Senior Earth Scientist and Remote Sensing professional and manager with more than 17 years of experience in studying different aspects of Earth System Science. Currently working as a Sr. Scientist and Manager in the Terrestrial Information Systems Lab (Code-619) as part of MODAPS and NASA Land SIPS. Experienced with managing all aspects of a large data production facility. Active research interests include looking at land-atmosphere interactions, natural hazards and air quality, long-term change monitoring and implications for climate change.
Research Interests
- Natural Hazards and Impact of Climate Change
- Long term change detection using Remote sensing
- Land Atmosphere Interactions
- Interannual variability of climate parameteres and role of human impact
4/2022
-
Present
MODAPS Lead/Manager
SSAI,
Terrestrial Information System (Code 619) GSFC, NASA - Lead and manage the entire data production facility comprising MODIS Adaptive Processing System (MODAPS), NRT LANCE and VIIRS NASA LandSIPS.
- Act as the chief Science SME within the production facility.
- Chief POC for all matters related to data production, availability, and quality.
1/2018
-
3/2022
MODIS/VIIRS QA Lead
SSAI,
Terrestrial Information System (Code 619)
GSFC, NASA - Lead and coordinate all activities of the Land Data Operational Product Evaluation (LDOPE) group, which is part of the NASA Land SIPS and MODIS processing system (MODAPS).
- Oversee all data production issues and work closely with the data production team, science team, and various other stakeholders to ensure a smooth workflow and satisfaction of all data quality standards.
12/2014
-
6/2018
Sr. Scientist/ Developer
SSAI,
NASA GSFC (Code 619) Develop and validate multiple land science products, derived from NASA EOS and JPSS series of satellite missions like MODIS, Suomi NPP etc. Work closely with different science teams and institutions to develop land algorithms, QA/QC data products, perform systematic data validation and analysis and inter-sensor comparison.
Research interests include leveraging satellite data to study the impact of climate change on land and atmospheric processes and their mutual feedback. Role of human impact in driving these land atmospheric feedback mechanisms and its steady evolution over the years.
2/2012
-
12/2014
Senior Scientist/Developer
Sigma Space Corp.,
NASA GSFC Member of the Terrestrial Information Systems Lab., in GSFC, as part of MODIS LDOPE/NPP LPEATE. Responsible for development of land algorithms for development of scientific datasets from L1B - L3/L4 for all land related parameters and covering the entire globe, derived from MODIS Terra/Aqua and NPP VIIRS. Responsible for validation of land products. Research focus includes the study of land surface processes and their interaction, leveraging satellite data.
12/2004
-
12/2011
Lead Analyst
Lanworth/Thomson Reuters,
Chicago, IL Plays a leading role in developing workflow and algorithms for providing commodity intelligence to hedge fund
managers, traders and global food companies for major commodity crops like corn, soybean, wheat, cane, canola etc across diverse regions of the globe in USA, Canada, Russia, India, South America and China using geospatial technology.
Lead and manage diverse services/consulting projects involving the use of geospatial technology for better strategic and supply chain analysis. This involved spatial mapping of land-cover, hbu potential, natural hazards,
environmental and atmospheric parameters across diverse geographic scales using a plethora of sensors operating in visible to microwave ranges. Also involved large scale land due-diligence studies for different timber merchants and paper companies.
3/2001
-
12/2004
Graduate Research Assistant
School of Computational Science, George Mason University,
Fairfax, VA, USA
- Designed and executed a number of critical and pioneering research studies aimed at better understanding different aspects of the biosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere with their respective interactions over inter- annual to decadal time scales. Specifically: • Performed extensive research focusing on possible feedback of land cover and soil moisture on the hydrological cycle and monsoon rainfall over South East Asia. This research combined observational data analysis with comprehensive land surface modeling in an effort to understand the scale of coupling and underlying physics. A part of this research was carried out in NASA Goddard (GSFC).
- Investigated the inter-annual variability of vegetation and aerosol radiative forcing over Indian sub-continent.
