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Jana Kolassa

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Jana Kolassa

  • RESEARCH SCIENTIST
  • 301.614.6592
  • NASA/GSFC
  • Mail Code: 610.1
  • Greenbelt , MD 20771
  • Employer: SCIENCE SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS INC

    • Positions/Employment

    10/2020 - Present

    Senior Scientific Programmer / Research Scientist

    Science Systems and Applications Inc., Lanham, MD
    • Scientific development of the NASA GMAO land model and land data assimilation systems with particular focus on the dynamic vegetation as well as carbon and nitrogen cycle components included in the experimental Catchment-CN model
    • Assessment of the impact of land data assimilation on model prediction skill with particular focus on the impact of soil moisture assimilation on tropical cyclones
    1/2017 - 11/2020

    Research Scientist

    Universities Space Research Association / Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research, Columbia, MD

    - Calibration of the NASA Catchment-CN model parameters to improve modeled vegetation phenology and physiology

    - Joint assimilation of SMAP soil moisture and MODIS vegetation information into the NASA Catchment-CN land surface model for the generation of improved hydrological fields and surface flux estimates

    1/2015 - 1/2017

    Postdoctoral Research Fellow (NASA Postdoctoral Program, NPP)

    Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, MD

    - Development of Neural Network soil moisture retrieval algorithm for the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission

    - Investigation of new bias correction techniques for the assimilation of SMAP soil moisture observations into the NASA Catchment model

    1/2014 - 1/2015

    Postdoctoral Research Fellow

    Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, New York, NY

    - Development of a Neural Network based microwave only soil moisture retrieval product from AMSR-E and ASCAT observations

    Education

    Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

    Environmental Science and Remote Sensing

    Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris 6), Paris, France

    Thesis: Soil moisture retrieval from multi-instrument satellite observations

    Supervisors: Dr. Filipe Aires, Dr. Catherine Prigent

     

    Master of Science (MSc)

    Space Science and Technology

    Luleå University of Technology, Kiruna Sweden

    September 2008 - June 2010

    Thesis: Investigation of cloud ice water content retrieval from active satellite observations

     

    Bachelor of Science (BSc)

    Aerospace Engineering

    Technical University Delft, Delft, The Netherlands

    September 2005 - June 2008

    Thesis: Design of an advanced space-based interferometer at 22 GHz

     

     

    Publications

    Refereed

    Reichle, R. H., S. Q. Zhang, J. Kolassa, Q. Liu, and R. Todling. 2023. "A Weakly-Coupled Land Surface Analysis With SMAP Radiance Assimilation Improves GEOS Medium-Range Forecasts of Near-Surface Air Temperature and Humidity." Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, (In Press) [10.1002/qj.4486]

    Kumar, S., J. Kolassa, R. Reichle, et al. W. Crow, G. de Lannoy, P. de Rosnay, N. MacBean, M. Girotto, A. Fox, T. Quaife, C. Draper, B. Forman, G. Balsamo, S. Steele‐Dunne, C. Albergel, B. Bonan, J. Calvet, J. Dong, H. Liddy, and B. Ruston. 2022. "An Agenda for Land Data Assimilation Priorities: Realizing the Promise of Terrestrial Water, Energy, and Vegetation Observations From Space." Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 14 (11): e2022MS003259 [10.1029/2022ms003259]

    Lee, E., R. D. Koster, L. E. Ott, et al. J. Joiner, F. Zeng, J. Kolassa, R. H. Reichle, K. R. Arsenault, A. Hazra, and S. Shukla. 2022. "Skillful Seasonal Forecasts of Land Carbon Uptake in Northern Mid‐ and High Latitudes." Geophysical Research Letters, 49 (6): e2021GL097117 [10.1029/2021GL097117]

    MacBean, N., H. Liddy, T. Quaife, J. Kolassa, and A. Fox. 2022. "Building a Land Data Assimilation Community to Tackle Technical Challenges in Quantifying and Reducing Uncertainty in Land Model Predictions." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 103 (3): E733-E740 [10.1175/bams-d-21-0228.1]

    Weir, B., D. Crisp, C. W. O’Dell, et al. S. Basu, A. Chatterjee, J. Kolassa, T. Oda, S. Pawson, B. Poulter, Z. Zhang, P. Ciais, S. J. Davis, Z. Liu, and L. E. Ott. 2021. "Regional impacts of COVID-19 on carbon dioxide detected worldwide from space." Science Advances, 7 (45): eabf9415 [10.1126/sciadv.abf9415]

    Reichle, R., S. Zhang, Q. Liu, et al. C. Draper, J. Kolassa, and R. Todling. 2021. "Assimilation of SMAP Brightness Temperature Observations in the GEOS Land-Atmosphere Data Assimilation System." IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 14: 10628-10643 [10.1109/jstars.2021.3118595]

