Kathryn Steakley
Planetary Scientist
Affiliation: NASA Ames Research Center (ARC)
Division: Space Science and Astrobiology Division (ST)
Branch: Planetary Systems Branch (STT)
Email: kathryn.e.steakley@nasa.gov
Phone: 650-604-6078
Professional Biography
I am a civil servant scientist and part of the Mars Climate Modeling Center (MCMC) at NASA Ames. My research interests include the early Martian climate, the influences of water clouds, CO2 clouds, and dust in Mars’ atmosphere past and present, and habitability of planetary atmospheres. Before becoming a civil servant in 2022, I worked as a scientist with the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute. I first joined the MCMC at NASA Ames in the fall of 2018 as a postdoctoral fellow studying the potential climate effects of asteroid impacts on early Mars that may have delivered reducing greenhouse gases. I earned my PhD from New Mexico State University in the summer of 2018 where my dissertation research focused on the potential for impacts on early Mars to induce water cloud greenhouse warming. In addition to my early Mars climate research, I began my PhD investigating pressure signatures of dust devils at the Curiosity landing site on Mars, and worked with a team to develop a fly-by mission concept to the ringed Centaur Chariklo as a participant in the 2017 Planetary Science Summer Seminar.
Education
Ph.D. Astronomy, New Mexico State University, 2018
M.S. Astronomy, New Mexico State University, 2016
B.S. Double major in Physics, Astronomy, University of Washington, 2012
Research Interests
My research focuses on investigating whether Mars was ever a habitable planet. Geologic evidence suggests that liquid water carved river valley networks, eroded craters, and altered minerals on the surface of Mars roughly 3.5-3.8 billion years ago. Despite this, the climate modeling community has still not been able to determine how Mars could have supported a warmer, wetter environment in the past. I explore potential warming mechanisms for early Mars, including whether comet and asteroid impacts could have jump-started greenhouse warming on early Mars by delivering water and/or reducing greenhouse gases (e.g. H2, CH4). I am also very interested in the role of clouds (both H2O and CO2 clouds) in the early Martian atmosphere. I use the NASA Ames Mars Global Climate Model (MGCM) to simulate early Mars scenarios and test hypotheses. I worked with the NASA Ames Mars Climate Modeling Center team to develop early Mars physics for the MGCM to conduct this research. We are publicly releasing these early Mars physics capabilities with the new FV3-based version of the Ames MGCM – see our MCMC website for more information.
Select Publications
“The NASA Ames legacy Mars global climate model: Radiation code error correction and new baseline water cycle simulation,” Kahre, M. A., Haberle, R. M., Wilson, R.J. [et al., including Steakley, K. E.] 2023, Icarus, 400, 115561. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2023.115561
“Impact induced H2-rich climates on early Mars explored with a global climate model,” Steakley, K. E., Kahre, M. A., Haberle, R. M, Zahnle, K. J. 2023, Icarus, 394, 115401. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2022.115401
“An integrated scenario for the climate and redox evolution of Mars,” Wordsworth, R., Knoll, A. H., Hurowitz, J., [et al., including Steakley, K.] 2021, Nature Geoscience, 14, 127. doi:10.1038/s41561-021-00701-8
“Impact Degassing of H2 on early Mars and its Effect on the Climate System,” Haberle, R., Zahnle, K., Barlow, N., Steakley, K. 2019, Geophys. Res. Letters, 46 (22), 13355-13362, doi:10.1029/2019GL084733
“Testing the impact heating hypothesis for early Mars with a 3-D global climate model”, Steakley, K., Murphy, J., Kahre, M., Haberle, R., & Kling, A. 2019, Icarus, 330, 169, doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2019.04.005
“Camilla: A centaur reconnaissance and impact mission concept”, Howell, S. M., Chou, L., Thompson, M., [et al., including Steakley, K.], 2018, Planetary and Space Science, 164, 184, doi: 10.1016/j.pss.2018.07.008
“Field Measurements of Terrestrial and Martian Dust Devils”, Murphy, J, Steakley, K., Balme, M., et al. 2016, Space Science Reviews, 203, 39 doi:10.1007/s11214-016-0283-y
“A year of convective vortex activity at Gale Crater”, Steakley, K., Murphy, J. 2016, Icarus, 278, p. 180-193, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2016.06.010
Awards & Others
NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellowship, 2018
NMSU Astronomy Department A. Scott Murrell Award, 2018
Sky Safari Recognition for Outstanding Outreach Participation, 2016, 2017
NASA Advanced STEM Training and Research (ASTAR) Fellowship, 2015
New Mexico Space Grant Consortium Graduate Research Fellowship, 2015
NMSU Outstanding Graduate Assistantship Award, 2014
Chambliss Astronomy Student Achievement Honorable Mention, AAS 221st Meeting, 2013