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Kerry Cawse-Nicholson

Photo of Kerry Cawse-Nicholson

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive
M/S 183-518

Pasadena, CA 91109

Phone:

818.354.1594

Curriculum Vitae:

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Member of:

Carbon Cycle And Ecosystems

Scientist

Employed By

Caltech/JPL

Biography

Dr. Kerry Cawse-Nicholson is an expert in spectroscopic imagery, particularly in fusing datasets acquired over different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum and in quantifying uncertainty. Kerry works as part of several mission teams, as the Science Lead for ECOSTRESS – a thermal radiometer mounted on the International Space Station – and the Deputy Project Scientist for the thermal portion of an upcoming NASA mission designated to study the Earth’s Surface Biology and Geology (SBG). Kerry studies land surface temperature, wildfires, evapotranspiration, and biodiversity, and produces a number of publicly available data products. She also serves as an invited working group member of the land processes distributed active archive center (LP DAAC) which distributes these products.

Education

  • PhD., Computational and Applied Mathematics, University of the Witwatersrand (2012)
  • M.S., Computational and Applied Mathematics, University of the Witwatersrand (2009)
  • B.S., Computational and Applied Mathematics, University of the Witwatersrand (2008)

Professional Experience

  • Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2016 – present)
  • Asst Manager, Earth Science Section, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (2022 – 2024)
  • Image Processing Specialist, TerraCore Africa (2015 – 2016)
  • Remote Sensing Specialist, Southern Mapping Company (2014 – 2015)
  • Postdoctoral Research Assistant, Center for Imaging Science, Rochester Institute of Technology (2012 – 2014)
  • Student Researcher, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (2009 – 2012)

Research Interests

  • Using spectroscopic imagery to study the properties of Earth’s surface
  • Dimensionality estimation for the study of diversity on land and in water
  • Fusion of different data sources for a full understanding of scene composition
  • The use of evapotranspiration in water resource management
  • Uncertainty characterization

Selected Awards

  • JPL Voyager Award, 2024
  • JPL Excellence in Science Leadership, 2022
  • NASA Early Career Public Achievement Medal, 2020
  • NASA Honor Award (Group Achievement Award), 2020
  • JPL Voyager Award, 2020
  • JPL Group Achievement Award, 2019
  • JPL Voyager Award, 2017
  • Best PhD Thesis in Computational and Applied Mathematics, 2012
  • Best Honours Student in Computational and Applied Mathematics, 2008

