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Sciences and Exploration Directorate

Charon Melissa Birkett

(Rsch AST, Earth Sciences Remote Sens)

Charon Melissa Birkett's Contact Card & Information.
Email: charon.m.birkett@nasa.gov
Phone: 301.614.6464
Org Code: 61A
Address:
NASA/GSFC
 Mail Code 61A.1
 Greenbelt, MD 20771
Employer:
NASA

Brief Bio

Dr. Charon Birkett received a BSc in Physics/Astronomy from the University of Sheffield, U.K. and a Ph.D in Astronomy from the University of Leicester. After spending several years studying the physical and chemical attributes of comets and asteroids she switched to the Earth Sciences. While at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory (University College London), focus was on exploring satellite-based remote sensing techniques, particularly radar altimetry and its application to monitoring the variation of continental surface waters.


Dr. Birkett came to the USA in 1997 via the USRA Visiting Scientist Program at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. She moved between the Oceans and Ice (under Chet Koblinsky) and Biospheric Physics (under Jim Tucker) Branches while continuing to promote altimetry for lake and river surface dynamics studies. In October 2001, Dr. Birkett joined the Earth Science Interdisciplinary Center at the University of Maryland College Park winning a number of NASA and USDA grant awards relating to the various interdisciplinary themes such as water resources, climate change, river dynamics, and natural hazards. Joining the Geodesy and Geodynamics Lab at NASA/GSFC in July 2019, Dr. Birkett continues to explore altimetric techniques, both radar and lidar applying derived elevation, slope, and depth measurements to a number of projects and collaborating with both scientists and stakeholders.


Overall, Dr. Birkett has 25years experience in the field of satellite remote sensing. Instrument performance, technique exploration and enhancement, and product development and application, are all central themes to her work. She has explored data sets ranging from the early NASA/NRL Seasat and Geosat missions, to the continuity NASA-based Topex/Jason/Sentinel-6 series, as well as the ESA/ISRO/CNES datasets from the ERS, ENVISAT, SARAL and Sentinel-3 missions. She pioneered the development of the operational USDA/NASA funded Global Reservoir and Lake Monitor (G-REALM) and the NASA funded Global Water Measurements (GWM) system, and she serves on a number of science and mission working teams. Current projects address science questions relating to continental water storage dynamics and their potential contribution to global mean sea level. In addition, she continues to serve the stakeholder communities with a range of remote sensing products that aid in the monitoring of water resources for food, water, hydro-electric power, and natural hazards considerations.

 

Research Interests

Satellite Remote Sensing Techniques

Earth Science: Remote Sensing

Exploring new remote sensing techniques and creaing or enhacing data interpretation methodologies.

Continental Surface Water Dynamics

Earth Science: Hydrology / Water Cycle

Studying the temporal and spatial variability of surface water variations.

Applied Sciences/Water Resources

Earth Science: Human Dimensions

From research to operations. Serving the needs of a variety of stakeholders who have interests in global surface water resources, with resepct to agriculture (irrigation potential), domestic and industrial water and energy supply, navigation, and natural disasters (flood and drought).

Current Projects

The NASA/USDA Global Reservoir and Lake Monitor (G-REALM)

Hydrology / Water Cycle

This is a NASA/USDA Applied Sciences project delivering remote-sensing derived surface water level products to the USDA/FAS for integration into the CropExplorer web based system. This USDA tool utilizes a range of remote sensing, model, and in situ datasets, to assess monthly crop conditions and statistics around the globe. The water-level products are a surrogate for the amount of water stored within lakes and reservoirs that could potentially be used for irrigation.

The project utilizes a number of NASA and non-NASA satellite data sets including radar altimeters onboard the Topex/POSEIDON, Jason series, Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-6 series).

The Global Water Measurements (GWM)

Hydrology / Water Cycle

The Global Water Measurements project is a multi-group collaboration at NASA/GSFC that aims to utilize a suite of remote sensing data sets to create surface water products for lakes, reservoirs, river reaches, and wetlands. The GWM offers surface water level products for all inland water bodies, but additionally seeks to create surface water storage variations within lakes and reservoirs. This project serves a variety of stakeholders and is funded by the NASA Applied Sciences project office.