    Kolassa, J., R. H. Reichle, R. D. Koster, et al. Q. Liu, S. Mahanama, and F. Zeng. 2020. "An observation‐driven approach to improve vegetation phenology in a global land surface model." Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 12: e2020MS002083 [10.1029/2020ms002083]

    Reichle, R. H., Q. Liu, R. D. Koster, et al. W. T. Crow, G. J. De Lannoy, J. S. Kimball, J. V. Ardizzone, D. Bosch, A. Colliander, M. Cosh, J. Kolassa, S. P. Mahanama, J. Prueger, P. Starks, and J. P. Walker. 2019. "Version 4 of the SMAP Level‐4 Soil Moisture Algorithm and Data Product." Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 11 (10): 3106-3130 [10.1029/2019ms001729]

    Alemohammad, S. H., J. Kolassa, C. Prigent, F. Aires, and P. Gentine. 2018. "Global Downscaling of Remotely-Sensed Soil Moisture using Neural Networks." Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions, 1-19 [10.5194/hess-2017-680]

    Kolassa, J., R. Reichle, Q. Liu, et al. S. Alemohammad, P. Gentine, K. Aida, J. Asanuma, S. Bircher, T. Caldwell, A. Colliander, M. Cosh, C. Holifield Collins, T. Jackson, J. Martínez-Fernández, H. McNairn, A. Pacheco, M. Thibeault, and J. Walker. 2018. "Estimating surface soil moisture from SMAP observations using a Neural Network technique." Remote Sensing of Environment, 204: 43-59 [10.1016/j.rse.2017.10.045]

    Reichle, R. H., G. J. De Lannoy, Q. Liu, et al. R. D. Koster, J. Kimball, W. Crow, J. V. Ardizzone, P. Chakraborty, D. W. Collins, A. L. Conaty, M. Girotto, L. Jones, J. Kolassa, H. P. Lievens, R. A. Lucchesi, and E. B. Smith. 2017. "Global Assessment of the SMAP Level-4 Surface and Root-Zone Soil Moisture Product Using Assimilation Diagnostics." Journal of Hydrometeorology, 18: 3217-3237 [10.1175/JHM-D-17-0130.1]

    Kolassa, J., R. Reichle, Q. Liu, et al. M. Cosh, D. Bosch, T. Caldwell, A. Colliander, C. Holifield Collins, T. Jackson, S. Livingston, M. Moghaddam, and P. Starks. 2017. "Data Assimilation to Extract Soil Moisture Information from SMAP Observations." Remote Sensing, 9 (11): 1179 [10.3390/rs9111179]

    Alemohammad, S. H., B. Fang, A. G. Konings, et al. F. Aires, J. K. Green, J. Kolassa, D. Miralles, C. Prigent, and P. Gentine. 2017. "Water, Energy, and Carbon with Artificial Neural Networks (WECANN): a statistically based estimate of global surface turbulent fluxes and gross primary productivity using solar-induced fluorescence." Biogeosciences, 14 (18): 4101-4124 [10.5194/bg-14-4101-2017]

    Kolassa, J., P. Gentine, C. Prigent, F. Aires, and S. Alemohammad. 2017. "Soil moisture retrieval from AMSR-E and ASCAT microwave observation synergy. Part 2: Product evaluation." Remote Sensing of Environment, 195: 202-217 [10.1016/j.rse.2017.04.020]

    Green, J. K., A. G. Konings, S. H. Alemohammad, et al. J. Berry, D. Entekhabi, J. Kolassa, J.-E. Lee, and P. Gentine. 2017. "Regionally strong feedbacks between the atmosphere and terrestrial biosphere." Nature Geoscience, [10.1038/ngeo2957]

    Kolassa, J., R. Reichle, and C. Draper. 2017. "Merging active and passive microwave observations in soil moisture data assimilation." Remote Sensing of Environment, 191: 117-130 [10.1016/j.rse.2017.01.015]

    Kolassa, J., P. Gentine, C. Prigent, and F. Aires. 2016. "Soil moisture retrieval from AMSR-E and ASCAT microwave observation synergy. Part 1: Satellite data analysis." Remote Sensing of Environment, 173: 1-14 [10.1016/j.rse.2015.11.011]

    Rodriguez-Fernandez, N. J., F. Aires, P. Richaume, et al. Y. H. Kerr, C. Prigent, J. Kolassa, F. Cabot, C. Jimenez, A. Mahmoodi, and M. Drusch. 2015. "Soil Moisture Retrieval Using Neural Networks: Application to SMOS." IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 53 (11): 5991-6007 [10.1109/tgrs.2015.2430845]

