Dr Sassan Saatchi
Profile
I am a senior scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology and a senior researcher at the UCLA Institute of Environment and the Center for Tropical Research. My research interests center around development of mathematical models for simulation of satellite measurements and estimations of biophysical variables of various ecosystems. In particular, I am interested in remote sensing measurements of forest three-dimensional structure and biomass, the dynamics of carbon cycling from a suite of disturbance and recovery processes, and the large-scale impacts of climate change and variability on forest ecosystems.
I have been a principal investigator in several interdisciplinary international projects such as FIFE, EFEDA, Magellan, Mac-Hydro, Hapex-Sahel, BOREAS, LCLUC, and LBA, where I contributed by developing the remote sensing techniques for measuring regional scale ecological and hydrological variables. I have also participated and contributed in developing the concepts and design of several satellite sensors launched by NASA. I am currently, a member of the science advisory group of the BIOMASS mission of European Space Agency, and DESDynl mission of USA-NASA. Both missions are being designed to measure forest structure and biomass on regional and global scales among many other biophysical variables.
In March, 2008, I jointly coordinated a VEG3D and Biomass workshop for NASA attended by more than 120 scientists
Research Interests:
- Remote sensing of forest structure, biomass, and carbon dynamics from disturbance and recovery.
- Modeling patterns and processes of species diversity.
- Water and energy cycle in urbanized landscapes.
- Modeling and integration of social and economic drivers of land use change with remote sensing data.
- Mathematical modeling and physical interpretation of active remote sensing data over vegetated land surfaces.