Sustainability Leadership Fellowship Cohort: 2014-2015

Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Atmospheric Science

Research Summary: Hannakaisa studies atmospheric carbon dioxide through satellite remote sensing. She compares satellite retrievals of this greenhouse gas to ground-based observations and carbon cycle models, and strives to understand the underlying reasons for the differences in order to improve the retrievals. As a highlight of her postdoctoral period, and the whole carbon cycle science, a new NASA satellite OCO-2 was launched in July 2014 with an ambitious goal to locate the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide; the greenhouse gas that keeps warming our planet. High retrieval accuracy is crucial for reaching this goal.