NOAA EPP/MSI CESSRST Scholar Joshua Hrisko Virtually Defends his Ph.D. Dissertation

Posted on January 17, 2021

NEW YORK—January 17, 2021- NOAA EPP/MSI CESSRST Earth System Sciences and Remote Sensing graduate scholar, Joshua E. Hrisko successfully defended his dissertation on November 13th, 2020, in a virtual presentation to The City College of New York, Grove School of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Department. Joshua’s dissertation was entitled ‘Toward closing the Urban Surface Energy Balance Using Satellite Remote Sensing.’ The research topic is a blend of his interests. “I was inspired by my NOAA CESSRST advisor, Prof. Prathap Ramamurthy’s research in fluid mechanics and heat transfer and had a deep interest in studying urban areas and using satellite data. I combined these with novel technologies such as machine learning and conducted my research.”

In his research, Joshua highlighted that the surface energy balance (SEB) exchange which is responsible for many processes that govern weather, climate, human health, and energy use determines the near-surface thermodynamic state. It does so by partitioning the available energy into surface fluxes. He further emphasized how due to the heterogeneity of urban land cover dominated by impervious materials like buildings, roads etc. commingled with vegetation and bare soil, has led to urban surface energy balance being less observed. Post his investigation, he presented two new methodologies that apply remote sensing-based algorithms to urban environment. The first uses satellite measurements to derive near-surface air temperature for urban areas and the second is a satellite-based algorithm that approximates the net all-wave radiation using machine learning and land cover information.

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