Selected Publications

  1. Aragon, B., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Hulley, G., Houborg, R., Fisher, J.B. (2023) K-sharp: a segmented regression approach for image sharpening and normalization. Science of remote sensing, 100095. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srs.2023.100095
  2. Hu, T., Mallick, K., Hitzelberger, P., … Cawse-Nicholson, K. (2023). Evaluating European ECOSTRESS Hub Evapotranspiration Products Retrieved from Three Structurally Contrasting SEB Models over Europe. Water Resources Research, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR034132
  3. Cawse-Nicholson, K., Raiho, A. M., Thompson, D. R., Hulley, G. C., Miller, C. E., Miner, K. R., ... & Zareh, S. K. (2023). Surface Biology and Geology imaging spectrometer: A case study to optimize the mission design using intrinsic dimensionality. Remote Sensing of Environment, 290, 113534. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2023.113534
  4. Poulter, B., Currey, B., Calle, L., Brookshire, J., Campbell, P., Chlus, A., Cawse-Nicholson, K... & Stutz, J. (2023). Simulating global dynamic surface reflectances for imaging spectroscopy spaceborne missions-LPJ-PROSAIL. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 128 (1), e2022JG006935. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG006935
  5. Bhattacharya, B. K., Mallick, K., Desai, D., Bhat, G. S., Morrison, R., Clevery, J. R., ... & Baldocchi, D. (2022). A coupled ground heat flux–surface energy balance model of evaporation using thermal remote sensing observations. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 19(23), 5521-5551. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5521-2022
  6. Raiho, A.M., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Chlus, A., Dozier, J., Gierach, M. et al. (2022) Exploring mission design for imaging spectroscopy retrievals for land and aquatic ecosystems. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 128(4), e2022JG006833. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG006833
  7. Cawse-Nicholson, K., Raiho, A., Thompson, D. R., Hulley, G., Miller, C. E., Miner, K., ... & Zareh, S. K. (2022). Intrinsic dimensionality as a metric for the impact of mission design parameters. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 127 (8), e2022JG006876. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JG006876
  8. Stavros, E. N., Chrone, J., Cawse‐Nicholson, K., Freeman, A., Glenn, N. F., Guild, L., ... & Schimel, D. (2022). Designing an Observing System to Study the Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) of the Earth in the 2020s. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, e2021JG006471. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JG006471
  9. Desai, D., Mallick, K., Bhattacharya, B., Bhat, G. S., Morrison, R., Cleverly, J., Woodgate, W., Beringer, J., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Ma, S., Verfaillie, J., and Baldocchi, D. (2022) A Coupled Ground Heat Flux-Surface Energy Balance Model of Evaporation Using Thermal Remote Sensing Observations, Biogeosciences, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2021-356
  10. Gorokhovich, Y., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Papadopoulos, N., Oikonomou, D. (2022). Use of ECOSTRESS data for measurements of the surface water temperature: Significance of data filtering in accuracy assessment, Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, 100739, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2022.100739
  11. Cira, M., Bafna, A., Lee, C.M. Kong, Y., Holt, B., Ginger, L., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Rieves, L., Jay, J.A. (2022). Turbidity and fecal indicator bacteria in recreational marine waters increase following the 2018 Woolsey Fire. Nature Scientific Reports 12, 2428 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-05945-x
  12. Halverson, G.H., Lee, C.M., Hestir, E.L., Hulley, G.C., Cawse-Nicholson, K., et al. (2022). Decline in Thermal Habitat Conditions for the Endangered Delta Smelt as Seen from Landsat Satellites (1985–2019). Environmental Science & Technology 56 (1), 185-193 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c02837
  13. Sousa, D., Brodrick, P., Cawse‐Nicholson, K., Fisher, J. B., Pavlick, R., Small, C., & Thompson, D. R. (2021). The Spectral Mixture Residual: A Source of Low‐Variance Information to Enhance the Explainability and Accuracy of Surface Biology and Geology Retrievals. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, e2021JG006672. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JG006672
  14. Gustine, R.N., Lee, C.M., Halverson, G.H., Acuña, S.C., Cawse-Nicholson, K. et al. (2021). Using ECOSTRESS to Observe and Model Diurnal Variability in Water Temperature Conditions in the San Francisco Estuary. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 60, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2021.3133411