    Foley, A. M., D. Dalmonech, A. D. Friend, et al. F. Aires, A. T. Archibald, P. Bartlein, L. Bopp, J. Chappellaz, P. Cox, N. R. Edwards, G. Feulner, P. Friedlingstein, S. P. Harrison, P. O. Hopcroft, C. D. Jones, J. Kolassa, J. G. Levine, I. C. Prentice, J. Pyle, N. Vázquez Riveiros, E. W. Wolff, and S. Zaehle. 2013. "Evaluation of biospheric components in Earth system models using modern and palaeo-observations: the state-of-the-art." Biogeosciences, 10 (12): 8305-8328 [10.5194/bg-10-8305-2013]

    Jiménez, C., D. B. Clark, J. Kolassa, F. Aires, and C. Prigent. 2013. "A joint analysis of modeled soil moisture fields and satellite observations." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 118 (12): 6771-6782 [10.1002/jgrd.50430]

    Kolassa, J., F. Aires, J. Polcher, et al. C. Prigent, C. Jimenez, and J. M. Pereira. 2013. "Soil moisture retrieval from multi-instrument observations: Information content analysis and retrieval methodology." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 118 (10): 4847-4859 [10.1029/2012jd018150]

    Publications

    Refereed

    Reichle, R. H., S. Q. Zhang, J. Kolassa, Q. Liu, and R. Todling. 2023. "A Weakly-Coupled Land Surface Analysis With SMAP Radiance Assimilation Improves GEOS Medium-Range Forecasts of Near-Surface Air Temperature and Humidity." Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society (In Press) [10.1002/qj.4486]

    Kumar, S., J. Kolassa, R. Reichle, et al. W. Crow, G. de Lannoy, P. de Rosnay, N. MacBean, M. Girotto, A. Fox, T. Quaife, C. Draper, B. Forman, G. Balsamo, S. Steele‐Dunne, C. Albergel, B. Bonan, J. Calvet, J. Dong, H. Liddy, and B. Ruston. 2022. "An Agenda for Land Data Assimilation Priorities: Realizing the Promise of Terrestrial Water, Energy, and Vegetation Observations From Space." Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems 14 (11): e2022MS003259 [10.1029/2022ms003259]

    Lee, E., R. D. Koster, L. E. Ott, et al. J. Joiner, F. Zeng, J. Kolassa, R. H. Reichle, K. R. Arsenault, A. Hazra, and S. Shukla. 2022. "Skillful Seasonal Forecasts of Land Carbon Uptake in Northern Mid‐ and High Latitudes." Geophysical Research Letters 49 (6): e2021GL097117 [10.1029/2021GL097117]

    MacBean, N., H. Liddy, T. Quaife, J. Kolassa, and A. Fox. 2022. "Building a Land Data Assimilation Community to Tackle Technical Challenges in Quantifying and Reducing Uncertainty in Land Model Predictions." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 103 (3): E733-E740 [10.1175/bams-d-21-0228.1]

    Weir, B., D. Crisp, C. W. O’Dell, et al. S. Basu, A. Chatterjee, J. Kolassa, T. Oda, S. Pawson, B. Poulter, Z. Zhang, P. Ciais, S. J. Davis, Z. Liu, and L. E. Ott. 2021. "Regional impacts of COVID-19 on carbon dioxide detected worldwide from space." Science Advances 7 (45): eabf9415 [10.1126/sciadv.abf9415]

    Reichle, R., S. Zhang, Q. Liu, et al. C. Draper, J. Kolassa, and R. Todling. 2021. "Assimilation of SMAP Brightness Temperature Observations in the GEOS Land-Atmosphere Data Assimilation System." IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing 14 10628-10643 [10.1109/jstars.2021.3118595]

    Kolassa, J., R. H. Reichle, R. D. Koster, et al. Q. Liu, S. Mahanama, and F. Zeng. 2020. "An observation‐driven approach to improve vegetation phenology in a global land surface model." Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems 12 e2020MS002083 [10.1029/2020ms002083]

    Reichle, R. H., Q. Liu, R. D. Koster, et al. W. T. Crow, G. J. De Lannoy, J. S. Kimball, J. V. Ardizzone, D. Bosch, A. Colliander, M. Cosh, J. Kolassa, S. P. Mahanama, J. Prueger, P. Starks, and J. P. Walker. 2019. "Version 4 of the SMAP Level‐4 Soil Moisture Algorithm and Data Product." Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems 11 (10): 3106-3130 [10.1029/2019ms001729]

    Alemohammad, S. H., J. Kolassa, C. Prigent, F. Aires, and P. Gentine. 2018. "Global Downscaling of Remotely-Sensed Soil Moisture using Neural Networks." Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions 1-19 [10.5194/hess-2017-680]

