WILLIAM PATRICK ARNOTT

Associate Research Professor, Atmospheric Sciences Center, Desert Research Institute

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, University of Mississippi

2215 Raggio Parkway, Reno, Nevada  89512-1095

(775) 674-7023, (775) 674-7060

email: pat@dri.edu 
 
 

EDUCATION:

Ph.D. 1988 Physics  Washington State University, Pullman (Professor Philip L. Marston, Advisor)

M.S.  1986 Physics  Washington State University, Pullman

B.S.   1984 Physics  University of Southern Colorado, Pueblo 
 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

1996-Present Associate Research Professor, Atmospheric Sciences Center, 
 Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada

1995-Present  Assistant Director, Atmospheric Sciences Program, University of Nevada, Reno

1992-1996 Assistant Research Professor, Atmospheric Sciences Center, 
 Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada

1991-Present Adjunct Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Physics  
 Department, University of Mississippi, Oxford

1988-1991 Postdoctoral Scientist, National Center for Physical Acoustics,  
 University of Mississippi, Oxford.

1984-1988 Research/Teaching Assistant, Washington State University, Pullman

1984 American Physical Society Summer Intern, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, California

1983 Research Assistant, University of Southern Colorado, Pueblo 
 

      Dr. Arnott's previous research has included work on a general formulation of thermoacoustics, model development and verification for sound propagation in ideal porous material, in situ  acoustic detection of soil properties and use of laser doppler vibrometry for acoustic-to-seismic coupling measurements, backscattering of light by freely-rising spheroidal bubbles in water with application to ocean optics, computer simulations of farfield radiation patterns of phased-array laser diodes, and x-ray diffraction from liquid surfaces to determine the atomic radial distribution function.  His current experimental and theoretical research efforts include Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer determination of the scattering and absorptive properties of ice crystals in the IR region of 1 µm to 20 µm, novel instrument development of photoacoustic spectrometers for use in directly measuring light absorption by aerosols, and cirrus cloud microphysics measurements and analysis using research aircraft.  These efforts are useful for quantifying the role of ice clouds and aerosols in the earth's radiation budget and for producing useful semi-empirical radiation and scattering relations for aerosols and ice clouds.  He is also continuing to study fundamental properties of thermoacoustic refrigerators and sound sources, with application to finding an efficient alternative to CFC-based refrigeration.  He teaches in the Department of Physics at the University of Nevada, Reno. 
 

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:

Acoustical Society of America          Optical Society of America

American Geophysical Union           Air and Waste Management Association

PUBLICATIONS:

1. Arnott, W.P., 1988:  Generalized glory scattering from spherical and spheroidal bubbles in water:  Unfolding axial caustics with harmonic angular perturbations of toroidal wavefronts. Ph.D. Dissertation, Washington State University, School of Science and Arts, Pullman.

2. Arnott, W.P. and P.L. Marston, 1988:  Optical glory of small freely-rising gas bubbles in water:  Observed and computed cross-polarized backscattering patterns. J. Opt. Soc., 5, 496-506.

3. Arnott, W.P. and P.L. Marston, 1989:  Unfolding axial caustics of glory scattering with harmonic angular perturbations of toroidal wavefronts. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 85, 1427-1440.

4. Arnott, W.P. and J.S. Sabatier, 1990:  Laser-Doppler vibrometer measurements of acoustic to seismic coupling. Applied Acoustics, 30, 279-291.

5. Sabatier, J.S., H. Hess, W.P. Arnott, K. Attenborough, M. Romkens and E. Grissinger, 1990:  In situ measurements of soil physical properties by acous-tical techniques. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. 54, 658-672.

6. Roh, H., W. P. Arnott, J. M. Sabatier and R. Raspet, 1991:  Measurement and calculation of acoustic propagation constants in arrays of small air-filled rectangular tubes, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 89, 2617-2624.

7. Arnott, W. P. and P.L. Marston, 1991:  Unfolded optical glory of spheroids: Backscattering of laser light from freely rising spheroidal air bubbles in water. Applied Optics, 30, 3429-3442.

8. Arnott, W.P. H.E. Bass and R. Raspet, 1991:  General formulation of thermoacoustics for stacks having arbitrarily-shaped pore cross-sections. J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 9