(ASSISTANT RESEARCH SCIENTIST)
| Email: | jessica.r.sutton@nasa.gov |
| Org Code: | 617 |
| Address: |
NASA/GSFC Mail Code 617 Greenbelt, MD 20771 |
| Employer: | UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE CO |
2016
Ph. D. in Geological Sciences
Certificate of Graduate Study in Applied Statistics
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
Advisor: Dr. Venkat Lakshmi
2011
Masters of Environmental Science
Yale University, New Haven, CT
Advisor: Dr. Oswald Schmitz
2009
Bachelor of Arts in Biology
Berea College, Berea, KY
Advisor: Dr. Ralph Thompson
Precipitation
The project is a comparison of in situ and forecasted precipitation during Hurricane Helene to inform landslide modeling. The analysis compares forecasted precipitation from NAM, HRRR, and GEOS with precipitation from rain gauges.
Precipitation
Determining the causes of false detections from satellite-derived precipitation is of utmost importance due to the development and dependence of precipitation estimates in global water cycle modeling, weather forecasting, flood modeling, landslide hazard assessment, drought monitoring, watershed modeling, and climate modeling. One kind of false detection that needs to be addressed is virga or “dry precipitation events”. They are described as “dry precipitation events” because they are considered precipitation events that occur higher in the atmosphere but evaporate before reaching the surface. This means that every satellite-based precipitation product is affected by virga because of the way in which precipitation is derived from satellite remote sensors. Satellite-based precipitation estimates are derived from cloud temperatures, emission-based retrievals, and/or scattering-based retrievals. Regardless of whether satellite-based precipitation estimates are derived from VIS/IR, passive microwave, or both, they are derived from measurements within the atmosphere and not at the surface. As a result, any analysis or model that uses satellite-based precipitation as inputs is problematic.
The purpose of this collaboration is to (1) complete a proof-of-concept project to identify virga events using vertical profiles from ground radar and (2) apply for a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to support future work. The proof of concept will include collection of a database of virga events at one radar ground station and building a machine learning tool for flagging virga events. The NSF grant will seek to determine the influence that virga precipitation has on global precipitation datasets and climate modeling.
2024. "Evaluating Precipitation Events Using GPM IMERG 30-Minute Near-Real-Time Precipitation Estimates." Journal of Hydrometeorology 25 (7): 991-1006 [10.1175/jhm-d-23-0141.1] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "Comparing Precipitation during Typhoons in the Western North Pacific Using Satellite and In Situ Observations." Remote Sensing 14 (4): 877 [10.3390/rs14040877] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Comparison and Bias Correction of TMPA Precipitation Products over the Lower Part of Red–Thai Binh River Basin of Vietnam." Remote Sensing 10 (10): 1582 [10.3390/rs10101582] [Journal Article/Letter]
2017. "From Space to the Rocky Intertidal: Using NASA MODIS Sea Surface Temperature and NOAA Water Temperature to Predict Intertidal Logger Temperature." Remote Sensing 9 (2): 162 [10.3390/rs9020162] [Journal Article/Letter]
2016. "When El Niño Rages: How Satellite Data Can Help Water-Stressed Islands." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 97 (12): 2249-2255 [10.1175/bams-d-15-00219.1] [Journal Article/Letter]
2016. "Closing the Pacific Rainfall Data Void." Eos 97 [10.1029/2016eo055053] [Journal Article/Letter]
University of Maryland Baltimore County - Baltimore, MD
September 2022 - Present
Berry College - Mount Berry, GA
July 2017 - September 2022
University of South Carolina - Columbia, SC
September 2016 - July 2017
University of South Carolina - Columbia, SC
September 2016 - July 2017
SSAI/NASA DEVELOP National Program - Asheville, NC
August 2015 - April 2016
Courses Taught at Berry College from 2017 - 2022 as Assistant Professor
Courses Taught at the University of South Carolina from 2016 - 2017 as Instructor and Lab Coordinator
Courses Taught at the University of South Carolina from 2012 - 2015 as Doctoral Student
Identification of Virga Precipitation Events
Center and Institute Departmentally-Engaged Research (CIDER) - University of Maryland Baltimore County - Awarded: 2025-01-23
Dates: -
Amount 50,000