Eunsang is a hydrologist who focuses on accurate and timely estimations and predictions of critical hydrologic fluxes, storages, and processes for enhanced water resources management, flood prediction, and infrastructure design. For this, he uses field observations, multiple remote sensing techniques (active and passive microwave, infrared, thermal, and gamma radiation via UAS, aircraft, and satellite platforms), and land surface and regional climate model simulations along with big-data analytics. He is currently working with Drs. Carrie Vuyovich and Sujay Kumar on quantifying uncertainties in snow and hydrological estimates from multiple land surface models (LSMs) within the Snow Ensemble Uncertainty Project (SEUP), developing the Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE), and helping the current and upcoming SnowEx campaigns for future snow satellite mission concept. Prior to joining in NASA GSFC, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at University of New Hampshire, where he obtained a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Eunsang Cho
(POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCH)
| Email: | eunsang.cho@nasa.gov |
| Org Code: | 606.2 |
| Address: |
NASA/GSFC Mail Code 606.2 Greenbelt, MD 20771 |
| Employer: | UNIVERISTY OF MARYLAND |
Brief Bio
Positions/Employment
Assistant Research Scientist
NASA GSFC / Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park - MD
July 2023 - Present
Postdoctoral Research Scientist
NASA GSFC / Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park - MD
August 2020 - June 2023
- Works on the Snow Ensemble Uncertainty Project (SEUP) to quantify snowpack and its error characteristics and to predict snowmelt-driven streamflow estimations using mutiple land surface models (Noah-MP, Catchment, Noah, and JULES) with meteorological forcings and the HyMAP routing model via NASA Land Information System (LIS).
- Conducts research to develop an observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) with data assimilation and to assess the potential benefits of various remotely sensed observations on snow estimation and end-use applications.
- Helps to organize and conduct the NASA Snow Experiment (SnowEx) 2020/21 field campaigns for future satellite missions.
Postdoctoral Associate
University of New Hampshire - Durham, NH
May 2020 - August 2020
Funded by U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Broad Agency Announcement Grant (Project: Cold Regions Operations and Assessment Research)
- Estimates high-resolution snow depth measurements from the Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS)-based LiDAR system
- Conducts field work to collect snow depth and snow water equivalent observations for validation
- Analyzes the Maximum Entropy (Maxent) modeling to characterize spatial variability of snow depth and identify dominant physical drivers to determine snow variations
Education
Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New Hampshire, USA, 2020
- Title: Human and Climate Impacts on Flooding via Remote Sensing, Big Data Analytics, and Modeling
M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea, 2014
- Title: Evaluation of Satellite-based Soil Moisture from Active and Passive Microwave Sensors in northeast Asia
B.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea, 2010
Publications
Refereed
2024. "Extending the utility of space-borne snow water equivalent observations over vegetated areas with data assimilation." Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 28 (3): 631-648 [10.5194/hess-28-631-2024] [Journal Article/Letter]
2023. "Seasonal soil freeze/thaw variability across North America via ensemble land surface modeling." Cold Regions Science and Technology 209 103806 [10.1016/j.coldregions.2023.103806] [Journal Article/Letter]
2023. "Brief communication: Comparison of in-situ ephemeral snow depth measurements over a mixed-use temperate forest landscape." The Cryosphere Discussions [10.5194/tc-2023-36] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "Precipitation biases and snow physics limitations drive the uncertainties in macroscale modeled snow water equivalent." Hydrology and Earth System Sciences 26 (22): 5721-5735 [10.5194/hess-26-5721-2022] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "Evaluating the Utility of Active Microwave Observations as a Snow Mission Concept Using Observing System Simulation Experiments." The Cryosphere Discussions [10.5194/tc-2022-220] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "Assimilation of airborne gamma observations provides utility for snow estimation in forested environments." Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions 1-26 [10.5194/hess-2022-332] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Future Changes in Snowpack, Snowmelt, and Runoff Potential Extremes Over North America." Geophysical Research Letters 48 (22): [10.1029/2021gl094985] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Maximum entropy modeling to identify physical drivers of shallow snowpack heterogeneity using unpiloted aerial system (UAS) lidar." Journal of Hydrology 602 126722 [10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126722] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Extreme Value Snow Water Equivalent and Snowmelt for Infrastructure Design Over the Contiguous United States." Water Resources Research 56 (10): [10.1029/2020wr028126] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "How Satellite Soil Moisture Data Can Help to Monitor the Impacts of Climate Change: SMAP Case Studies." IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 13 1590-1596 [10.1109/jstars.2020.2982608] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Improvement of operational airborne gamma radiation snow water equivalent estimates using SMAP soil moisture." Remote Sensing of Environment 240 111668 [10.1016/j.rse.2020.111668] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Shallow snow depth mapping with unmanned aerial systems lidar observations: A case study in Durham, New Hampshire, United States." [10.5194/tc-2020-37] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Improving SMAP freeze-thaw retrievals for