- Investigated the variability of monsoon rainfall over South Asia and decreasing influence of ENSO vis-à-vis monsoon rainfall.
5/2004
-
8/2004
Internship
Hydrological Sciences Branch, NASA GSFC,
Greenbelt, MD, USA Perform land surface modeling to understand the interaction between land-cover and atmosphere. The research was aimed at better predicting the changes in hydrological cycle and monsoonal precipitation because of changes in Land Surface.
10/1999
-
7/2000
Sr. Project Associate
Dept. of Civil Engineering, IIT Kanpur,
Kanpur, India Involved in extensive research of climate parameters and their variability over the Indian sub-continent, specifically snow-cover, tropospheric ozone and aerosol. The possible teleconnection pattern of pacific disturbance over Indian sub-continent was thoroughly explored with the aid of datasets from SSM/I, TOMS, GOME etc.
7/1998
-
9/1999
Systems Engineer
Tata Infotech Ltd., (Now part of Tata Consultancy Services, TCS),
New Delhi, India Responsible for development of a complete Hydrological Information System (HIS) for Ground Water Board of the Government of India. The back-end RDBMS used for the project was ORACLE 8.0 and Spatialware. C++, MapInfo 5.5., Visual Basic 5.0 and Map Basic 5.5 were used to develop the forms for HIS user interface extensibility and Crystal Report for generating MIS reports from Hydrology Database. Vertical Mapper 2.1.1 was used for spatial analysis. Certain Statistical Parameters were calculated through a seamless integration of SPSS with MapInfo 5.5. The development platform was Windows -NT 4.0 Workstation and Server.
PhD in Computational Sciences with specialization in Earth Observation and Remote Sensing - 2004, George Mason University
M.S. in Computational Sciences with specialization in Earth Observation and Remote Sensing - 2003, George Mason University
M.tech in Earth Sciences - 1998, IIT Roorkee, India
B.Sc in Geology - 1995, University of Calcutta, India
American Geophysical Society,
2014
-
Present
Former Member of the Editorial Board:
Reviewer for Several Peer reviewed Journals like:
- Remote Sensing of Environment
- Journal of Climate
- Remote Sensing
- International Journal of Remote Sensing
- Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk
- Water, Air, & Soil Pollution
- Sustainability
- International Journal of Geo-Information
- The Scientific Pages of Forest Research
- Indian Journal of Remote Sensing
- Environments
News Item Links:
For work on Biomass burning
- Times of India (https://goo.gl/14UvpM)
- The Hindu Business Line (https://goo.gl/wAezUD)
- Weather.com (https://goo.gl/ZNZdL1)
- Nature Asia (https://goo.gl/ppXN7t)
- Firstpost (https://goo.gl/wY8JxL)
- Paper Dabba (https://goo.gl/XUNu2k)
- Firstpost Hindi Version (https://goo.gl/rm61zo)
- The Hindustan Times (https://goo.gl/RNaQEe)
For work on Dust storms over India
- The Hindu Business Line (https://bit.ly/2YMvUUi)
- Down To Earth (https://bit.ly/2CXejj3)
- Monga Bay (https://bit.ly/2EbOMnd)
- CNBC India (https://bit.ly/2vQtI0Y)
- Times of India (https://bit.ly/2JWpEUR)
Refereed
Li, Y., G. Zhao, D. Shah, et al. 2021. "NASA’s MODIS/VIIRS Global Water Reservoir Product Suite from Moderate Resolution Remote Sensing Data."
Remote Sensing,
13
(4):
565
[10.3390/rs13040565]
Sarkar, S., A. Chauhan, R. Kumar, and R. P. Singh. 2019. "Impact of Deadly Dust storms (May 2018) on Air Quality, Meteorological and Atmospheric Parameters over the Northern Parts of India."
GeoHealth,
[10.1029/2018gh000170]
Pahlevan, N., S. Balasubramanian, S. Sarkar, and B. Franz. 2018. "Toward Long-Term Aquatic Science Products from Heritage Landsat Missions."
