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Christine Lee

Photo of Christine Lee

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 183-601

Pasadena, CA 91109

Phone:

818-354-3343

Curriculum Vitae:

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Website:

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Member of:

Water & Ecosystems

Scientist

Biography

Christine Lee’s research focuses on applications of remote sensing to water quality, water resources, and ecosystems management utilizing a multi-sensor approach. Christine Lee joined JPL in 2014 after working for 2 years at NASA Headquarters in the Applied Sciences Program through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Fellowship Program.

Education

  • 2006-2010 - University of California, Los Angeles: Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Thesis: Development of rapid, viability-based methods for enumerating fecal indicator bacteria and tracking fecal pollution in urban watersheds
  • 2006 - University of California, Los Angeles, M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering,
    • Thesis: Persistence of fecal indicator bacteria in Santa Monica Bay beach sediment
  • 2000-2005 - University of California, Los Angeles, B.S. in Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering Focus; Minor in English

Professional Experience

2014-Present

  • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA)
  • Technical Group Supervisor, Water and Ecosystems Group (2022-2024)
  • Scientist, Water and Ecosystems Group (2019-current)
  • Visiting Associate Scientist, UCLA (2015-2021/Institute of Environment and Sustainability, 2022-present/JIFRESSE)
  • SBG Co-Lead Applications (2023-current)
  • ECOSTRESS Applications Lead (2014-current)
  • Associate Program Manager for NASA’s Water Resources Program (2014-2022)
  • Project Scientist, NASA’s Western Water Applications Program (2016-2018)
  • Systems Engineer, Applied Science Systems Engineering Group (2017-2019)
  • Software Engineer, Scientific Applications Group (2014-2017)

2012-2014

  • NASA Headquarters, Applied Sciences Program (Washington, DC)
  • NASA Water Resources Program Team, Water Quality Subject Matter Expert
  • NASA Capacity Building Program Team, providing leadership and support for workforce development (NASA DEVELOP), international development (NASA/USAID SERVIR), and training (NASA ARSET) program

2010-2012

  • NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA)
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, Astrobiology / Planetary Sciences, investigating microbial detection in extreme environments, biosecurity applications, and water quality

Research Interests

Dr. Christine M. Lee is a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Water and Ecosystems group, specializing in satellite remote sensing for coastal and inland water quality, environmental hazards, and marine ecosystem monitoring. Her research focuses on the land/water interface, utilizing thermal infrared and optical remote sensing to study post fire impacts on water, sediment and nutrient fluxes, assessing thermal stress on coral reefs, and tracking coastal pollution to support public health and ecosystem management. Dr. Lee has authored over 50 peer-reviewed publications and holds a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UCLA, where her dissertation focused on rapid microbial detection methods for tracking fecal pollution in urban watersheds. 

Selected Awards

  • 2023 Wiley Publishing – Top Downloaded Article (Lee et al., Monitoring Turbidity in San Francisco Estuary Delta Using Satellite Remote Sensing, JAWRA)
  • 2022 JPL Voyager Award (ECOSTRESS)
  • 2022 JPL Voyager Award (SBG/SHIFT Team)
  • 2019 NASA Early Career Public Achievement Medal
  • 2019 JPL Voyager Award (Earth Ventures / Applications Leadership)
  • 2018 JPL Team Award (ECOSTRESS Team)
  • 2017 JPL Voyager Award (Water Resources Leadership)

