SMAP

I’ve worked on SMAP since before launch in 2015, starting in graduate school. I lead development of the mission’s L-band freeze–thaw algorithm — from the original detection method, first validated on Aquarius, to the operational Level-3 Freeze/Thaw data record NASA distributes today. I’m first author on that data product and on the JSTARS paper introducing the Aquarius-based detection method it grew out of.

I’m now carrying that L-band expertise into the next era: as PI of a five-year NASA ROSES award, I lead development of high-resolution soil moisture algorithms across microwave satellite platforms — combining active radar (SMAP’s early active data, NISAR, and future ROSE-L) with passive radiometer measurements (SMAP, SMOS, and ESA’s future CIMR mission). The joint SMAP–NISAR active-passive algorithm is the mission work and first prototype of this cross-platform approach.