Remote Sensing,
10
(9):
1337
[10.3390/rs10091337]
Sarkar, S., R. P. Singh, and A. Chauhan. 2018. "Increasing health threat to greater parts of India due to crop residue burning."
The Lancet Planetary Health,
2
(8):
e327-e328
[10.1016/s2542-5196(18)30166-9]
Sarkar, S., R. P. Singh, and A. Chauhan. 2018. "Crop Residue Burning in Northern India: Increasing Threat to Greater India."
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres,
[10.1029/2018jd028428]
Román, M. O., Z. Wang, Q. Sun, et al. 2018. "NASA's Black Marble nighttime lights product suite."
Remote Sensing of Environment,
210:
113-143
[Full Text (Link)]
[10.1016/j.rse.2018.03.017]
Sarkar, S., R. P. Singh, and A. Chauhan. 2018. "Anomalous changes in meteorological parameters along the track of 2017 Hurricane Harvey."
Remote Sensing Letters,
9
(5):
488-497
[10.1080/2150704x.2018.1441562]
Pahlevan, N., S. Sarkar, B. A. Franz, S. Velaudhaperumal Balasubramanian, and J. He. 2017. "Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) data processing for aquatic science applications: Demonstrations and validations."
Remote Sensing of Environment,
201:
47-56
[10.1016/j.rse.2017.08.033]
Sarkar, S. 2017. "Phenology and carbon fixing: a satellite-based study over Continental USA."
International Journal of Remote Sensing,
39
(1):
1-16
[10.1080/01431161.2017.1378457]
Singh, R. P., and S. Sarkar. 2017. "Methane and Carbon Monoxide emissions associated with Aliso Canyon ground storage blowout."
2017 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Austin, Texas,
2017:
5950-5953
[10.1109/IGARSS.2017.8128364]
Sarkar, S., and R. P. Singh. 2017. "June 19 2015 Rainfall Event Over Mumbai: Some Observational Analysis."
Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing,
45
(1):
185-192
[10.1007/s12524-016-0572-7]
Kim, B., and S. Sarkar. 2017. "Impact of wildfires on some greenhouse gases over continental USA: A study based on satellite data."
Remote sensing of Environment,
188
(1):
118--126
[10.1016/j.rse.2016.10.047]
Pahlevan, N., S. Sarkar, S. Devadiga, et al. 2017. "Impact of Spatial Sampling on Continuity of MODIS–VIIRS Land Surface Reflectance Products: A Simulation Approach."
IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing,
55
(1):
183-196
[10.1109/tgrs.2016.2604214]
Pahlevan, N., S. Sarkar, and B. A. Franz. 2016. "Uncertainties in coastal ocean color products: Impacts of spatial sampling."
Remote Sensing of Environment,
181:
14-26
[10.1016/j.rse.2016.03.022]
Friedenberg, N. A., S. Sarkar, N. Kouchoukos, R. F. Billings, and M. P. Ayres. 2008. "Temperature extremes, density dependence, and southern pine beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) population dynamics in east Texas."
Environmental Entomology,
37
(3):
650--659.
Sarkar, S., L. Chiu, M. Kafatos, and R. Singh. 2007. "Sensitivity of rainfall on land cover change over South East Asia: Some observational results."
Advances in Space Research,
39
(1):
73--78.
Prasad, A. K., S. Sarkar, R. P. Singh, and M. Kafatos. 2007. "Inter-annual variability of vegetation cover and rainfall over India."
Advances in space research,
39
(1):
79--87.
Sarkar, S., R. Chokngamwong, G. Cervone, R. Singh, and M. Kafatos. 2006. "Variability of aerosol optical depth and aerosol forcing over India."
Advances in Space Research,
37
(12):
2153--2159.
Sahoo, A., S. Sarkar, R. Singh, M. Kafatos, and M. Summers. 2005. "Declining trend of total ozone column over the northern parts of India."
International Journal of Remote Sensing,
26
(16):
3433--3440.
Dey, S., S. Sarkar, and R. Singh. 2004. "Comparison of aerosol radiative forcing over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal."
