Jenny Hanafin, Ph.D.
Dr. Jenny Hanafin is the Earth Observation Activity Lead at ICHEC. Her extensive experience in many aspects of remote sensing includes ocean, atmosphere and land applications.
She is currently spearheading the development of a national satellite data Platform-as-a-Service facility. This has involved developing a technical program based on user requirements established from public agencies, industry and academic interested parties across Ireland, while developing and implementing plans to secure financial support. She supervises a team of postdoctoral researchers and has secured a number of research grants to expand and develop the team further and establish a critical mass of EO expertise at ICHEC.
On recent projects she was technical lead (TL) and/or Principal Investigator (PI) on a number of satellite-derived water quality projects: INFER (TL, EPA-funded) mapped lake water quality across Irish lakes; and CoastVal (PI, ESA-funded) developed new technology to validate coastal water quality and became part of the ESA Sentinel 2 Validation Team activities. At TechWorks Marine she managed 5 international partners during the RESGrow project (PI/TL, ESA funded) which investigated product-market fit for new EO products for the renewable energy sector. The work done through RESGrow to understand wave energy sector requirements led to the development of a 20 year wave database around Ireland using numerical wave model with satellite data assimilation (PI, SEAI-funded). Both the coastal water quality satellite service and the wave database became commercial offerings.
In post-doctoral positions Jenny has worked on: satellite air-sea heat flux validation; characterizing storm swells using satellite, in situ and numerical models; assimilation of SAR and altimeter data into a numerical wave model and validation of satellite-derived sea surface temperatures. The work on air-sea heat fluxes built on her PhD (Meteorology and Physical Oceanography) work on thermal remote sensing of air-sea interface at the University of Miami. She also downscaled regional climate models during the first Irish climate modelling project with UCD and Met Eireann, and has published results on climate change impacts on regional storm surges, hydrology and atmospheric stability. She is currently the Earth Observation expert on the Global Climate Observing System and Integrated Carbon Observing System national committees and was an active member of the International Electrotechnical Commission national committee for TC114 – Marine Energy Converters for a number of years.
Interests
As well as spending time way out on various oceans (Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic) on research vessels for work, she loves sailing and scuba diving. She is also a fan of yoga, meditation, sci-fi and a bit of a foodie.
Publications
Cahalane, C., Magee, A., Monteys, X., Casal, G., Hanafin, J. A., Harris, P., A comparison of Landsat 8, RapidEye and Pleiades products for improving empirical predictions of satellite-derived bathymetry. Remote Sensing of Environment (2019), 233, 111414. DOI: 10.1016/j.rse.2019.111414
D. K. Woolf, J. D. Shutler, L. Goddijn-Murphy, A. J. Watson, B. Chapron, P. D. Nightingale, C. J. Donlon, J. Piskozub, M. J. Yelland, I. Ashton, T. Holding, U. Schuster, S. Jones, F. Girard-Ardhuin, A. Grouazel, J-F. Piolle, M. Warren, I. Wrobel-Niedzwiecka, P. E. Land, R. Torres, J. Prytherch, B. Moat, J. Hanafin, F. Ardhuin, S. Herledan, and F. Paul Key Uncertainties in the Recent Air-Sea Flux of CO2. Global Biogeochemical Cycles (2019), 33 (12) pp 1548-1563 DOI: 10.1029/2018gb006041
Cahalane C., Hanafin. J. A., Monteys, X., Improving satellite-derived bathymetry. Hydro International (2017) 21(1) 16-19
Hanafin, J. A., and Coauthors, 2012: Phenomenal Sea States and Swell from a North Atlantic Storm in February 2011: A Comprehensive Analysis. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 93, 1825–1832. DOI: 10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00128.1
Hanafin, J. A., R. McGrath, T. Semmler, S. Wang, P. Lynch, Steele-Dunne, S., P. Nolan, 2010. Air flow and stability indices in General Circulation Model future and control runs, International Journal of Climatology, 31 (8) 1240-1247, DOI: 10.1002/joc.2125.
Hanafin, J. A. & P. J. Minnett, 2005. Measurements of the infrared emissivity of a wind-roughened sea surface Applied Optics, 44 (3) 398-411
Hanafin, J. A. & P. J. Minnett, 2001. Cloud forcing of surface radiation in the North Water Polynya (NOW) during NOW '98, Atmosphere-Ocean, 39 (3) 239-255
Hanafin, J. A. & P. J. Minnett, 2001. Thermal profiling of the sea surface skin layer using FTIR measurements in Gas Transfer at Water Surfaces eds M. A. Donelan, W.M. Drennan, E.S. Saltzmann and R. Wanninkhof, AGU Geophysical Monograph Series, 127, 161-166.
T. Semmler, R. McGrath, S. Steele-Dunne, J. Hanafin, P. Nolan and S. Wang, 2010. Influence of climate change on heating and cooling energy demand in Ireland. International Journal of Climatology, 30 (10) 1502-1511.
Steele-Dunne, S., P. Lynch, R. McGrath, T. Semmler, S. Y. Wang, J. Hanafin, P. Nolan, 2008, The impacts of climate change on hydrology in Ireland, Journal of Hydrology, 356 (1-2), 28-45
Wang, S. Y., R. McGrath, J. Hanafin, P. Lynch, T. Semmler, P. Nolan, 2008, The impact of climate change on storm surges over Irish waters Ocean Modelling, 25 (1-2) 83-94
Harries, J. E., J. E. Russell, J. A. Hanafin and co-authors, 2005. The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) Project Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 86 (7) 945-960
Minnett, P. J., K. A. Maillett, J. A. Hanafin, B. J. Osborne, 2005. Infrared interferometric measurements of the near surface air temperature over oceans Journal of Oceanic and Atmospheric Technology, 22 (7), 1019-1032
Minnett, P. J., R. O. Knuteson, F. A. Best, B. J. Osborne, J. A. Hanafin, O. B. Brown, 2001. Marine-Atmosphere Emitted Radiance Interferometer (M-AERI): a high-accuracy, sea-going infrared spectroradiometer, Journal of Oceanic & Atmospheric Technology, 18 (6) 994-1013
Kearns, E. J., J. A. Hanafin, R. H. Evans, P. J. Minnett, O. B. Brown, 2000. An independent assessment of Pathfinder AVHRR sea surface temperature accuracy using the Marine-Atmosphere Emitted Radiance Interferometer (M-AERI), Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 81 (7) 1525-1536.
Reports
S. Dunne, J. Hanafin, P. Lynch, R. McGrath, E. Nishimura, P. Nolan, J. Venkata Ratnam, T. Semmler, C. Sweeney and S. Wang., 2008 Ireland in a Warmer World - Scientific Predictions of the Irish Climate in the Twenty-First Century, Environmental Protection Agency STRIVE Report 27, Wexford, Ireland. ISBN: 9781840953077
