Dr. Velazco studied Physics and worked in building up and characterizing a CO2 laser system for his Bachelor thesis. He moved to Bremen, Germany to undertake the Masters degree in Environmental Physics, where he studied aerosols and cirrus clouds using LIDAR measurements in the high Arctic (Ny Alesund, Spitsbergen). The work was in collaboration with the University of Bremen and the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research.
He later investigated the transport of pollutants from biomass burning and its effects on the atmosphere, with the help of Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectrometry on board the Research Vessel Polarstern, in the Arctic and in the tropics for his Doctorate (summa cum laude).
As a CALTECH postdoctoral scholar, he worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, California Institute of Technology, investigating the upper atmosphere and validating satellite instruments using JPL's MkIV balloon-borne interferometer. He participated in campaigns in the Arctic (Esrange) to validate the measurements from MLS, HIRDLS and TES instruments on board the AURA spacecraft and in Fort Sumner New Mexico for the validation of ACE-FTS on the SCISAT spacecraft. In 2010, he worked on CarbonSat (a candidate for a future ESA Earth Explorer satellite), focusing mainly on detection of power plant CO2 emissions.
He is currently working on retrievals and analysis of total carbon columns via ground-based solar spectrometry and satellites, as well as managing TCCON (Total Carbon Column Observing Network) stations in Wollongong, NSW, Darwin, NT and recently conceptualized and spearheaded the establishment of TCCON-Philippines, the first TCCON station in Southeast Asia.
Southeast Asian and Australian TCCON Operations Readying for Ibuki-2 validation (SATORI)
<p>The project SATORI* successfully established the first satellite validation "super site" in Southeast Asia, through a unique 3-party collaboration among academia, research institute and industry. The site is composed of state of the art instruments: a TCCON instrument, LIDAR and Sky radiometer, all dedicated to the validation of the GOSAT-2 satellite, the successor to GOSAT, the first satellite in space dedicated to greenhouse gas observations. GOSAT-2 was successfully launched on October 29, 2018, from the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan and is now gathering important data on the atmosphere with the new TCCON Philippines super site as its primary validation in the tropics.<br /><br />Southeast Asia is a region with high scientific importance for the understanding of the transport of trace gases into the stratosphere, but is also a region with very few ground-based measurements. <br /><br />TCCON (Total Carbon Column Observing Network) is a network dedicated to understanding the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases by making accurate and precise measurements of their total column amounts. With the global effort to cap greenhouse gas emissions, TCCON is a necessary benchmark to validate current and upcoming greenhouse gas monitoring satellites. But there had been no TCCON stations in Southeast Asia, until now.<br /><br />The threat of Climate Change is clear and present. Damages and casualties grow with extreme climate events, and scientists from all over the world converge to advance their research by expanding the coverage of the TCCON in order to understand the future of Earth’s climate and find ways to mitigate the effects of Climate Change. However, despite strong interests from the international scientific community, establishing a reliable ground-based validation station in the tropics has proved difficult, due to many factors such as logistics, local support and funding.</p><p>Through this unique collaborative effort spearheaded by Dr. Voltaire A. Velazco, a three-party team composed of the University of Wollongong, the Energy Development Corp. (EDC), a world leader in geothermal energy production and Japan’s National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan’s forefront in environmental research, was forged with the objective of establishing the first TCCON station in Southeast Asia. After 4 years of challenging, collaborative work, this objective was finally accomplished. Since its establishment, TCCON Philippines has led to 2 first-author papers, 1 NASA OCO-2 paper, 3 annual reports, 5+ conference presentations, ESA Sentinel 5P validation presentations and has been an important participant in two international high value missions: EU's EMeRGe (EUR 6M) and NASA's CAMP2Ex (US$ 13.7M).<br /><a href="TCCON%20Philippines" title="TCCON Philippines website" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a>TCCON Philippines showcases a project where a university, industry and a research institute can work together and benefit, while creating a positive impact globally. [*in Zen tradition, “satori” means comprehension, understanding] </p>
<p><strong>From a shared love of the mountains to a scientific collaboration</strong></p><p>This unique research project unexpectedly started through mountaineering expeditions. Dr. Velazco’s expertise in atmospheric physics, weather forecasting and mountain climbing experience helped Mount Everest expedition teams, specifically the Philippine team, in reaching the summit and saving lives. Emeritus Chairman of the EDC Oscar M. Lopez, recognized the importance of climate change and atmospheric research in Southeast Asia and through expedition leader and EDC board member Art Valdez, met with Dr. Velazco 5 years ago to conceive the idea of TCCON Philippines. Driven by social and environmental commitment, Chairman OML and the EDC are fighting the same environmental battle as the TCCON scientists. And so together, Dr. Velazco and the TCCON scientists team up with Chairman OML and the EDC to realize a common goal - the establishment of the first TCCON Station in Southeast Asia. (This initiative was highlighted in the <a href="http://business.inquirer.net/210143/in-the-eye-of-the-storm-edc-adapts-to-climate-realities." title="In the eye of the storm, EDC adapts to climate realities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Philippine Daily Inquirer</a>).