  15. Stavros, E.N., Chrone, J., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Freeman, A., Glenn, N.F., Guild, L., Kokaly, R.Lee, C., Luvall, J.C., Pavlick, R. et al. (2021). Designing an Observing System to Study the Surface Biology and Geology of the Earth in the 2020s. Earth and Space Science Open Archive, pp. 31, https://doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10509039.1
  16. Cawse-Nicholson, K., Anderson, M., Yang, Y., Yang, Y., Hook, S. J., Fisher, J., ... & Novick, K. (2021). Evaluation of a CONUS-wide ECOSTRESS DisALEXI evapotranspiration product. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2021.3111867
  17. Thompson, D. R., Brodrick, P. G., Cawse‐Nicholson, K., Dana Chadwick, K., Green, R. O., Poulter, B., ... & Turpie, K. R. (2021). Spectral fidelity of Earth's terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 126(8), e2021JG006273. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JG006273
  18. Fahlen, J. E., Brodrick, P. G., Thompson, D. R., Herman, R. L., Hulley, G., Cawse-Nicholson, K., ... & Miller, C. E. (2021). Joint VSWIR-TIR retrievals of earth's surface and atmosphere. Remote Sensing of Environment, 267, 112727. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112727
  19. Konings, A. G., Saatchi, S. S., Frankenberg, C., Keller, M., Leshyk, V., Anderegg, W. R. L., Humphrey, V., Matheny, A. M., Trugman, A., Sack, L., Agee, E., Barnes, M. L., Binks, O., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Christoffersen, B. O., Entekhabi, D., Gentine, P., Holtzman, N. M., Katul, G. G., … Zuidema, P. A. (2021). Detecting forest response to droughts with global observations of vegetation water content. Global Change Biology, 00, 1– 20. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15872
  20. Cawse-Nicholson, K., et al. (2021) NASA's surface biology and geology designated observable: A perspective on surface imaging algorithms. Remote Sensing of Environment, 257, 112349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112349
  21. Chen, W., Pinker, R.T., Ma, Y., Hulley, G., Borbas, E., Islam, T., Cawse-Nicholson, K.A., Hook, S., Hain, C. and Basara, J., 2021. Land Surface Temperature from GOES-East and GOES-West. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-20-0086.1
  22. Loveless, M., Borbas, E.E., Knuteson, R., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Hulley, G., Hook, S. (2021). Climatology of the Combined ASTER MODIS Emissivity over Land (CAMEL) Version 2. Remote Sensing, 13(1), 111. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13010111
  23. Anderson, M.C., Yang, Y., Xue, J., Knipper, K.R., Yang, Y., Gao, F., Hain, C.R., Kustas, W.P., Cawse-Nicholson, K., et al. (2021). Interoperability of ECOSTRESS and Landsat for mapping evapotranspiration time series at sub-field scales. Remote Sensing of Environment, 252, 112189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.112189
  24. Carmon, N., Thompson, D.R., Bohn, N., Susiluoto, J., Turmon, M., Brodrick, P.G., Connelly, D.S., Braverman, A., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Green, R.O., Gunson, M. (2020). Uncertainty quantification for a global imaging spectroscopy surface composition investigation. Remote Sensing of Environment, 251, 112038. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.112038
  25. Cawse-Nicholson, K., Braverman, A., Kang, E.L., Li, M., Johnson, M., Halverson, G., Anderson, M., Hain, C., Gunson, M., Hook, S. (2020). Sensitivity and uncertainty quantification for the ECOSTRESS evapotranspiration algorithm–DisALEXI. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 89, 102088. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2020.102088
  26. Fisher, J.B., Lee, B., Purdy, A.J., Halverson, G.H., Dohlen, M.B., Cawse‐Nicholson, K. et al. (2020). ECOSTRESS: NASA's next generation mission to measure evapotranspiration from the International Space Station. Water Resources Research, 56(4), e2019WR026058. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR026058
  27. Hook, S.J., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Barsi, J., Radocinski, R., Hulley, G.C., Johnson, W.R., Rivera, G., Markham, B. (2019). In-Flight Validation of the ECOSTRESS, Landsats 7 and 8 Thermal Infrared Spectral Channels Using the Lake Tahoe CA/NV and Salton Sea CA Automated Validation Sites. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 58(2), 1294-1302. https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2019.2945701
  28. Cawse-Nicholson, K., Hook, S.J., Miller, C.E., Thompson, D.R. (2019). Intrinsic Dimensionality in Combined Visible to Thermal Infrared Imagery. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 12(12), 4977-4984. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2019.2938883
