werdell (Author), Feng Xu (Author), Amir Ibrahim (Author)
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Remote Sensing of Phytoplankton Functional Groups with the PACE Ocean Color Instrument: A Sensitivity Study 2018
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting · American Geophysical Union · Poster
Neranga Hannadige (Author & Presenter), Pengwang Zhai (Author), Yongxiang Hu (Author), Bryan Franz (Author), Paul Jeremy Werdell (Author)
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Inelastic scattering in coupled atmosphere and ocean systems 2017
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting · American Geophysical Union · Oral Presentation
Pengwang Zhai (Author & Presenter), Yongxiang Hu (Author), Bryan Franz (Author), Paul Jeremy Werdell (Author), Emmanuel Boss (Author), David Winker (Author)
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Retrieval of aerosol properties and water leaving radiance from multi-angle spectro-polarimetric measurement over coastal waters 2017
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting · American Geophysical Union · Oral Presentation
Meng Gao (Author & Presenter), Pengwang Zhai (Author), Bryan Franz (Author), Yongxiang Hu (Author), Kirk Knobelspiesse (Author), Paul Jeremy Werdell (Author), Feng Xu (Author), Amir Ibrahim (Author)
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Sensitivity of NIR Radiances Observed by OCO-2 with Respect to Radiative Transfer Properties of Aerosols 2017
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting · American Geophysical Union · Poster
Anthony Bratt (Author & Presenter), Pengwang Zhai, David Winker (Author), Yongxiang Hu (Author)
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Single Scattering Properties for Hydrosols 2016
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting · American Geophysical Union · Oral Presentation
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Mixing Single Scattering Properties in Vector Radiative Transfer for Deterministic and Stochastic Solutions 2016
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting · American Geophysical Union · Poster
Lipi Mukherjee (Author & Presenter), Pengwang Zhai, Yongxiang Hu (Author), David Winker (Author)
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DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE CALIPSO OCEAN SUBSURFACE DATA 2016
the 2016 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society meeting · IGARSS · Oral Presentation
Pengwang Zhai (Author & Presenter), Yongxiang Hu (Author)
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A consummate radiative transfer package for studying the atmosphere and oceans 2015
AGU Fall meeting · American Geophysical Union · Poster
Pengwang Zhai (Author & Presenter), Yongxiang Hu (Author), Charles Trepte (Author), David M Winker (Author)
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Aerosol Retrievals Using OCO2 O2 A Band and CALIPSO Measurements 2015
OCO2 Science Team meeting · NASA JPL · Oral Presentation
Pengwang Zhai (Author & Presenter), David M Winker (Author), Yongxiang Hu (Author)
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Implementing inelastic Raman scattering in polarized radiative transfer for coupled atmosphere and ocean systems 2015
GEO-CAPE 2015 Open Community Workshop · NASA, EPA · Poster
Pengwang Zhai (Author & Presenter), Yongxiang Hu (Author), David M Winker (Author), Bryan A Franz (Author), Emmanuel Boss (Author)
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Case studies of aerosol and ocean color retrieval using a Markov chain radiative transfer model and AirMSPI measurements 2014
AGU Fall Meeting · American Geophysical Union · Poster
Feng Xu (Author & Presenter), Pengwang Zhai (Author)
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Intercomparison of Eight Forward 1D Vector Radiative Transfer Models, with the Performance of Satellite Aerosol Remote Sensing Algorithms in Mind 2014
EGU General Assembly · European Geosciences Union · Poster
Anthony Davis (Author & Presenter), Pengwang Zhai (Author)
Grants and Contracts
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A hyperspectral retrieval scheme for Surface Biology and Geology Designated Observable in optically complex waters 2021
NASA · Grant · Funded
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Radiative transfer support for the DSCOVR mission, Task 160 2017
NASA GSFC · Cooperative Agreement · Funded
Pengwang Zhai (Principal), Meng Gao (Supporting)
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Radiative transfer support for the PACE mission, Task 152 2016
NASA GSFC · Cooperative Agreement · Funded
Pengwang Zhai (Principal), Meng Gao (Supporting)
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Water Cloud Depolarization – Multiple Scattering Relation: A Novel Technique for Spaceborne Lidar Retrievals of Above-Cloud Aerosol Optical Depth 2014
NASA · Grant · Funded
Courses Taught
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Adv Electromagnetic Thry
PHYS 707 · Fall 2022
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Optics
PHYS 408 · Spring 2016
