Research Professor Emeritus Eric Vermote Named 2025 Pecora Award Recipient

Eric Vermote's pioneering atmospheric correction methods have shaped how scientists read satellite data.

When scientists study deforestation, drought or shifting coastlines from space, they rely on satellite data that has been painstakingly corrected for one invisible obstacle: the atmosphere itself. That correction is central to the life's work of Research Professor Emeritus Eric Vermote, who has been named a recipient of the 2025 William T. Pecora Award.

Jointly bestowed by the U.S. Geological Survey and NASA, the William T. Pecora Award honors individuals whose contributions to remote sensing have advanced humanity's understanding of Earth. Vermote, who began his career in the Department of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland before moving to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, is recognized for developing the algorithms and tools that allow satellite measurements to accurately capture what is actually happening on the ground.

"Eric has worked behind the scenes of so many NASA datasets (AVHRR, MODIS, VIIRS, Landsat, HLS and CSDA) to develop calibrated atmospherically corrected surface reflectance products, which have been the foundation for so much great research," said Distinguished University Professor and past Pecora Award recipient Chris Justice. "It is high time that he was recognized for his contribution, and I can think of no more fitting award than the much coveted Pecora Award."

Among Vermote's most widely used contributions are the 6S radiative transfer code and the Land Surface Reflectance code, which set the global standard for how satellite data is cleaned and validated before it reaches researchers. His work through the AERONET Sunphotometer network further strengthened the bridge between what satellites observe and what instruments on the ground measure.

With this recognition, Vermote adds to a remarkable tradition of Pecora Award honorees from the Department of Geographical Sciences — joining John Townshend, Sam Goward and Matthew Hansen, as well as Justice. Formal award presentations are scheduled for the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium in Washington, D.C., Aug. 9–14.