pavements using effective soil temperature from GEOS-5: Evaluation against in situ road temperature data over the U.S." Remote Sensing of Environment 237 111545 [10.1016/j.rse.2019.111545] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "The Value of Long‐Term (40 years) Airborne Gamma Radiation SWE Record for Evaluating Three Observation‐Based Gridded SWE Data Sets by Seasonal Snow and Land Cover Classifications." Water Resources Research 56 (1): [10.1029/2019wr025813] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Identifying Subsurface Drainage using Satellite Big Data and Machine Learning via Google Earth Engine." Water Resources Research 55 (10): 8028-8045 [10.1029/2019wr024892] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Comparison of Satellite Passive Microwave With Modeled Snow Water Equivalent Estimates in the Red River of the North Basin." IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 12 (9): 3233-3246 [10.1109/jstars.2019.2926058] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Evaluation of SMAP Freeze/Thaw Retrieval Accuracy at Core Validation Sites in the Contiguous United States." Remote Sensing 10 (9): 1483 [10.3390/rs10091483] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Intercomparison of snow water equivalent observations in the Northern Great Plains." Hydrological Processes 32 (6): 817-829 [10.1002/hyp.11459] [Journal Article/Letter]
2017. "Does AMSR2 produce better soil moisture retrievals than AMSR-E over Australia?." Remote Sensing of Environment 188 95-105 [10.1016/j.rse.2016.10.050] [Journal Article/Letter]
2017. "Development and Assessment of the Sand Dust Prediction Model by Utilizing Microwave-Based Satellite Soil Moisture and Reanalysis Datasets in East Asian Desert Areas." Advances in Meteorology 2017 1-13 [10.1155/2017/1917372] [Journal Article/Letter]
2016. "Remote Sensing of Drivers of Spring Snowmelt Flooding in the North Central U.S." Remote Sensing of Hydrological Extremes 21-45 [10.1007/978-3-319-43744-6_2] [Article in Book]
2016. "The Seasonal Difference in Soil Moisture Patterns Considering the Meteorological Variables Throughout the Korean Peninsula." Terrestrial, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences 27 (6): 907-920 [10.3319/tao.2016.07.12.01] [Journal Article/Letter]
2015. "An assessment of remotely sensed surface and root zone soil moisture through active and passive sensors in northeast Asia." Remote Sensing of Environment 160 166-179 [10.1016/j.rse.2015.01.013] [Journal Article/Letter]
2015. "First Assessment of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) Soil Moisture Contents in Northeast Asia." Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan. Ser. II 93 (1): 117-129 [10.2151/jmsj.2015-008] [Journal Article/Letter]
2014. "Regional scale spatio-temporal variability of soil moisture and its relationship with meteorological factors over the Korean peninsula." Journal of Hydrology 516 317-329 [10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.12.053] [Journal Article/Letter]
Professional Societies
American Geophysical Union
2013 - Present
American Meteorological Society
2019 - Present
European Geosciences Union
2020 - Present
Young Earth System Scientists (YESS) Community
2019 - Present
Professional Service
Reviewer for
- AGU Advances
- Advances in Water Resources
- Int. J. Appl. Earth Observation & Geoinformation
- International Journal of Climatology
- Journal of Environmental Radioactivity
- Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmosphere
- Journal of Hydrology
- Remote Sensing of Environment
- Remote Sensing
- The Cryosphere
- Water Resources Research
Awards
- AGU Water Resources Research 2019 Editor's Choice Award (2020)
- CUAHSI Pathfinder Fellowship (NSF Award No 1849458) (2020)
- UNH Dissertation Year Fellowship (2019 – 2020)
- UNH Summer TA Fellowship (2018)
- UNH College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (CEPS) Fellowship (2015-2016)
- 1st Paper Presentation Award, Chuncheon Global Water Forum (2013)
- Excellent Paper Award in 2013, Korea Water Resources Association Annual Conference (2013)
- Brain Korea21 PLUS (BK21+) Fellowship (2013 - 2014)
- Brain Korea21 (BK21) Fellowship (2012)
Teaching Experience
- Adjunct Lecturer, Snow Hydrology, University of New Hampshire (Spring 2021)
- Lab Instructor, Fluid Mechanics, University of New Hampshire (2017-2018)
- Lab Instructor, Geographic Information System, Hanyang University, South Korea (2013)
- Teaching Assistant, Hydrology & Water Resources Engineering, Hanyang University, South Korea (2012-2013)
Grants
Groundwater Impact on S2S Snowmelt Flood Predictability
ROSES: A.50 Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (S2S) Hydrometeorological Prediction - NASA HQ - Awarded: 2022-08-16
Dates: 2023-01-17 - 2026-01-16
Amount $648,596 (total)
Special Experience
- Visiting Student, NASA GSFC, Hydrological Science Laboratory, Greenbelt, MD, Supervisor: Drs. Sujay Kumar and Carrie Vuyovich
- Participant, CUAHSI-iSWGR Snow Measurement Field School, Yellowstone Alliance Adventure, Bozeman, MT, Instructors: Drs. Matthew Sturm, Kelly Elder, and Jessica Lundquist et al.
- Participant, NASA Land Information System Workshop, GSFC, MD. Instructors: Dr. Sujay Kumar et al.
- Participant, CUAHSI Training Workshop: The Community WRF-Hydro Modeling System, NCAR, Boulder, CO, Instructors: Dr. D. Gochis, K. Sampson, A. Dugger
- Volunteer Participant, Soil Moisture Active Passive Validation Experiment 2016 (SMAPVEX16) field campaign, Des
- Moines, IA, Supervisor: Dr. Michael Cosh
Talks, Presentations and Posters
Invited
Design Extreme Snowpack and Snowmelt for Infrastructure Design our the U.S.
November 2020
Global Infrastructure and Climate Network (ICNet) Webinar
The rediscovery of the value of 40-years airborne gamma radiation SWE
July 2020
Snow International (SINTER) 1st Quarterly Meeting, June 2020, Hosted by Dr. Chris Derksen on behalf of SINTER executive team
The value of long-term (40 years) airborne gamma radiation SWE record: Evaluating CONUS SWE datasets by seasonal snow and land cover classifications
2019
2019 AGU Fall Meeting. San Francisco, December 2019. Session “Remote Sensing of the Cryosphere: Seasonal Snow”