Dr. O'Dell's research is driven primarily by a desire to increase our knowledge of anthropogenically-forced global climate change. He is particularly interested in studying and monitoring long-term changes in the earth-system through global-scale satellite measurements of climatically important variables, such as outgoing radiation, cloud water path, and stratospheric water vapor. He is also interested in helping to better understand the earth's carbon cycle through precision measurements of carbon dioxide and methane, the two most important greenhouse gases (GHGs). Precision measurements of these gases may one day lead to the ability to do "top-down" accounting of GHG emissions, which could help in verifying such emissions in a treaty-relevant manner.
