Dr. Byron Tapley

Biography

Byron Tapley earned his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1960 and joined the faculty of the university that same year. He directs the Center for Space Research and is also part of the Texas Space Grant Consortium. Tapley is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the nation's highest honor for engineering professionals. His research focuses on the application of satellite remote-sensed observations and numerical computation approaches to contemporary problems in oceanography and geodesy. Recent research has utilized satellite observations of Earth to understand long-term global climate change, particularly studying the ocean-atmospheric coupling in relation to climate patterns in the continental United States. Tapley is serving as the principal investigator for the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) Mission, which provides highly accurate measurements of time-varying changes in Earth's gravity field caused by mass exchange among the atmosphere, oceans, and land surfaces. The improvements in the accuracy of the models associated with GRACE have substantially enhanced our understanding of static Earth gravity fields. Recent findings from the GRACE mission have indicated that Greenland's ice sheet is melting five times faster in the southeastern region than it was a year and a half ago, with significant loss occurring along the shoreline, which could potentially affect weather patterns in Western Europe.

Research Interests