  29. Schimel, D., Schneider, F.D., JPL Carbon and Ecosystem Participants (incl Cawse-Nicholson, K.) (2019). Flux towers in the sky: global ecology from space. New Phytologist, 224(2), 570-584. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15934
  30. Thompson, D.R., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Erickson, Z., Fichot, C.G., Frankenberg, C., Gao, B.-C., Gierach, M.M., Green, R.O., Jensen, D., Natraj, V., Thompson, A. (2019). A unified approach to estimate land and water reflectances with uncertainties for coastal imaging spectroscopy. Remote Sensing of Environment, 231, 111198.
  31. Bogue, R. R., Schwandner, F. M., Fisher, J. B., Pavlick, R., Magney, T. S., Famiglietti, C. A., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Yadav, V., Linick, J. P., North, G. B., Duarte, E. (2019). Plant responses to volcanically elevated CO2 in two Costa Rican forests. Biogeosciences, 16 (6), 1343-1360. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-1343-2019
  32. Pinker, R.T., Ma, Y., Chen, W., Hulley, G., Borbas, E., Islam, T., Hain, C., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Hook, S., Basara, J. (2019). Towards a unified and coherent land surface temperature earth system data record from geostationary satellites. Remote Sensing, 11(12), 1399. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11121399
  33. Cawse-Nicholson, K., Fisher, J. B., Famiglietti, C. A., Braverman, A., Schwandner, F. M., Lewicki, J. L., Townsend, P. A., Schimel, D. S., Pavlick, R., Bormann, K. J., Ferraz, A., Kang, E. L., Ma, P., Bogue, R. R., Youmans, T., Pieri, D. C. (2018). Ecosystem responses to elevated CO2 using airborne remote sensing at Mammoth Mountain, California, Biogeosciences, 15, 7403-7418. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-7403-2018
  34. Bandyopadhyay, M., van Aardt, J.A.N., Cawse-Nicholson, K., Ientilucci E. (2017). On the fusion of lidar and aerial color imagery to detect urban vegetation and buildings, PE&RS, 83(2) 123 – 136. https://doi.org/10.14358/PERS.83.2.123
  35. D. Kelbe, J. van Aardt, P. Romanczyk, M. van Leeuwen, K. Cawse-Nicholson. (2016). Marker-free registration of forest terrestrial laser scanner data pairs with embedded confidence metrics, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (TGARS), 54(7), 4314 – 4330. https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2016.2539219
  36. Robin, K. Cawse-Nicholson, A. Mahmood, M. Sears. (2015). Estimation of the Intrinsic Dimension of Hyperspectral Images: Comparison of Current Methods, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 8(6), 2854 – 2861. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2015.2432460
  37. D. Kelbe, J. van Aardt, P. Romanczyk, M. van Leeuwen, K. Cawse-Nicholson, Single-scan stem reconstruction using sparse terrestrial laser scanner data, Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observation and Remote Sensing (JSTARS), Vol. 8 (7), pp. 3414 – 3427, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2015.2416001
  38. J. McGlinchy, J. van Aardt, B. Erasmus, G. Asner, R. Mathieu, K. Wessels, D. Knapp, T. Kennedy-Bowdoin, H. Rhody, J. Kerekes, E. Ientilucci, J. Wu, D. Sarrazin, K. Cawse-Nicholson, Extracting structural vegetation components from smallfootprint waveform lidar for biomass estimation in Savanna ecosystems, Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observation and Remote Sensing (JSTARS), Vol. 7 (2), pp. 480 – 490, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2013.2274761
  39. K. Cawse-Nicholson, S. Damelin, A. Robin, M. Sears, Determining the intrinsic dimension of a hyperspectral image using Random Matrix Theory, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, Vol. 22 (4), pp. 1301 –1310, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIP.2012.2227765
  40. K. Cawse-Nicholson, A. Robin, M. Sears, The effect of correlation on determining the intrinsic dimension of a hyperspectral image, Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observation and Remote Sensing, Vol. 6 (2), pp. 482 – 487, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2013.2242847
  41. P. Romanczyk, J. van Aardt, K. Cawse-Nicholson, D. Kelbe, J. McGlinchy, K. Krause, Assessing the impact of broadleaf tree structure on airborne full-waveform small-footprint lidar signals through simulation, Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, Vol 39 (S1), pp. S60 – S72, 2013. https://doi.org/10.5589/m13-015
  42. J. Wu, K. Cawse-Nicholson, J. van Aardt, 3D tree reconstruction from small footprint waveform lidar, PE&RS, Vol. 79 (12), pp. 1147 – 1157, 2013. https://doi.org/10.14358/PERS.79.12.1147

Projects

ECOSTRESS (ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station)
SBG (Surface Biology and Geology) Designated Observable