ESSIC assistant research scientist Bailing Li is a recipient of the NASA/GSFC 2018 Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Geophysics (HBG) Annual Peer Awards Scientific Achievement Award.
Her recognized efforts include research on assimilating terrestrial water storage (TWS)–derived from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite system–into the NASA Catchment land surface model (CLSM) at the global-scale. She has also developed drought indicators based on the assimilation outcome.
Additionally, Li leads the effort to develop the Western States Land Data Assimilation System (WLDAS), which will provide high resolution modeling data (including assimilation of satellite data) on land surface states and fluxes for the western states, which struggle with limited water resources.
A paper on this work, titled “Global groundwater storage estimates through assimilation of GRACE data into a land surface model”, is currently in review.