Dr. Saswati Das

About

Saswati Das is an Assistant Research Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. She analyzes observations of longwave-forcing trace gases and their co-emitted species (e.g., NO2, CO) using data from ground-based remote sensing networks and in situ measurement campaigns conducted on aircraft. These measurements complement current and future satellite observations (e.g., OCO-2, OCO-3, GOSAT-2, GHGSat, CO2M, TEMPO, GeoXO), as well as flux tower and ground-based in situ networks, to enhance our understanding of emission sources and atmosphere-biosphere interactions. She validates total column satellite data products and inverse modeling inventories, evaluates urban fluxes, emission sources, and natural system fluxes, and works on improving instrumentation and observational strategies.

Formerly, as a postdoctoral researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Saswati worked on validating the XCO2 product from NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 and 3 missions against independent datasets such as observations from the ground-based Total Carbon Column Observing Network and the COllaborative Carbon Column Observing Network, and aircraft measurements from the Atmospheric Tomography Mission.

She worked as a graduate student at the Center for Space Science and Engineering Research at Virginia Tech, USA. She graduated with a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 2019 and a Ph.D. in 2022. Her research focused on studying the chemistry and dynamics of the Stratosphere, Mesosphere, and Lower Thermosphere. She investigated the long-term variations in these regions of the atmosphere and the unusual dynamics that follow atmospheric anomalies, such as Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW) events. She validated ozone and atomic oxygen from the SOFIE instrument and investigated Arctic and Antarctic SSW events.