The 2018 US National Academies study “Thriving on Our Changing Planet: A Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from Space” (more commonly known as the 2018 “Decadal Survey”) identifies several components of the Earth water cycle as “Primary Targeted Observables.” Assessing and managing water resources and understanding the dynamics of the water cycle require near-continuous monitoring of its principal components, such as surface-to-depth profiles of soil moisture, vegetation water content, surface water dynamics, ground water, and snow. Microwave remote sensing has long been recognized as an effective means for quantifying Earth system variables, and in particular, these water cycle components. I will summarize some of our group’s most recent work in new and exploratory microwave observational systems for quantifying soil moisture (including within the arctic permafrost active layer), depth to water table, and snow water equivalent. These include observations using software-defined radar (SDRadar) instruments carried by un-crewed aerial systems (UAS), monostatic multi-frequency synthetic aperture radar, and global navigation satellite system reflectometry (GNSS-R). The talk will present a high-level overview of these systems, but will focus more on the latest developments in UAS-based observations. Physical principles of representative electromagnetic scattering problems will be presented, along with examples of observed data, calibration strategies, and retrieved geophysical products. I will also discuss ongoing work towards the next-generation of UAS-based microwave remote sensing (non-contact) tools for some of the most challenging water cycle observations that include bathymetry, groundwater, and snow water equivalent.
Mahta Moghaddam is Distinguished Professor and the holder of the Ming Hsieh Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Vice Dean for Research at the Viterbi School of Engineering, and co-Chair of the Presidential Working Group on Sustainability at the University of Southern California. Previously, she was at the University of Michigan (2003-2011) and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL, 1991-2003). She received the B.S. degree in 1986 from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas with highest distinction, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1989 and 1991, respectively, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, all in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Mahta has introduced novel methods for using airborne and spaceborne radar systems for studying the environment and especially for the purpose of observing all-things water: snow, surface water, wetlands, permafrost, soil moisture, and ground water. She works with ecologists, hydrologists, and climate scientists and practitioners to understand their observational needs for enabling better Earth system models and predictions. Mahta has been the principal investigator of many NASA, USGS, NSF, and other research projects on these topics. She served as the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine and as President of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society in 2020. She has served on various government panels and advisory boards and has authored or coauthored over 500 peer-reviewed publications. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
https://viterbi.usc.edu/directory/faculty/Moghaddam/Mahta