Selected Publications

  1. Alamillo et al., accepted. Post-fire vegetation recovery response: a case study of the 2020 Bobcat Fire in Los Angeles, California.  Remote Sensing. 
  2. Lopez, A. M., Meshesha, T. W., Lee, C. M., Mohammed, I. N., Hestir, E. L., Harmon, T. C., & Avouris, D. M. (2025). Post-Wildfire Sediment Fluxes and Turbidity Plumes in a Coastal-Draining Watershed. Earth and Space Science, 12(12), e2024EA003843. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EA003843
  3. Galdamez et al., accepted.  Evaluating Antibiotic Resistance in Urban Rivers and Coral Reefs of Belize:  Evidence for Hotspots and a Potential Screen Tool.  AGU GeoHealth
  4. Pierrat et al., accepted.  Human contributions to evapotranspiration mitigate swings in dry to wet year transitions.  Nature Comm. Sustainability
  5. Ayad et al.,2025. Impacts of the 2023 Marine Heatwave in the Florida Keys: Detection and Analysis of a Mass Coral Bleaching Event Using Spaceborne Remote Sensing Imagery, Environmental Science and Technology, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c03122
  6. Pascolini-Campbell, M., Fisher, J. B., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Lee, C. M., & Stavros, N. (2025). Assessment of spatial autocorrelation and scalability in fine-scale wildfire random forest prediction models. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 21504.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-06814-z
  7. Scrivner, et al., Linking chemical composition of untreated wastewater in estuarine and coastal waters with laboratory, in situ, and EMIT spaceborne spectroscopy. Science of the Total Environment https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.179598
  8. Payne et al., Bar-built estuary breach detection with remote sensing: an automated tool to inform management practices. Estuaries and Coasts, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-025-01545-w
  9. Gustine et al,.  Historical occurrence of and shift in snow drought drivers in global mountain ranges. Journal of Hydrology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2025.133270
  10. Kong, Y.; Jimenez, K.; Lee, C.M., et al..  Satellite-empowered public health: mapping coastal fecal contamination risks through Sentinel-2 particulate signatures. Environmental Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2025.121586
  11. Chadwick, K. D., et al.  Unlocking ecological insights from sub-seasonal visible to shortwave infrared imaging spectroscopy: The SHIFT Campaign. Ecosphere 16(3): e70194. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70194
  12. Buzzanga B., Hamlington B, et al.  Monitoring water from space: an illustration in Death Valley, CA, Geophysical Research Letters, 52, e2024GL110250. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL110250
  13. Kong, Y.; Jimenez, K.; Lee, C.M.; Winter, S.; Summers-Evans, J.; Cao, A.; Menczer, M.; Han, R.; Mills, C.; McCarthy, S.; et al. Monitoring Coastal Water Turbidity Using Sentinel2—A Case Study in Los Angeles. Remote Sens. 2025, 17, 201.https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17020201
  14. Wilder, B.A., Lee, C.M. et al, 2024.  Computationally efficient retrieval of snow surface properties from spaceborne imaging spectroscopy measurements through dimensionality reduction using k-means spectral clustering.  IEEE JSTARS. DOI:10.1109/JSTARS.2024.3386834
  15. Lopez-Barreto et al. 2024. Satellite Remote Sensing: A Tool to Support Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring and Recreational Health Advisories in a California Reservoir. AGU GeoHealth.  DOI: 10.1029/2023GH000941
  16. Kumar et al, 2024.   Perceived Barriers and Advances in Integrating Earth Observations with Water Resources Modeling. Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2023.101119
  17. Chintan et al, 2023.  Spatio-temporal Dynamics of Total Suspended Sediments in the Belize. Remote Sensing. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15235625
  18. Schiavon, E., Taramelli, A., Tornato, A., Lee, C. M., Luvall, J. C., Schollaert Uz, S., et al. (2023). Maximizing societal benefit across multiple hyperspectral earth observation missions: A user needs approach. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 128, e2023JG007569. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JG007569