    Kolassa, J., R. Reichle, Q. Liu, et al. S. Alemohammad, P. Gentine, K. Aida, J. Asanuma, S. Bircher, T. Caldwell, A. Colliander, M. Cosh, C. Holifield Collins, T. Jackson, J. Martínez-Fernández, H. McNairn, A. Pacheco, M. Thibeault, and J. Walker. 2018. "Estimating surface soil moisture from SMAP observations using a Neural Network technique." Remote Sensing of Environment 204 43-59 [10.1016/j.rse.2017.10.045]

    Reichle, R. H., G. J. De Lannoy, Q. Liu, et al. R. D. Koster, J. Kimball, W. Crow, J. V. Ardizzone, P. Chakraborty, D. W. Collins, A. L. Conaty, M. Girotto, L. Jones, J. Kolassa, H. P. Lievens, R. A. Lucchesi, and E. B. Smith. 2017. "Global Assessment of the SMAP Level-4 Surface and Root-Zone Soil Moisture Product Using Assimilation Diagnostics." Journal of Hydrometeorology 18 3217-3237 [10.1175/JHM-D-17-0130.1]

    Kolassa, J., R. Reichle, Q. Liu, et al. M. Cosh, D. Bosch, T. Caldwell, A. Colliander, C. Holifield Collins, T. Jackson, S. Livingston, M. Moghaddam, and P. Starks. 2017. "Data Assimilation to Extract Soil Moisture Information from SMAP Observations." Remote Sensing 9 (11): 1179 [10.3390/rs9111179]

    Alemohammad, S. H., B. Fang, A. G. Konings, et al. F. Aires, J. K. Green, J. Kolassa, D. Miralles, C. Prigent, and P. Gentine. 2017. "Water, Energy, and Carbon with Artificial Neural Networks (WECANN): a statistically based estimate of global surface turbulent fluxes and gross primary productivity using solar-induced fluorescence." Biogeosciences 14 (18): 4101-4124 [10.5194/bg-14-4101-2017]

    Kolassa, J., P. Gentine, C. Prigent, F. Aires, and S. Alemohammad. 2017. "Soil moisture retrieval from AMSR-E and ASCAT microwave observation synergy. Part 2: Product evaluation." Remote Sensing of Environment 195 202-217 [10.1016/j.rse.2017.04.020]

    Green, J. K., A. G. Konings, S. H. Alemohammad, et al. J. Berry, D. Entekhabi, J. Kolassa, J.-E. Lee, and P. Gentine. 2017. "Regionally strong feedbacks between the atmosphere and terrestrial biosphere." Nature Geoscience [10.1038/ngeo2957]

    Kolassa, J., R. Reichle, and C. Draper. 2017. "Merging active and passive microwave observations in soil moisture data assimilation." Remote Sensing of Environment 191 117-130 [10.1016/j.rse.2017.01.015]

    Kolassa, J., P. Gentine, C. Prigent, and F. Aires. 2016. "Soil moisture retrieval from AMSR-E and ASCAT microwave observation synergy. Part 1: Satellite data analysis." Remote Sensing of Environment 173 1-14 [10.1016/j.rse.2015.11.011]

    Rodriguez-Fernandez, N. J., F. Aires, P. Richaume, et al. Y. H. Kerr, C. Prigent, J. Kolassa, F. Cabot, C. Jimenez, A. Mahmoodi, and M. Drusch. 2015. "Soil Moisture Retrieval Using Neural Networks: Application to SMOS." IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 53 (11): 5991-6007 [10.1109/tgrs.2015.2430845]

    Foley, A. M., D. Dalmonech, A. D. Friend, et al. F. Aires, A. T. Archibald, P. Bartlein, L. Bopp, J. Chappellaz, P. Cox, N. R. Edwards, G. Feulner, P. Friedlingstein, S. P. Harrison, P. O. Hopcroft, C. D. Jones, J. Kolassa, J. G. Levine, I. C. Prentice, J. Pyle, N. Vázquez Riveiros, E. W. Wolff, and S. Zaehle. 2013. "Evaluation of biospheric components in Earth system models using modern and palaeo-observations: the state-of-the-art." Biogeosciences 10 (12): 8305-8328 [10.5194/bg-10-8305-2013]

    Jiménez, C., D. B. Clark, J. Kolassa, F. Aires, and C. Prigent. 2013. "A joint analysis of modeled soil moisture fields and satellite observations." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 118 (12): 6771-6782 [10.1002/jgrd.50430]

    Kolassa, J., F. Aires, J. Polcher, et al. C. Prigent, C. Jimenez, and J. M. Pereira. 2013. "Soil moisture retrieval from multi-instrument observations: Information content analysis and retrieval methodology." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 118 (10): 4847-4859 [10.1029/2012jd018150]

                                                                                                                                                                                            
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