Advances in Space Research,
33
(7):
1104--1108.
el-Askary, H., S. Sarkar, L. Chiu, M. Kafatos, and T. El-Ghazawi. 2004. "Rain gauge derived precipitation variability over Virginia and its relation with the El Nino southern oscillation."
Advances in Space Research,
33
(3):
338--342.
Sarkar, S., R. P. Singh, and M. Kafatos. 2004. "Further evidences for the weakening relationship of Indian rainfall and ENSO over India."
Geophysical Research Letters,
31
(13):
Dey, S., S. Sarkar, and R. Singh. 2004. "Anomalous changes in column water vapor after Gujarat earthquake."
Advances in Space Research,
33
(3):
274--278.
Sarkar, S., and M. Kafatos. 2004. "Interannual variability of vegetation over the Indian sub-continent and its relation to the different meteorological parameters."
Remote Sensing of Environment,
90
(2):
268--280.
El-Askary, H. M., S. Sarkar, M. Kafatos, and T. A. El-Ghazawi. 2003. "A multisensor approach to dust storm monitoring over the Nile Delta."
IEEE Transactions on geoscience and Remote Sensing,
41
(10):
2386--2391.
Mishra, N., R. Kanwar, S. Sarakar, P. Dash, and R. Singh. 2002. "Use of multi-sensor data for mapping of thar desert."
Advances in Space Research,
29
(1):
51-55
[10.1016/s0273-1177(01)00627-5]
Singh, R., S. Sarkar, and A. Singh. 2002. "Effect of El Nino on inter-annual variability of ozone during the period 1978-2000 over the Indian subcontinent and China."
International journal of remote sensing,
23
(12):
2449--2456.
Singh, R. P., S. Sarkar, and A. Singh. 2000. "Effect of El Niaeo observed over Indian continent from satellite-derived ozone data."
Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union,
81
(36):
409--413.
Sarkar, S., and R. P. Singh. 2000. "Inter-annual variability of total ozone deduced from GOME and its relation to observed El Nino of 1997-1998."
Current Science,
79
(1):
79--81.
Non-Refereed
Sarkar, S., R. P. Singh, and A. Chauhan. 2018. "Crop residue burning affects large parts of India."
Nature India
[10.1038/nindia.2018.78]
LONG RANGE TRANSPORT OF AIR MASS FROM THE CROP RESIDUE BURNING (WESTERN PARTS OF INDIA) DURING WINTER SEASON AND ITS IMPACTS ON HUMAN HEALTH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS OVER THE INDO-GANGETIC PLAINS (IGP)
7
/
16
/
2018
Chauhan A, Sarkar S, Gautam G, and Singh R. 42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly, 2018, Pasadena, California
Changes in Land, Ocean, Meteorological and Atmospheric Parameters Along the Harvey Hurricane Track Observed from GPS, Buoys and Satellite Data
5
/
22
/
2018
Singh R, Sarkar S and Chauhan A. JpGU 2018 (Japan Geoscience Union) at Chiba, Japan
Landsat-Sentinel-2 for aquatic science: Steps towards transitioning from research to operations
2018
Pahlevan N, Sarkar S, Chittimalli S and Subramanian S. Pecora 20, November 13-17, 2017, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Over-water inter-calibration and atmosphere correction for Landsat-8/Sentinel-2
9
/
19
/
2017
Pahlevan N, Sarkar S and Chittimali S. Recent Advances in Quantitative Remote Sensing (RAQRS) Torrent, Spain 2017
Methane and Carbon Monoxide Emissions Associated with Aliso Canyon Ground Storage Blowout
7
/
2017
IEEE IGARSS 2017, Austin, Texas, USA
Towards Consistent Landsat-Sentinel-2 Products over Coastal/Inland Waters
5
/
16
/
2017
Pahlevan N, Sarkar S, Chittimalli S and Subramanian S. Third International Ocean Colour Science Meeting (IOCS) Lisbon, Portugal, 15-18 May 2017