  19. Callejas IA, …Lee C.M., et al. Use of Google Earth Engine for Teaching Coding and Monitoring of Environmental Change: A Case Study among STEM and Non-STEM Students. Sustainability. 2023; 15(15):11995. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511995
  20. Gustine RN, Nickles C, Lee, C.M., et al.  Evaluating Habitat Suitability and Tidal Wetland Restoration Actions with ECOSTRESS, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG007306
  21. Callejas IA, Osborn K, Lee, C.M.., et al. A GEE Toolkit for water quality monitoring from 2002-2022 in support of SDG 14 and coral health in Marine Protected Areas in Belize, Frontiers in Remote Sensing. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsen.2022.1020184
  22. Stavros EN,…Lee, C.M., et al. Designing an Observing System to Study the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) of the Earth in the 2020s. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JG006471
  23. Lee, C. M., Glenn, N. F., Stavros, E. N., Luvall, J., Yuen, K., Hain, C., & Uz, S. S. (2022). Systematic integration of applications into the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) Earth mission architecture study. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JG006720
  24. Pascolini-Campbell, M., Lee, C., Stavros, N. & Fisher, J. B. (2022). ECOSTRESS reveals pre-fire vegetation controls on burn severity for Southern California wildfires of 2020. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 31, 1976– 1989. https://doi.org/10.3389/FENVS.2022.848085
  25. Martin-Arias, V., Evans, C., Griffin, R., Cherrington, E. A., Lee, C. M., Mishra, D. R., et al. (2022). Modeled Impacts of LULC and Climate Change Predictions on the Hydrologic Regime in Belize. Frontiers in Environmental Science.https://doi.org/10.3389/FENVS.2022.848085
  26. Cira, M., Bafna, A., Lee, C.M. et al. Turbidity and fecal indicator bacteria in recreational marine waters increase following the 2018 Woolsey Fire. Nature Sci Rep 12, 2428 (2022) https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05945-x
  27. Gustine RN, Lee CM,  et al.  Using ECOSTRESS to Observe Diurnal Variability in Water Temperature Conditions in the San Francisco Estuary. IEEE Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 2021. DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2021.3133411
  28. Halverson G, Lee CM, et al. Decline in Thermal Habitat Conditions for the Endangered Delta Smelt as Seen from Landsat Satellites (1985-2019). Environmental Science and Technology, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c02837
  29. Bales J and Lee CM.  Introduction to Featured Collection on Use of NASA and Other Earth Observations, Data, Assets, and Tools to Support Water Management, Journal of American Water Resources Association, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12969
  30. Wong AJ,… Lee CM, et al. Assessment of Agricultural Consumptive Water Use in California’s Central Valley. AGU Water Resources Research, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028876
  31. Lee CM, Hestir EL, Tufillaro N, Palmieri B, Acuna S, Osti A, Bergamaschi B, Sommer T.,  Monitoring turbidity in San Francisco Estuary and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta using satellite remote sensing. Journal of American Water Resources Association, 2021.https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12917
  32. Ade C, Hestir EL, Lee CM, Assessing Fish Habitat and the Effects of an Emergency Drought Barrier on Estuarine Turbidity Using Satellite Remote Sensing. Journal of American Water Resources Association, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.12925
  33. Callejas I, Lee CM, Mishra DR, Felgate SL, Evans C, Carrias A, Rosado A, Griffin R, Cherrington EA, Ayad MA, Rudresh M, Page BP, Jay JA.  Effect of COVID-19 Anthropause on Water Clarity in Belize Coastal Lagoon. Frontiers in Marine Science, 2021. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.648522
  34. Cawse-Nicholson K, et al. NASA’s surface biology and geology designated observable: A perspective on surface imaging algorithms. Remote Sensing of Environment, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112349
  35. Lee CM, Fisher JB, Hook SJ, ECOSTRESS Maps Vegetation Health Around the World. AGU Eos Transactions, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EO146736