</p><p><strong>The TCCON Philippines initiative garners the attention of scientists internationally</strong></p><p>Dr. Velazco, an environmental Physicist, has over 10 years of research experience with TCCON and has done research on cirrus clouds and aerosols in the high Arctic, trace gas measurements on German research ships and worked at NASA studying the upper atmosphere. His work resulted in extensive collaboration networks in Europe, the U.S., and Australia, which, with the support of Prof. Griffith of University of Wollongong-Australia, would prove to be instrumental in setting up the TCCON station in the Philippines. Dr. Velazco sets out to present the TCCON-Philippines initiative at meetings in Switzerland and eventually, in Japan.</p><p><strong>The Japan connection</strong></p><p>Flashback to 2008: Japan developed and launched the first satellite in orbit dedicated to the remote sensing measurements of CO<sub>2</sub> and CH<sub>4</sub>, its name: GOSAT (Greenhouse gases observing Satellite). To continue the important work of GOSAT, Japan will launch GOSAT-2 in 2018. Dr. Isamu Morino, a TCCON scientist and Physical Chemist at NIES will lead the task to provide a validation station in the Tropical Western Pacific for GOSAT-2. Together with world renowned LIDAR expert Dr. Osamu Uchino, they assembled the TCCON and LIDAR instruments bound for the tropics. In 2013, Dr. Morino met with long-time collaborators Dr. Velazco & Prof. Griffith in Hokkaido, Japan to discuss the TCCON Philippines initiative. TCCON Philippines became a candidate as primary tropical validation site for Japan’s GOSAT-2 satellite, and also as validation data provider to other space-based satellite missions like NASA’s OCO-2 (Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2).</p><p><strong>The search</strong></p><p>The EDC offered various locations all over the Philippines, which were visited and assessed by the TCCON team. During the site selection process, a super typhoon called Yolanda hits one of the best location candidates - Tacloban. The search continues.</p><p>Finally, after 4 years of scouting and scientific study, the Burgos location was chosen. Now, Dr. Voltaire A. Velazco comes to the Philippines, in Burgos, Ilocos Norte, along with scientists from Japan and Australia, to build the 25th TCCON Station and be that much closer to further understanding the future of Earth’s Climate.</p><p><strong>Results and Beyond</strong></p><p>The site selection process and the scientific studies were published in “Climate, Disaster and Development Journal” (<a href="https://www.cddjournal.org/article/view/vol02-iss2-1" title="TCCON Philippines: Toward Quantifying Atmospheric Carbon in Southeast Asia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Velazco et al., 2017a</a>). This was followed by a paper in “Remote Sensing” (<a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/12/1228" title="TCCON Philippines first results" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Velazco et al., 2017b</a>), where first measurements of greenhouse gas total columns in Southeast Asia were shown as well as excellent satellite validation results. This was then followed by a paper on NASA's OCO-2 by <a href="https://www.atmos-meas-tech-discuss.net/amt-2018-257/" title="Improved retrievals of carbon dioxide from Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">O'Dell et al., 2018</a> where TCCON was used as one of the references in the latest version (V8) of the algorithm for data retrieval which helped reduce regional scale biases, fulfilling one of the project’s main goals. In the formal launching of TCCON Philippines, which was covered by local media (<a href="https://businessmirror.com.ph/hi-tech-climate-change-tracking-station-rises-inside-edcs-burgos-wind-farm/" title="Hi-tech climate-change tracking station rises inside EDC’s Burgos Wind Farm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The business Mirror</a> & <a href="http://manilastandard.net/business/power-technology/249509/high-tech-climate-change-station-established-in-edc-s-burgos-wind-farm.html" title="High-tech climate change station established in EDC’s Burgos wind farm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Manila Standard</a>), First Philippine Holdings (FPH) Chairman and CEO Federico R. Lopez said ”we at [FPH] believe that every business has a choice and we chose to go beyond our ‘business fence’ and contribute to the common good for the benefit of our environment and the people. Thus, in 2016 we declared to commit all our businesses to a low-carbon and sustainable operation to keep our employees, the communities and our assets out of harm from climate change”. Further, EDC President and COO Richard B. Tantoco said the government can use analyses derived from TCCON data to validate the region's carbon footprint. The footprint calculation will contribute to the world’s aspiration of climate stabilization by 2050 and serve as a guide for climate actions, as committed by signatories to the Paris agreement (COP21). The event was attended by representatives from the government and scientists from different universities.</p>
Dr. Velazco studied Physics and worked in building up and characterizing a CO2 laser system for his Bachelor thesis. He moved to Bremen, Germany to undertake the Masters degree in Environmental Physics, where he studied aerosols and cirrus clouds using LIDAR measurements in the high Arctic (Ny Alesund, Spitsbergen). The work was in collaboration with the University of Bremen and the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research.