Urban area monitoring using MODIS time series data
12
/
2014
Sarkar, S, Devadiga, S and Masuoka, E., AGU Fall Meeting - 2014
Spatial-Temporal-Vertical Variations of Total Ozone Concentration (TOC) and its Relationship to Other Meteorological Parameters Over the Indo-Gangetic Basin
3
/
2006
Sahoo, AK and Sarkar, S and Singh, RP and Kafatos, M, AGU Spring Meeting
Vegetation Variability And Its Effect On Monsoon Rainfall Over South East Asia: Observational and Modeling Results
12
/
2005
Sarkar, S and Peters-Lidard, C and Chiu, L and Kafatos, M, AGU Fall meeting - 2005
Land cover change and its impact on annual rainfall over South East Asia
2004
Sarkar, S and Chiu, L and Kafatos, M and Singh, 35th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
Early Warning of Coastal Earthquakes Using Land, Ocean and Atmospheric Parameters
12
/
2003
Singh, RP and Dey, S and Sarkar, S and Kafatos, M, AGU Fall Meeting - 2003
Refereed
Li, Y., G. Zhao, D. Shah, et al. 2021. "NASA’s MODIS/VIIRS Global Water Reservoir Product Suite from Moderate Resolution Remote Sensing Data."
Remote Sensing
13
(4):
565
[10.3390/rs13040565]
Sarkar, S., A. Chauhan, R. Kumar, and R. P. Singh. 2019. "Impact of Deadly Dust storms (May 2018) on Air Quality, Meteorological and Atmospheric Parameters over the Northern Parts of India."
GeoHealth
[10.1029/2018gh000170]
Pahlevan, N., S. Balasubramanian, S. Sarkar, and B. Franz. 2018. "Toward Long-Term Aquatic Science Products from Heritage Landsat Missions."
Remote Sensing
10
(9):
1337
[10.3390/rs10091337]
Sarkar, S., R. P. Singh, and A. Chauhan. 2018. "Increasing health threat to greater parts of India due to crop residue burning."
The Lancet Planetary Health
2
(8):
e327-e328
[10.1016/s2542-5196(18)30166-9]
Sarkar, S., R. P. Singh, and A. Chauhan. 2018. "Crop Residue Burning in Northern India: Increasing Threat to Greater India."
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
[10.1029/2018jd028428]
Román, M. O., Z. Wang, Q. Sun, et al. 2018. "NASA's Black Marble nighttime lights product suite."
Remote Sensing of Environment
210
113-143
[Full Text (Link)]
[10.1016/j.rse.2018.03.017]
Sarkar, S., R. P. Singh, and A. Chauhan. 2018. "Anomalous changes in meteorological parameters along the track of 2017 Hurricane Harvey."
Remote Sensing Letters
9
(5):
488-497
[10.1080/2150704x.2018.1441562]
Pahlevan, N., S. Sarkar, B. A. Franz, S. Velaudhaperumal Balasubramanian, and J. He. 2017. "Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) data processing for aquatic science applications: Demonstrations and validations."
Remote Sensing of Environment
201
47-56
[10.1016/j.rse.2017.08.033]
Sarkar, S. 2017. "Phenology and carbon fixing: a satellite-based study over Continental USA."
International Journal of Remote Sensing
39
(1):
1-16
[10.1080/01431161.2017.1378457]
Singh, R. P., and S. Sarkar. 2017. "Methane and Carbon Monoxide emissions associated with Aliso Canyon ground storage blowout."
2017 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Austin, Texas
2017
5950-5953
[10.1109/IGARSS.2017.8128364]
Sarkar, S., and R. P. Singh. 2017. "June 19 2015 Rainfall Event Over Mumbai: Some Observational Analysis."
Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing
45
(1):
185-192
[10.1007/s12524-016-0572-7]
Kim, B., and S. Sarkar. 2017. "Impact of wildfires on some greenhouse gases over continental USA: A study based on satellite data."
