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Hannah Nesser

Photo of Hannah Nesser

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive

Pasadena, CA 91109

Curriculum Vitae:

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Member of:

Carbon Cycle And Ecosystems

Biography

Hannah Nesser is interested in the use of satellite observations to quantify greenhouse gas fluxes at the spatial and temporal resolutions needed to support climate policy. Her Ph.D. research used methane observations from the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) aboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite to quantify methane emissions over North America at 25 km x 25 km resolution, allowing improved understanding of methane emissions from individual states, urban areas, and landfills. At JPL, she applies the methods she developed during her PhD to quantify carbon dioxide fluxes and the information content of the satellite observations using data from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2).

Education

  • Ph.D., Environmental Science and Engineering, Harvard University (2023)
  • B.S., Environmental Engineering, Yale University (2016)

Professional Experience

  • JPL Postdoctoral Scholar, NASA JPL (2025 – present)
  • NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow, NASA JPL (2023 – 2025)

Research Interests

  • Inverse modeling of satellite observations to quantify greenhouse gas fluxes at high resolution
  • Development and implementation of methods to support high-resolution flux inversions
  • Bridging bottom-up and top-down methods for anthropogenic emission estimation

Selected Awards

  • NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellowship (2023 - 2025)
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Research Program Fellowship (2017 - 2022)
  • Harvard University Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Graduate Teaching Award (Spring 2020)
  • Special Commendation for Extraordinary Teaching in Extraordinary Times (COVID-19) (Spring 2020)
  • Bok Center Certificate of Distinction in Teaching (2019)
  • D. Allan Bromley Prize in Environmental Engineering (2016)

Selected Publications

  1. Nesser, H., et al., High-resolution U.S. methane emissions inferred from an inversion of 2019 TROPOMI satellite data: contributions from individual states, urban areas, and landfills, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-946, in review, 2023. [Link]
  2. Varon, D.J., et al., Continuous weekly monitoring of methane emissions from the Permian Basin by inversion of TROPOMI satellite observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7503–7520, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7503-2023, 2023. [Link]
  3. Chen, Z., et al., Satellite quantification of methane emissions and oil/gas methane intensities from individual countries in the Middle East and North Africa: implications for climate action, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5945–5967, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5945-2023, 2023. [Link]
  4. Shen, L., et al., Satellite quantification of oil and natural gas methane emissions in the US and Canada including contributions from individual basins, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11203–11215, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11203-2022, 2022. [Link]
  5. Chen, Z., et al., Methane emissions from China: a high-resolution inversion of TROPOMI satellite observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10809–10826, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10809-2022, 2022. [Link]
  6. Varon, D.J., et al., Integrated Methane Inversion (IMI 1.0): A user-friendly, cloud-based facility for inferring high-resolution methane emissions from TROPOMI satellite observations, Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 5787–5805, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5787-2022, 2022. [Link]
  7. Lu, X., et al., Methane emissions in the United States, Canada, and Mexico: Evaluation of national methane emission inventories and sectoral trends by inverse analysis of in situ (GLOBALVIEWplus CH4 ObsPack) and satellite (GOSAT) atmospheric observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 395-418, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-395-2022, 2022. [Link]
  8. Nesser, H., et al., Reduced-cost construction of Jacobian matrices for high- resolution inversions of satellite observations of atmospheric composition, Atm. Meas. Tech., 14, 5521–5534, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5521-2021, 2021. [Link]