Research

While I was trained as a Hydrologist, and still tentatively refer to myself as an Engineer, I'm really stuck somewhere between this and being a dreaded Scientist. Basically though, my primary research interest is in applying remote sensing approaches to improve knowledge of the Earth System, focusing predominantly on water and energy cycles at the land surface - but broadly interested in all applications to the Earth System.

Following is a brief work history, starting off with where I'm currently located....

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), New Mexico, USA

Since arriving at LANL in Jan, 2006 I've spent most of my time involved in two major research themes. I’m working in the Space and Remote Sensing Sciences (ISR-2) Group, undertaking fundamental research on hyperspectral remote sensing; in particular the forward and inverse modeling of interactions of thermal infrared radiation with solid surfaces. For the other half of my time, I’m associated with the Hydrology, Geochemistry and Geology (EES-6) Group, seeking to understand the role of aerosols on the water and climate systems - in particular, their influence on surface fluxes. More recently I've been examining the melting of the Greenland ice-sheet with Petr Chylek using MODIS data. These are new areas of research for me, but build upon many of the skills developed in previous study.

Princeton University, New Jersey, USA

Prior to this I was at Princeton University in New Jersey. I left Australia in January 2003 to start a post-doctoral position with Prof. Eric Wood, researching the remote sensing of the hydrological cycle. Here I focused on estimating evapotranspiration and soil moisture using a variety of remote sensing platforms; work which has resulted in a number of timely publications. I am also involved with the development of the NASA MODIS-ET product and validation of the AMSR-E Soil Moisture. The development of an operational, satellite only ET product continues to be a research interest. The work at Princeton centred around the development of operational remote sensing based hydrological products and their integration into land surface models for improved prediction.

Australia

Originally though, my background is in Civil and Environmental Engineering, majoring in Hydrology and Water Resources. I completed my undergraduate and postgraduate training in Engineering at the University of Newcastle in Australia, also spending time at the University of Melbourne with Prof. Rodger Grayson and at the CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research with Dr Fred Prata. The focus of my PhD research was the uncertainty modeling of land surface schemes for prediction of evapotranspiration (ET). The motivation was to improve estimation of aquifer recharge using knowledge of land surface variables derived through remote sensing.