Remote Sensing Scientist | Radar & Microwave Observations | NASA JPL
Dr. Xiaolan Xu
I’m a scientist at NASA JPL focusing on remote sensing algorithms. With over ten years of experience in applied electromagnetics and Earth remote sensing, she is an established expert in microwave remote sensing forward modeling, retrieval algorithm development, and GNSS reflectometry. My work concentrates on enhancing the understanding of electromagnetic wave propagation and scattering across diverse terrestrial environments, including snow-covered terrains, vegetated land surfaces, and various soil condition.
Earth Science Missions
Lead Developer, Freeze/Thaw Algorithm (L2/3-FT Product): Spearheaded the development of the freeze/thaw algorithm for NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite mission, enhancing data accuracy and application.
SMAP Mission Support: Contributed to various SMAP field campaign data analyses and supported the development of optional algorithms and data cubes (L2-SM-A) for the SMAP satellite mission.
Soil Moisture Product Development for CYGNSS: Created the JPL Level 3 soil moisture product for the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS)
Publications
Research Grands
- Co-I (2024), NASA Earth Science U.S. Participating Investigator, “ROSE-L Soil Moisture Retrieval Using the SMAP and NISAR Algorithm”
- JPL-PI (2024), NASA Terrestrial Hydrology Proposal 24 “Development of a multi-frequency InSAR phase data assimilation framework for improved seasonal SWE characterization”
- PI (2020), NASA CYGNSS20 “Improve Soil Moisture Retrieval and Vegetation Optical Depth using CYGNSS v3 data”
- Co-I (2019), NASA Instrument Incubator Program, “Signals of Opportunity Synthetic Aperture Radar for High Resolution Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces”
- Co-I (2018), NASA Remote Sensing Theory, “Theoretical Basis for P-band Signals of Opportunity for remote sensing of Snow Water Equivalent”
- Co-I (2017), NASA CYGNSS17, “CYGNESS Soil Moisture Algorithm and Validation”
- Co-I (2017), NASA Terrestrial Hydrology Proposal, “P-Band Signals of Opportunity for Remote Sensing of Root Zone Soil Moisture and Snow”
- PI (2017), NASA Terrestrial Hydrology Proposal, “Multilayer forward model using SnowEX and TOMOSAR Datasets at X/Ku band, 2018-2020”
- Co-I (2016), NASA Terrestrial Hydrology Proposal, “Characterizing accuracy of an advanced snow water equivalent retrieval algorithm applied to airborne microwave remote sensing measurements”
- Collaborator (2015), NASA Science Utilization of the Soil Moisture Active-Passive Mission “Integrating Satellite Soil Moisture into Weather, Emission, and Air Quality Modeling”
- Co-I (2013), NASA ROSES Terrestrial Hydrology Proposal, “Radar Scattering from Terrestrial Snow at X band and Ku band: Forward Physical Models, Validation with SnowSAR data and Retrieval Algorithm
AWARDS
- Featured Article in IEEE transactions on Antennas and Propagation for 2024 Women’s Day
- JPL Team Award 2024, to SMAP SDS transition of forward stream science data processing to the cloud
- 2020 URSI Santimay Basu Prize, Citation: “For Developments in Wave Propagation and Scattering in Dense Random Media with Applications to Microwave Remote Sensing of Snow.”
- 2018 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Ulrich L. Rohde Innovative Conference Paper Awards on Computational Technique in Electromagnetics
- Top reviewers in Multidisciplinary
- Group Achievement Award, NASA Honors Award, SMAP Science and Cal/Val Team
- JPL Team Bonus Award, Algorithm and Science Data System Team
- JPL Team Bonus Award, Soil Moisture Active and Passive Mission Science Algorithm Team
Expert Remote Sensing
Enhancing environmental monitoring through innovative microwave remote sensing and advanced electromagnetic research for diverse terrestrial environments.