Remote sensing of Environment
188
(1):
118--126
[10.1016/j.rse.2016.10.047]
Pahlevan, N., S. Sarkar, S. Devadiga, et al. 2017. "Impact of Spatial Sampling on Continuity of MODIS–VIIRS Land Surface Reflectance Products: A Simulation Approach."
IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
55
(1):
183-196
[10.1109/tgrs.2016.2604214]
Pahlevan, N., S. Sarkar, and B. A. Franz. 2016. "Uncertainties in coastal ocean color products: Impacts of spatial sampling."
Remote Sensing of Environment
181
14-26
[10.1016/j.rse.2016.03.022]
Friedenberg, N. A., S. Sarkar, N. Kouchoukos, R. F. Billings, and M. P. Ayres. 2008. "Temperature extremes, density dependence, and southern pine beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) population dynamics in east Texas."
Environmental Entomology
37
(3):
650--659
Sarkar, S., L. Chiu, M. Kafatos, and R. Singh. 2007. "Sensitivity of rainfall on land cover change over South East Asia: Some observational results."
Advances in Space Research
39
(1):
73--78
Prasad, A. K., S. Sarkar, R. P. Singh, and M. Kafatos. 2007. "Inter-annual variability of vegetation cover and rainfall over India."
Advances in space research
39
(1):
79--87
Sarkar, S., R. Chokngamwong, G. Cervone, R. Singh, and M. Kafatos. 2006. "Variability of aerosol optical depth and aerosol forcing over India."
Advances in Space Research
37
(12):
2153--2159
Sahoo, A., S. Sarkar, R. Singh, M. Kafatos, and M. Summers. 2005. "Declining trend of total ozone column over the northern parts of India."
International Journal of Remote Sensing
26
(16):
3433--3440
Dey, S., S. Sarkar, and R. Singh. 2004. "Comparison of aerosol radiative forcing over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal."
Advances in Space Research
33
(7):
1104--1108
el-Askary, H., S. Sarkar, L. Chiu, M. Kafatos, and T. El-Ghazawi. 2004. "Rain gauge derived precipitation variability over Virginia and its relation with the El Nino southern oscillation."
Advances in Space Research
33
(3):
338--342
Sarkar, S., R. P. Singh, and M. Kafatos. 2004. "Further evidences for the weakening relationship of Indian rainfall and ENSO over India."
Geophysical Research Letters
31
(13):
Dey, S., S. Sarkar, and R. Singh. 2004. "Anomalous changes in column water vapor after Gujarat earthquake."
Advances in Space Research
33
(3):
274--278
Sarkar, S., and M. Kafatos. 2004. "Interannual variability of vegetation over the Indian sub-continent and its relation to the different meteorological parameters."
Remote Sensing of Environment
90
(2):
268--280
El-Askary, H. M., S. Sarkar, M. Kafatos, and T. A. El-Ghazawi. 2003. "A multisensor approach to dust storm monitoring over the Nile Delta."
IEEE Transactions on geoscience and Remote Sensing
41
(10):
2386--2391
Mishra, N., R. Kanwar, S. Sarakar, P. Dash, and R. Singh. 2002. "Use of multi-sensor data for mapping of thar desert."
Advances in Space Research
29
(1):
51-55
[10.1016/s0273-1177(01)00627-5]
Singh, R., S. Sarkar, and A. Singh. 2002. "Effect of El Nino on inter-annual variability of ozone during the period 1978-2000 over the Indian subcontinent and China."
International journal of remote sensing
23
(12):
2449--2456
Singh, R. P., S. Sarkar, and A. Singh. 2000. "Effect of El Niaeo observed over Indian continent from satellite-derived ozone data."
Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union
81
(36):
409--413
Sarkar, S., and R. P. Singh. 2000. "Inter-annual variability of total ozone deduced from GOME and its relation to observed El Nino of 1997-1998."
Current Science
79
(1):
79--81
Non-Refereed
Sarkar, S., R. P. Singh, and A. Chauhan. 2018. "Crop residue burning affects large parts of India."
Nature India
[10.1038/nindia.2018.78]
