Join us for a virtual seminar by Dr. Fadji Maina, GESTAR II Associate Research Scientist, UMBC/617. Her talk is titled "Advancing Hydrological Estimates Through Multivariate Data Assimilation."

Date and Time: Thursday, March 12, 2026 at 11:00am EST

Join us via Teams.  

"Understanding water availability is essential for societies facing natural variability, growing demand, and competing water uses. However, accurate modeling and prediction remain challenging due to limited hydrological observations, the complexity of the water cycle, and human influences such as land use change, groundwater extraction, and irrigation. To address these challenges, satellite observations are increasingly integrated with hydrological and land surface models through data assimilation frameworks, reducing uncertainties and improving water resource estimates. In High Mountain Asia, a critical source region for major rivers, this approach has improved understanding of processes such as rain-on-snow events and helped reveal how natural variability and water use influence vegetation dynamics and streamflow. In South America, it has clarified how interactions between precipitation and vegetation can moderate the impacts of extreme heat and dry conditions. Despite these advances, further progress is needed to better represent the coupled water-energy cycle and fully capture hydrological processes across scales. Emerging tools such as ParFlow-LIS, an advanced land surface-hydrologic modeling framework that explicitly simulates surface, subsurface, and groundwater processes, and NLDAS-3, a high-resolution, multi-source dataset integrating satellites, gauges, and reanalyses, are paving the way for more accurate and spatially detailed water assessments. Collectively, these advances provide actionable tools to reduce uncertainty, strengthen hazard preparedness, and support sustainable water management."

Biography:
Dr. Fadji Maina is an Associate Research Scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Her work integrates advanced hydrological modeling with satellite-derived observations to better understand how natural variability and human activities shape water systems. Through this approach, her research improves knowledge of water availability and extremes across diverse regions, including North America, Europe, High Mountain Asia, South America, and the Sahel. Her contributions to science and public service have been widely recognized: she was named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30” and selected among the “100 Most Influential Africans of 2020” by New African Magazine. She is also a recipient of the NASA GSFC Center Director’s Award and a three-time recipient of the NASA Goddard Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Geophysics Peer Award for Scientific Achievement. Dr. Maina holds a Ph.D. in Hydrology and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from University of Strasbourg, and a B.S. in Geological Engineering from University of Fes.

For more information on the GESTAR II Seminar Series, click here.