Thomas Herring

Thomas A. Herring (born 17 July 1955 in Cooroy, Queensland, Australia) is a geophysicist, known for developing and applying systems of space geodesy to high-precision geophysical measurements and geodynamic research.

Education and career At the University of Queensland, Herring graduated in surveying with a bachelor's degree in 1976 and a master's degree in 1978. At Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he graduated in 1983 with a Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Sciences. His Ph.D. thesis entitled The precision and accuracy of intercontinental distance determinations using radio interferometry was supervised by Irwin I. Shapiro. Herring was from 1979 to 1983 a research assistant in MIT's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and from 1983 to 1989 a research associate at Harvard University. At MIT, he was from 1989 to 1997 an associate professor in the department of Earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences and is since 1997 a professor of geophysics. In 1986 he was a visiting scientist in the Division of National Mapping of the Australian Department of Energy and Resources. Using VLBI, he and his colleagues published conclusive, high-precision evidence of tectonic plate motions. As part of a four-member team, Herring used VLBI data to publish an empirical nutation model, which was used by the International Earth Rotation Service for a considerable time. Herring was among the pioneers who used the global positioning system (GPS) for better understanding of geodynamics, including highly accurate measurements of variations of the rate of Earth's rotation. He has used GPS, VLBI, and InSar in his research on atmospheric water vapor. In earthquake research, he has been a member of teams that used GPS and VLBI data to determine velocity fields for crustal deformations in southern and central California. In 2012 he was the principal investigator for a project on reservoir modeling.

Herring and his colleagues at MIT have developed computer software that uses Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data to analyze GNSS measurements, primarily for the purpose of studying deformations in the Earth's crust. The software GAMIT/GLOBK (GNSS At MIT/Global Kalman filter) was developed at MIT. GAMIT accepts phase data and returns estimates of "three-dimensional relative positions of ground stations and satellite orbits, atmospheric zenith delays, and Earth orientation parameters." GLOBK accepts as input computed derivations from "GPS, VLBI, and SLR experiments" and, by means of a Kalman filter algorithm, gives output consisting of statistical estimates from various combinations of such derivations. GAMIT/GLOBK requires a basic Unix- or Linux-based operating system, as well as several software prerequisites.

Herring is the author or co-author of more than 80 scientific publications. He has served as a member of many scientific working groups, panels, and committees. He received in 1995 the Bomford Prize of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG). and in 2007 the Vening Meinesz Medal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

Selected publications

(invited lecture)