The project utilizes a number of NASA and non-NASA satellite data sets including altimeters (TOPEX/Poseidon, the Jason series, the Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-6 series, and the laser-based ICESat-2). and the multi-spectral imaging MODIS instruments.

Global Surface Water Storage and Dynamics

Hydrology / Water Cycle

Using a variety of remotely-sensed products this project looks to the spatial and temporal variability of surface water stored within lakes, river reaches and wetlands. It currently looks to the identification of anthropogenic influences, particularly relevant to the increasing number of impoundments. The effects of change on both regional water cycles and to global mean sea level change are ultimately in focus.

The project utilizes a number of NASA and non-NASA satellite data sets including those from radar and lidar altimeters and multi-spectral imaging instruments.

Positions/Employment

Research AST Earth Sciences Remote Sensing

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, MD

July 2019 - Present

Research Scientist

University of Maryland - College Park, MD

October 2001 - July 2019

Visiting Research Scientist

Universities Space Research Association (USRA) - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD

April 1997 - September 2001

Publications

Refereed

2023. "Satellite remote sensing of river discharge: a framework for assessing the accuracy of discharge estimates made from satellite remote sensing observations.", Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, 17 (01): [10.1117/1.jrs.17.014520] [Journal Article/Letter]

2023. "Climate and human impacts on hydrological processes and flood risk in southern Louisiana.", Water Resources Research, [10.1029/2022wr033238] [Journal Article/Letter]

2022. "Enhancement of a global lake and reservoir database to aid climate studies and resource monitoring utilizing satellite radar altimetry.", Journal of Great Lakes Research, 48 (1): 37-51 [10.1016/j.jglr.2021.11.013] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Managing wetlands to solve the water crisis in the Katuma River ecosystem, Tanzania.", Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology, [10.1016/j.ecohyd.2021.02.001] [Journal Article/Letter]

2020. "Satellite-based remote sensing data set of global surface water storage change from 1992 to 2018.", Earth System Science Data, 12 (2): 1141-1151 [10.5194/essd-12-1141-2020] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Satellite remote sensing estimation of river discharge: Application to the Yukon River Alaska.", Journal of Hydrology, 561 1000-1018 [10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.04.005] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Restoring the perennial Great Ruaha River using ecohydrology, engineering and governance methods in Tanzania.", Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology, 18 (2): 120-129 [10.1016/j.ecohyd.2017.10.008] [Journal Article/Letter]

2018. "Inferring elevation variation of lakes and reservoirs from areal extents: Calibrating with altimeter and in situ data.", Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, 9 116-125 [10.1016/j.rsase.2018.01.001] [Journal Article/Letter]

2017. "Engaging the User Community for Advancing Societal Applications of the Surface Water Ocean Topography Mission.", Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 98 (11): ES285-ES290 [10.1175/bams-d-17-0161.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2016. "Applications for ICESat-2 Data: From NASA's Early Adopter Program.", IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine, 4 (4): 24-37 [10.1109/mgrs.2016.2560759] [Journal Article/Letter]

2013. "Publisher’s Note: Intercomparison and validation of continental water level products derived from satellite radar altimetry.", Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, 6 (1): 060103 [10.1117/1.jrs.6.060103] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "Intercomparison and validation of continental water level products derived from satellite radar altimetry.", Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, 6 (1): 061710 [10.1117/1.jrs.6.061710] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "Global monitoring of large reservoir storage from satellite remote sensing.", Water Resources Research, 48 (9): [10.1029/2012wr012063] [Journal Article/Letter]

2012. "The role of vegetation in the water budget of the Usangu wetlands, Tanzania.", Wetlands Ecology and Management, 20 (5): 389-398 [10.1007/s11273-012-9260-8] [Journal Article/Letter]

2011. "Climatic Effects on Lake Basins. Part I: Modeling Tropical Lake Levels.", Journal of Climate, 24 (12): 2983-2999 [10.1175/2010jcli3602.1] [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Monitoring Global Croplands with Coarse Resolution Earth Observations: The Global Agriculture Monitoring (GLAM) Project.", Remote Sensing, 2 (6): 1589-1609 [10.3390/rs2061589] [Journal Article/Letter]

2010. "Investigating the Performance of the Jason-2/OSTM Radar Altimeter over Lakes and Reservoirs.", Marine Geodesy, 33 (sup1): 204-238 [10.1080/01490419.2010.488983] [Journal Article/Letter]

