Charles Gatebe
Research Scientist
Affiliation: NASA Ames Research Center (ARC)
Division: Earth Science Division (SG)
Email: charles.k.gatebe@nasa.gov
Phone: 650-604-5533
Professional Biography
Dr. Charles K. Gatebe is a physical scientist in the Earth Science Division at NASA’s Ames Research Center with more than 27 years of experience in atmospheric science, airborne and satellite remote sensing, Earth observation, and interdisciplinary Earth-system science. His research spans atmospheric radiation, aerosols and clouds, surface reflectance and albedo, snow remote sensing, calibration and validation, and emerging sensing technologies.
Gatebe is Principal Investigator of NASA’s Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) and Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR). As MMS PI, he has led measurements for major NASA airborne investigations including AEROMMA, the NASA-Boeing ecoDemonstrator sustainable aviation fuel and contrail study, ASIA-AQ, and the 2026 SABRE campaign. His CAR research has advanced multiangle spectral measurements of bidirectional reflectance and albedo over diverse Earth surfaces and supported satellite algorithm development and calibration and validation. He also served as Deputy Project Scientist for NASA SnowEx.
Gatebe joined Ames in 2020 and served as Chief of the Atmospheric Science Branch from 2020 to 2026. Previously, he spent more than two decades working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, including serving as Manager and Associate Director of the Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research (GESTAR) cooperative agreement.
His current work extends to future observing technologies and planetary applications. He was the principal Ames organizer for NASA’s 2024 Quantum Sensing Technical Interchange Meeting and co-leads NASA-wide quantum sensing planning activities. He is also Principal Investigator of the Lunar Surface BRDF Observatory (LSBO) Pathfinder, selected for FY27 Ames IRAD funding to advance an in situ lunar reflectance measurement capability.
In 2026, Gatebe was appointed to the Ames Research and Technology Council. He holds a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Education
Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, 1999.
MSc. In Meteorology, University of Nairobi, Kenya, 1994.
BSc. In Meteorology, Mathematics, and Physics, University of Nairobi, 1990.
Research Interests
Atmospheric and Earth-system science; airborne and satellite remote sensing; airborne meteorological measurements; surface reflectance and albedo; snow and cryosphere remote sensing; aerosols, clouds, and atmospheric radiation; air quality and atmospheric composition; calibration and validation; bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF); Earth-observation technologies; quantum sensing; and lunar surface reflectance and radiometric calibration.
Awards/Honors
2000 — World Meteorological Organization Young Scientist Award
2011 — NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Outstanding Performance Award in Instrumentation, Earth Sciences
2013 — Robert H Goddard award for Outstanding Performance in Outreach for founding the Maniac Talks series. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Selected High-Impact Publications
Engelbrecht, F., et al. (2015). “Projections of rapidly rising surface temperatures over Africa under low mitigation.” Environmental Research Letters, 10(8), 085004.
Cawse-Nicholson, K., et al. (2021). “NASA’s Surface Biology and Geology Designated Observable: A Perspective on Surface Imaging Algorithms.” Remote Sensing of Environment, 257, 112349.
Fan, Y., Li, W., Gatebe, C. K., Jamet, C., Zibordi, G., Schroeder, T., & Stamnes, K. (2017). “Atmospheric correction over coastal waters using multilayer neural networks.” Remote Sensing of Environment, 199, 218–240.
Román, M. O., Gatebe, C. K., Schaaf, C. B., Poudyal, R., Wang, Z., & King, M. D. (2011). “Variability in surface BRDF at different spatial scales (30 m–500 m) over a mixed agricultural landscape as retrieved from airborne and satellite spectral measurements.” Remote Sensing of Environment, 115(9), 2184–2203.
Gatebe, C. K., & King, M. D. (2016). “Airborne spectral BRDF of various surface types (ocean, vegetation, snow, desert, wetlands, cloud decks, smoke layers) for remote sensing applications.” Remote Sensing of Environment, 179, 131–148.
Press Releases/Websites
- “We’ve got to solve this now.” : https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/we-ve-got-to-solve-this-now
- Toward Greater Diversity in Earth Sciences: NASA’s SaSa: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/toward-greater-diversity-in-earth-sciences-nasa-s-student-airborne-science-activation
Links
https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/charles-gatebe-pushing-the-limits-of-curiosity/
https://airbornescience.nasa.gov/person/Charles_Gatebe
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/charles-gatebe-and-his-not-so-maniac-talks