This is a partial list of current projects. Last updated 8/1/23.
NASA SWOT Science Team: NNX16AH82G and NNX16AQ31G
“Development and comprehensive validation of SWOT river discharge algorithms from AirSWOT, simulator, and field measurements.” Together with Prof Colin Gleason (U Mass), we are developing the algorithms that will compute river discharge from the upcoming SWOT satellite mission (link). We are testing algorithms using a range of datasets, and defining how accurate SWOT river discharge is likely to be. PI: Durand.
We are also working to understand the ways that lateral inflows along river contribute to river discharge error for SWOT, on a project at Northeastern University. PI: Ed Beighley.
Given the dearth of global data and declining global stream gage network, remote sensing of river discharge could provide hydrological information globally—if algorithms such as these can be made to provide accurate discharge.
NASA Terrestrial Hydrology 80NSSC17K0200
“Characterizing accuracy of an advanced snow water equivalent retrieval algorithm applied to airborne microwave remote sensing measurements." We are testing algorithms for estimating snow water equivalent from radar backscatter observations. This work would lay the way for a future NASA satellite to map snow across the planet, something that is very much needed to understand water resources and climate change.
NASA JPL Algorithm Definition Team
“Hydrology Activities for Rivers”. We are documenting and characterizing how river data products will look from SWOT. This is important, as SWOT is fundamentally different than many of the types of data that hydrologists have worked with in the past. See the example data product on the Sacramento River (link) as a sample of this type of work.