2006. "Lake studies from satellite radar altimetry.", Comptes Rendus Geoscience, 338 (14-15): 1098-1112 [10.1016/j.crte.2006.08.002] [Journal Article/Letter]

2004. "Calculation of river discharge and prediction of lake height from satellite radar altimetry: Example for the Lake Chad basin.", Water Resources Research, 40 (10): [10.1029/2003wr002543] [Journal Article/Letter]

2002. "Long-term simulations of discharge and floods in the Amazon Basin.", J. Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 107 (D20): 8044 [10.1029/2001JD000740] [Journal Article/Letter]

2002. "Evaluation of JERS-1 SAR mosaics for hydrological applications in the Congo river basin.", International Journal of Remote Sensing, 23 (7): 1283-1302 [10.1080/01431160110092902] [Journal Article/Letter]

2002. "Surface water dynamics in the Amazon Basin: Application of satellite radar altimetry.", Journal of Geophysical Research, 107 (D20): 8059 [10.1029/2001jd000609] [Journal Article/Letter]

2001. "Water level changes in a large Amazon lake measured with spaceborne radar interferometry and altimetry.", Geophysical Research Letters, 28 (14): 2671-2674 [10.1029/2001gl012962] [Journal Article/Letter]

2001. "Global water data: A newly endangered species.", Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 82 (5): 54-54 [10.1029/01eo00031] [Journal Article/Letter]

2000. "Fishing and Farming at Lake Chad: Responses to Lake-level Fluctuations.", The Geographical Journal, 166 (2): 156-172 [10.1111/j.1475-4959.2000.tb00015.x] [Journal Article/Letter]

2000. "Synergistic Remote Sensing of Lake Chad Variability of Basin Inundation.", Remote Sensing of Environment, 72 (2): 218-236 [10.1016/s0034-4257(99)00105-4] [Journal Article/Letter]

1999. "Indian Ocean Climate event brings floods to East Africa's lakes and the Sudd Marsh.", Geophysical Research Letters, 26 (8): 1031-1034 [10.1029/1999gl900165] [Journal Article/Letter]

1998. "Contribution of the TOPEX NASA Radar Altimeter to the global monitoring of large rivers and wetlands.", Water Resources Research, 34 (5): 1223-1239 [10.1029/98wr00124] [Journal Article/Letter]

1995. "The contribution of TOPEX/POSEIDON to the global monitoring of climatically sensitive lakes.", Journal of Geophysical Research, 100 (C12): 25179 [10.1029/95jc02125] [Article in Book]

1994. "A comparison of the performance of the ice and ocean tracking modes of the ERS-1 radar altimeter over non-ocean surfaces.", Geophysical Research Letters, 21 (7): 553-556 [10.1029/94gl00178] [Journal Article/Letter]

1987. "Infrared and optical observations of low-activity comets, P/Arend-Rigaux (1984k) and P/Neujmin 1 (1984c).", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 225 (2): 285-296 [10.1093/mnras/225.2.285] [Journal Article/Letter]

1985. "Observations of Comet Crommelin - I. Morphology and C2 production rate.", Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 217 (3): 651-658 [10.1093/mnras/217.3.651] [Journal Article/Letter]

Non-Refereed

2025. "Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD) for Along-Track Inland Surface Water Level Products as derived from Short-Repeat Satellite Radar Altimeters.", NASA Technical Memo, NASA/TM-20250005550 [Other]

2021. "Expansion and Enhancement of a Global Lake and Reservoir Database to aid Climate Studies and Resource Monitoring.", Journal of Great Lakes Research, 48 (1): 37-51 [10.1016/j.jglr.2021.11.013] [Journal Article/Letter]

2021. "Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (ATBD). Stream Stage Measurements: V2.5.1. Water Level products from Satellite Radar Altimetry.", NASA Technical Memo, (NASA/TM-20205011785): [Other]

2021. "Observations, Monitoring and Data Management.", Handbook of Water Management, Chapter 13, [Article in Book]

2005. "Hydrological applications of remote sensing: surface state - river and water body stage, width and gradient from satellite radar altimetry, interferometric SAR, and laser altimetry.", The encyclopedia of hydrological sciences, Volume 2, Hydrological application of remote sensing: surface states, 5 903-918 [10.1002/0470848944.hsa065] [Article in Book]

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