Skip Navigation

Isabella Velicogna

Photo of Isabella Velicogna

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive

Pasadena, CA 91109

Member of:

Sea Level And Ice

AP Scientist

Employed By

Caltech/JPL

Research Interests

  • Study the partitioning of the seasonal water cycle in Greenland from a combination of remote sensingdata, in situ measurements and GCM output
  • Study of ice-sheet dynamics with particular focus on monitoring Antarctica and Greenland seasonaland long term ice mass variations
  • Constrain the Eurasian freshwater cycle from GRACE time-variable gravity and in-situ hydrologic networks: differentiating water cycle behavior in permafrost and non-permafrostregions
  • Combination of time variable gravity from GRACE, altimeter measurements and in situ data to studysynoptic-scale flood evolution
  • Analysis of GRACE along track data to determine a new global high solutionstatic field
  • Analysis of the science requirements for a GRACE follow-on mission
  • Feasibility study for combining ground-based observations with GRACE satellite gravity measurements of hydrologic mass variation
  • Organization and preparation for Calibration/Validation of GRACE gravitysatellite mission in Egypt and Saudi Arabia
  • Assessment of the accuracy of ECMWF global circulation model outputs by comparing geopotential heights from SAC-C, CHAMP and GRACE occultation data with ECMWF geopotential heights
  • Assessment of the recovery accuracy of time-varying groundwater hydrology from GRACE satellite gravity data
  • Exploration of how to assimilate GRACE gravity measurements into Land Data Assimilation Systems(LDAS) global hydrological models and global climate models, and investigation of improvement of the model outputs
  • Combination of NASAs ICESAT/GLAS satellite laser altimeter data, GRACE gravity data, GPS measurements of vertical velocity, ice core data, radar and InSar measurements to describe ongoing changes in polar ice mass and post-glacial rebound
  • Analysis of the atmospheric contribution to GRACE satellite data, and verification of the accuracy of atmospheric pressure from climatic models produced by National Center forEnvironmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) and European Center forMedium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
  • Improved methodologies for flexural analysis of isostatic loading, isostatic response, and Te estimation
  • Geodynamic analysis from isostatic modeling of gravity and topography data
  • Examination of the physical relationships between deformation, seismicity, mantle dynamics,lithospheric rheology, and isostatic response

Selected Publications

  1. Velicogna, I., J. Wahr, Time variable gravity shows a large mass loss inAntarctica, submitted to Science 2005.
  2. Wahr, J. Swenson S, Velicogna, I., The Accuracy of GRACE Mass Estimates, submitted to Geophys. Res. Lett., 2005
  3. Velicogna, I., A.R. Lowry, N. Creati, Elastic thickness and rheology of theEuropean Alps, submitted to J. Geophys. Res., 2005.
  4. Velicogna, I., A.R. Lowry, and I. Marson, Elastic thickness and geodynamics of Italy and the central Mediterranean, submitted to J. Geophys. Res., 2005.
  5. Velicogna, I., J. Wahr, Ice Mass Balance in Greenland from GRACE, Geophys. Res. Vol. 32, No. 18, L18505, 10.1029/2005GL023955.
  6. Velicogna, I., J. Wahr, E. Hanna, P. Huybrechts, Short term mass variability in Greenland, from GRACE, Geophys. Res. Lett. 32, L05501, doi:10.1029/2004GL021948.
  7. Wahr, J. Swenson S, Zlotnicki, Velicogna, I., Time-Variable Gravity from GRACE: First Results, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L11501, doi:10.1029/2004GL019779., 2004
  8. Perez-Gussinye, M., A.R. Lowry, A.B. Watts, and I. Velicogna, On the recovery of realistic effective elastic thickness structures using spectral methods, J. Geophys. Res. VOL. 109, B10409, doi:10.1029/2003JB002788, 2004.
  9. Velicogna, I., and J. Wahr, Geodesy and the problem of the ice sheet, in press Proceedings, V Hotine-Marussi Symposium on Mathematical Geodesy, 2003.
  10. Wahr, J. and I. Velicogna, What might GRACE contribute to studies of postglacial rebound? SPACE SCI REV 108 (1-2): 319-330, 2003.
  11. Velicogna, I., and J. Wahr, Post Glacial rebound and Earth?s Viscosity Structure From GRACE, J. Geophys. Res. Vol. 107, 10.1029/2001JB001735, 2002.
  12. Velicogna, I., and J. Wahr, A method for separating Antarctic postglacialrebound and ice mass balance using future ICESat Geoscience Laser Altimeter System, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, and GPS satellite data, J. Geophys. Res. Vol. 107, 10.1029/2001JB000708, 2002.
  13. Velicogna, I., J. Wahr, and H. Van den Dool, Can surface pressure be used to remove atmospheric contributions from GRACE data with sufficient accuracy to recover the desired hydrological signals?, J. Geophys. Res. Vol. 106, 16,415-16,434, 2001.
  14. Velicogna, I., I. Marson, and P. Suhadolc, Moho morphology from gravity,topography and isostasy, Atti del 14th Convegno GNGTS, CNR. Roma, 405-418, 1996. [In Italian]
  15. Coren, F., P. Sterzai, R. Vidmar, and I. Velicogna, Buildings and industrialsites monitoring using SAR interferometry - The TS-SAR project, Proceedings of the IV National Meeting ASITA (Scientific Association for Territorial and Environmental Information), 617-622, 2000.
  16. Accaino, F., R. Cazzaro, L. Cernobori, G. Costa, B. Della Vedova, S. Kravania,I. Marson, R. Nicolich, G.F. Panza, P. Suhadolc, A. Sarao?, G. Pellis, F. Romanelli, F. Vaccari, and I. Velicogna, Structure and physical properties of the tectosphere in the metastable Europe, Plinius, 1999.
  17. Marson, I., R. Nicolich, L. Cernobori, M. Stoka, D. Liotta, F. Palmieri, and I.Velicogna, CROP-03 profile: a geophysical analysis of data and results, Mem. Soc. Geol. Ital. 52, 123-137, 1998.
  18. Marson, I., M. Stoka, I. Velicogna, F. Coren, and C. Zanolla, Gravity, geoid,isostasy and moho depth in Ross Sea Antarctica, IAG Symposia Vol 117, Gravity, Geoid and Marine Geodesy, Segawa et al. (eds.), Springer Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 351-359, 1997.
  19. Cerutti, G., P. De Maria, S. Desogus, F. Mazzoleni, I. Marson, and I. Velicogna, Absolute gravimetry in the Central European Initiative: The Italian contribution, Proceedings of EGS Symposium G14, Warsaw University of Technology, No 3 (26), 105-111, 1997.
  20. Marson, I., M. Stoka, I. Velicogna, F. Coren, and C. Zanolla, Trend Analysis in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, Atti del 15th Convegno GNGTS, CNR. Roma, 127-132, 1997.
  21. Foti, A., Pinna E., Velicogna I., Isostatic moho and upper mantle structure inNorth-Central Italy from gravity analysis, Atti 15th Convegno GNGTS, CNR. Roma, 483-489, 1997.