Content by Dr. Michael Summers

Dr. Michael E. Summers is a Professor of Planetary Science at George Mason University. He specializes in the study of a variety of chemical and dynamical processes in planetary atmospheres.  His work is primarily theoretical in nature, but he serves on several space mission science teams in the role of science planning and in the interpretation of spacecraft observations. Dr. Summers’ planetary research has dealt with the structure and evolution of the atmospheres of Earth, Mars, Io, Titan, Triton, Uranus, Pluto and its moon Charon.  He is a member of the Science Team of the New Horizons mission to Pluto/Charon and the Kuiper Belt that was launched in January 2006 and performed a flyby of Jupiter in February 2007. Dr. Summers’ current work on the Earth’s atmosphere deals with the sources and sinks of middle atmospheric water vapor and the role of water in the formation and evolution of Noctilucent Clouds. He is a member of the science team of the AIM (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere) Small Explorer mission that was launched in April 2007 as the first dedicated mission to study the role of these high altitude clouds as indicators of global climate change.