He later investigated the transport of pollutants from biomass burning and its effects on the atmosphere, with the help of Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectrometry on board the Research Vessel Polarstern, in the Arctic and in the tropics for his Doctorate (summa cum laude).
As a CALTECH postdoctoral scholar, he worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, California Institute of Technology, investigating the upper atmosphere and validating satellite instruments using JPL's MkIV balloon-borne interferometer. He participated in campaigns in the Arctic (Esrange) to validate the measurements from MLS, HIRDLS and TES instruments on board the AURA spacecraft and in Fort Sumner New Mexico for the validation of ACE-FTS on the SCISAT spacecraft. In 2010, he worked on CarbonSat (a candidate for a future ESA Earth Explorer satellite), focusing mainly on detection of power plant CO2 emissions.
He is currently working on retrievals and analysis of total carbon columns via ground-based solar spectrometry and satellites, as well as managing TCCON (Total Carbon Column Observing Network) stations in Wollongong, NSW, Darwin, NT and recently conceptualized and spearheaded the establishment of TCCON-Philippines, the first TCCON station in Southeast Asia.
Southeast Asian and Australian TCCON Operations Readying for Ibuki-2 validation (SATORI)
<p>The project SATORI* successfully established the first satellite validation "super site" in Southeast Asia, through a unique 3-party collaboration among academia, research institute and industry. The site is composed of state of the art instruments: a TCCON instrument, LIDAR and Sky radiometer, all dedicated to the validation of the GOSAT-2 satellite, the successor to GOSAT, the first satellite in space dedicated to greenhouse gas observations. GOSAT-2 was successfully launched on October 29, 2018, from the Tanegashima Space Center, Japan and is now gathering important data on the atmosphere with the new TCCON Philippines super site as its primary validation in the tropics.<br /><br />Southeast Asia is a region with high scientific importance for the understanding of the transport of trace gases into the stratosphere, but is also a region with very few ground-based measurements. <br /><br />TCCON (Total Carbon Column Observing Network) is a network dedicated to understanding the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases by making accurate and precise measurements of their total column amounts. With the global effort to cap greenhouse gas emissions, TCCON is a necessary benchmark to validate current and upcoming greenhouse gas monitoring satellites. But there had been no TCCON stations in Southeast Asia, until now.<br /><br />The threat of Climate Change is clear and present. Damages and casualties grow with extreme climate events, and scientists from all over the world converge to advance their research by expanding the coverage of the TCCON in order to understand the future of Earth’s climate and find ways to mitigate the effects of Climate Change. However, despite strong interests from the international scientific community, establishing a reliable ground-based validation station in the tropics has proved difficult, due to many factors such as logistics, local support and funding.</p><p>Through this unique collaborative effort spearheaded by Dr. Voltaire A. Velazco, a three-party team composed of the University of Wollongong, the Energy Development Corp. (EDC), a world leader in geothermal energy production and Japan’s National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan’s forefront in environmental research, was forged with the objective of establishing the first TCCON station in Southeast Asia. After 4 years of challenging, collaborative work, this objective was finally accomplished. Since its establishment, TCCON Philippines has led to 2 first-author papers, 1 NASA OCO-2 paper, 3 annual reports, 5+ conference presentations, ESA Sentinel 5P validation presentations and has been an important participant in two international high value missions: EU's EMeRGe (EUR 6M) and NASA's CAMP2Ex (US$ 13.7M).<br /><a href="TCCON%20Philippines" title="TCCON Philippines website" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a>TCCON Philippines showcases a project where a university, industry and a research institute can work together and benefit, while creating a positive impact globally. [*in Zen tradition, “satori” means comprehension, understanding] </p>
<p><strong>From a shared love of the mountains to a scientific collaboration</strong></p><p>This unique research project unexpectedly started through mountaineering expeditions. Dr. Velazco’s expertise in atmospheric physics, weather forecasting and mountain climbing experience helped Mount Everest expedition teams, specifically the Philippine team, in reaching the summit and saving lives. Emeritus Chairman of the EDC Oscar M. Lopez, recognized the importance of climate change and atmospheric research in Southeast Asia and through expedition leader and EDC board member Art Valdez, met with Dr. Velazco 5 years ago to conceive the idea of TCCON Philippines. Driven by social and environmental commitment, Chairman OML and the EDC are fighting the same environmental battle as the TCCON scientists. And so together, Dr. Velazco and the TCCON scientists team up with Chairman OML and the EDC to realize a common goal - the establishment of the first TCCON Station in Southeast Asia. (This initiative was highlighted in the <a href="http://business.inquirer.net/210143/in-the-eye-of-the-storm-edc-adapts-to-climate-realities." title="In the eye of the storm, EDC adapts to climate realities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Philippine Daily Inquirer</a>).