  36. Kohli G, Lee CM, Fisher JB, Halverson G, Variano E, Jin Y, Carney D, Wilder BA, Kinoshita AM. ECOSTRESS and CIMIS: A Comparison of Potential and Reference Evapotranspiration in Riverside County, CA, Remote Sensing, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12244126
  37. Ayad M, Li J, Holt B, Lee CM, Analysis and Classification of Stormwater and Wastewater Runoff from Tijuana River Using Remote Sensing Imagery, Frontiers Env Sci, 2020. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2020.599030
  38. Zimmer-Faust A, Thulsiraj V, Lee CM, et al.  Multi-tiered approach utilizing microbial source tracking and human associated-IMS/ATP for surveillance of human fecal contamination in Baja California, Mexico.  Science of the Total Environment, 2018.  DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.172
  39. Lee CM, et al.  Applying Earth Observations for Water Resources Challenges, Ch 6. Earth Science Satellite Applications, Springer Remote Sensing/Photogrammetry, 2016.  DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-33438-7_6
  40. Cooley SA, Fisher JB, Williams C, Halverson G, Williams C, Lee CM, Assessing regional drought impact on vegetation and evapotranspiration: a case study in Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Ecological Applications, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1834
  41. Hossain F, Serrat-Capdevila, Granger S, Thomas A, Saah D, Ganz D, Mugo R, Murthy MSR, Ramos VH, Anderson E, Schumann G, Lewison R, Kirschbaum D, Escobar V, Srinivasan M, Lee CM, et al.  A Global Capacity Building Vision for Societal Applications of Earth Observation Systems and Data: Key Questions and Recommendations, Bulletin in American Meteorological Society, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00198.1
  42. Bolten JB, Lee CM, Houser P.  Satellite Data for Water Resources Mgmt. AGU Eos transactions, 2015.  doi:10.1029/2015EO035971
  43. Lee CM, Cable ML, Hook SJ, et al.  An introduction to the NASA Hyperspectral InfraRed Imager (HyspIRI) mission and preparatory activities, Remote Sensing of Environment, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2015.06.012
  44. Lee CM, Orne T., Schaeffer B.  How can remote sensing be used for water quality?  Bridging the operational and applications communities. AGU Eos transactions, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014EO390011
  45. Noell AC, Greenwood A, Lee CM, Ponce A.  High Density, Homogeneous Endospore Monolayer Deposition on Test Surface, Journal of Microbiological Methods, 2013.  DOI: 10.1016/j.mimet.2013.05.003
  46. Lee CM, Hemmings SN, Searby ND.  Using Earth observations to enhance WR decision-making & disaster assessment processes in the U.S. and in the developing world. IEEE GHTC, 2013. DOI: 10.1109/GHTC.2013.6713738
  47. Ros-Giralt J, Launglucknavalai K, Massaguer D, Casanova J, Maxwell (Lee) CM.  Using Labdoo to Bridge the Digital Divide: A New Form of International Cooperation. Service Learning in the Computer and Information Sciences: Practical Applications in Engineering Education, Ch 18 © 2012. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118319130.ch18
  48. Lee CM, Griffith JF, Kaiser W, Jay JA.  Covalently-linked immunomagnetic separation/adenosine triphosphate technique is a rapid and field-portable method for measuring E. coli and Enterococcus spp., in fresh and marine water environments. Journal of Applied Microbiology.  2010.  DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2672.2009.04660.x
  49. Mika KB, Imamura G, Chang C, Conway V, Fernandez G, Griffith J, Kampalath R, Lee CM, et al.  Pilot and bench-scale testing of fecal indicator bacteria survival in marine beach sand near point sources. Jounral of Applied Microbiology.  2009. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2672.2009.04197.x
  50. Ramanathan N, Lee CM, et al.  Sensor-based investigation of biogeochemical control on arsenic mobilization in rural Bangladesh.  Conference Proceedings, American Chemical Society. 2007.
  51. Lee CM, Lin TY, Lin CC, Kohbodi G., Bhatt A, Lee R, Jay JA.  Persistence of fecal indicator bacteria in Santa Monica Bay beach sediments. Water Research.  2006, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2006.04.032

Projects

ECOSTRESS (ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station)