Hi! I'm Dr. Nancy Kiang and I'm a terrestrial biometeorologist and biogeochemist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University in New York City.

In my work, I study the ways that living things (called the biosphere) and the atmosphere interact with each other, focusing on life on land. Through photosynthesis and the evaporation of water from plant leaves, seasonal cycles of growth and decay, and occasional big events like fires, the biosphere on Earth exchanges heat, water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen in different forms, and many other compounds with the atmosphere. These exchanges result in the biosphere actively controlling the climate of the Earth. If we understand this better, we can predict weather better, and we can also try to figure out how these exchanges could be different for life on another planet.

Nancy Kiang's Career Fact Sheet

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