</p><p><strong>The TCCON Philippines initiative garners the attention of scientists internationally</strong></p><p>Dr. Velazco, an environmental Physicist, has over 10 years of research experience with TCCON and has done research on cirrus clouds and aerosols in the high Arctic, trace gas measurements on German research ships and worked at NASA studying the upper atmosphere. His work resulted in extensive collaboration networks in Europe, the U.S., and Australia, which, with the support of Prof. Griffith of University of Wollongong-Australia, would prove to be instrumental in setting up the TCCON station in the Philippines. Dr. Velazco sets out to present the TCCON-Philippines initiative at meetings in Switzerland and eventually, in Japan.</p><p><strong>The Japan connection</strong></p><p>Flashback to 2008: Japan developed and launched the first satellite in orbit dedicated to the remote sensing measurements of CO<sub>2</sub> and CH<sub>4</sub>, its name: GOSAT (Greenhouse gases observing Satellite). To continue the important work of GOSAT, Japan will launch GOSAT-2 in 2018. Dr. Isamu Morino, a TCCON scientist and Physical Chemist at NIES will lead the task to provide a validation station in the Tropical Western Pacific for GOSAT-2. Together with world renowned LIDAR expert Dr. Osamu Uchino, they assembled the TCCON and LIDAR instruments bound for the tropics. In 2013, Dr. Morino met with long-time collaborators Dr. Velazco & Prof. Griffith in Hokkaido, Japan to discuss the TCCON Philippines initiative. TCCON Philippines became a candidate as primary tropical validation site for Japan’s GOSAT-2 satellite, and also as validation data provider to other space-based satellite missions like NASA’s OCO-2 (Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2).</p><p><strong>The search</strong></p><p>The EDC offered various locations all over the Philippines, which were visited and assessed by the TCCON team. During the site selection process, a super typhoon called Yolanda hits one of the best location candidates - Tacloban. The search continues.</p><p>Finally, after 4 years of scouting and scientific study, the Burgos location was chosen. Now, Dr. Voltaire A. Velazco comes to the Philippines, in Burgos, Ilocos Norte, along with scientists from Japan and Australia, to build the 25th TCCON Station and be that much closer to further understanding the future of Earth’s Climate.</p><p><strong>Results and Beyond</strong></p><p>The site selection process and the scientific studies were published in “Climate, Disaster and Development Journal” (<a href="https://www.cddjournal.org/article/view/vol02-iss2-1" title="TCCON Philippines: Toward Quantifying Atmospheric Carbon in Southeast Asia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Velazco et al., 2017a</a>). This was followed by a paper in “Remote Sensing” (<a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/12/1228" title="TCCON Philippines first results" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Velazco et al., 2017b</a>), where first measurements of greenhouse gas total columns in Southeast Asia were shown as well as excellent satellite validation results. This was then followed by a paper on NASA's OCO-2 by <a href="https://www.atmos-meas-tech-discuss.net/amt-2018-257/" title="Improved retrievals of carbon dioxide from Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">O'Dell et al., 2018</a> where TCCON was used as one of the references in the latest version (V8) of the algorithm for data retrieval which helped reduce regional scale biases, fulfilling one of the project’s main goals. In the formal launching of TCCON Philippines, which was covered by local media (<a href="https://businessmirror.com.ph/hi-tech-climate-change-tracking-station-rises-inside-edcs-burgos-wind-farm/" title="Hi-tech climate-change tracking station rises inside EDC’s Burgos Wind Farm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The business Mirror</a> & <a href="http://manilastandard.net/business/power-technology/249509/high-tech-climate-change-station-established-in-edc-s-burgos-wind-farm.html" title="High-tech climate change station established in EDC’s Burgos wind farm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Manila Standard</a>), First Philippine Holdings (FPH) Chairman and CEO Federico R. Lopez said ”we at [FPH] believe that every business has a choice and we chose to go beyond our ‘business fence’ and contribute to the common good for the benefit of our environment and the people. Thus, in 2016 we declared to commit all our businesses to a low-carbon and sustainable operation to keep our employees, the communities and our assets out of harm from climate change”. Further, EDC President and COO Richard B. Tantoco said the government can use analyses derived from TCCON data to validate the region's carbon footprint. The footprint calculation will contribute to the world’s aspiration of climate stabilization by 2050 and serve as a guide for climate actions, as committed by signatories to the Paris agreement (COP21). The event was attended by representatives from the government and scientists from different universities.</p>
