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Sarah Worden

Photo of Sarah Worden

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive

Pasadena, CA 91109

Curriculum Vitae:

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Member of:

Carbon Cycle And Ecosystems

Biography

Sarah Worden is a NASA Postdoctoral Program fellow in the Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems group at JPL. She uses satellite and reanalysis estimates combined with terrestrial ecosystem modelling to understand carbon and water cycle interactions in tropical rainforests.

Education

  • PhD, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences – UCLA, 2024
  • M.S. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences – UCLA, 2021
  • B.S. Physics – UCLA, 2019
  • B.A. Music Performance – UCLA, 2019

Professional Experience

  • Postdoctoral Researcher, JPL, 2024-Present
  • Graduate Student Researcher, UCLA, 2019-2024

Community Service

  • AAAS Section W Steering Group Early Career Representative
  • AGU Atmospheric Sciences Early Career Committee Member
  • Reviewer for Geophysical Research Letters
  • UCLA Society for Gender Equity in Geoscience, President
  • UCLA Chi Epsilon Pi Honors Meterological Society, President
  • Sierra Madre Elementary Schol STEAM Night Booth Volunteer
  • UCLA Exploring Your Universe Booth Volunteer
  • UCLA AOS Graduate-Undergraduate and Graduate-Graduate Program Mentor
  • Letters to a Pre-Scientist Mentor
  • Geoscience Education & Mentorship Support (GEMS) Mentor

Research Interests

Tropical rainforest carbon cycles, water cycles, land-atmosphere interactions.

Selected Awards

  • NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, 2024
  • AGU Edmond Dewan Young Scientist Scholarship, 2023
  • UCLA Richard P. and Linda S. Turco Endowed Graduate Fellowship, 2023
  • UCLA Brian Bosart Award, 2021
  • Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology Award, 2020-2023
  • AGU Remote Sensing Technical Committee Student Award 2021
  • UCLA Alumni Scholarship 2019

Selected Publications

  1. Worden, S., Bloom, A. A., Worden, J., Levine, P., Shi, M., & Fu, R. (2024). Congo Basin water balance and terrestrial fluxes inferred from satellite observations of the isotopic composition of water vapor. Water Resources Research, 60(7), e2023WR035092. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023WR035092
  2. Fu, R., Worden, S., Chakraborty, S., Worden, J., & Dickinson, R. E. (2022). Water Cycle over the Congo Basin, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science, Climate of Africa.
  3. Shi, M., Worden, J.R., Bailey, A., Noone, D., Risi, C., Fu, R., Worden, S., Herman, R., Payne, V., Pagano, T. & Bowman, K., (2022). Amazonian terrestrial water balance inferred from satellite-observed water vapor isotopes. Nature communications, 13, 2686. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30317-4
  4. Worden, S., Fu, R., Chakraborty, S., Liu, J., & Worden, J. (2021). Where does moisture come from over the Congo Basin? Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 126, e2020JG006024. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JG006024
  5. Worden, J., Saatchi, S., Keller, S., Worden, S., et al. (2021). Satellite Observations of the Tropical Terrestrial Carbon Balance and Interactions with the Water Cycle During the 21st Century. Reviews of Geophysics, 59(1), p.e2020RG000711 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020RG000711
  6. Worden, S., & Fu., R. (2024). On the Mechanisms Controlling the Rainy Season Transition Period in the Southern Congo Basin. Climate Dynamics. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3851954/v1
  7. Worden, S., & Fu, R. On the Mechanisms Controlling the Rainy Season Transition Periods in the Equatorial Congo Basin. [In Preparation]
  8. Worden, S., Ordway, E., Saatchi, S., Fu, R., Bloom, A.A., Smith, T., & Levine, P. Five Key Factors Affecting the Equatorial African Carbon Cycle in the 21st century. [In Preparation]
  9. Worden, S., Saatchi, S., Madani, N., & Yang. Y. Weak Carbon and Water Flux Coupling of the Amazonian Rainforests. [In Preparation]