Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory : People & Places

M. Tugrul Yilmaz, Ph.D.
Research Physical Scientist
USDA-ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory
Bldg. 007, Rm. 104, BARC-West
Beltsville, MD 20705-2350 USA
Voice: (301) 504-8412
Fax: (301) 504-8931
Tugrul.Yilmaz@ars.usda.gov

Research Interests:

Water and energy cycling using tools supported by numerical models, data assimilation and remote sensing.

Variability in land surface parameters through precipitation and evapotranspiration.

Education:

2010 Ph.D. (Earth Systems and GeoInformation Sciences), Earth Systems and Geoinformation Sciences Department, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.

2005 M.S. (Hydrogeology), Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije University Amsterdam, Netherlands.

2003 B.S. (Civil Engineering), Civil Engineering Department, Middle East Technical University, Turkey.

Professional Experience:

2010 – Current: Research Physical Scientist at USDA-HRSL; Water Balance Studies over Continental U.S. & Project Nile, Distributed hydrological information for water management in the Nile basin.

2009 – 2010: PhD Student at GMU; Introducing a Water Budget Constraint to Improve Land Data Assimilation Performance.

2008 – 2009: PhD Student at George Mason University (GMU) / Researcher at Center for Research on Environment and Water (CREW), Calverton, MD; Optimizing GPM Precipitation Estimation Using High Resolution Land Surface Modeling for Decision Support.

2004 – 2007: Visiting Scientist, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Hydrology and Remote Sensing Lab. (HRSL), Beltsville, MD; Remote sensing of Vegetation Water Content studies in support of SMEX04 and SMEX05.

Awards:

2008 - 2010: NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship

Professional Membership:

2008 – Present: Member, American Meteorological Society

2007 – Present: Member, American Geophysical Union

Selected Publications:(please contact the author to determine reprint availability)

(view author's publications/interpretive summaries/technical abstracts since 1999)

T. R. H. Holmes, W. T. Crow, M. T. Yilmaz, and T. J. Jackson (2012). Enhancing Model-Based Land Surface Temperature Estimates Using Multi-Platform Microwave Remote Sensing Products. (in preparation).

Weston B. Anderson, Benjamin F. Zaitchik, Christopher R. Hain, Martha C. Anderson, M. Tugrul Yilmaz, J. Mecikalski and L. Schultz (2012). Towards an integrated soil moisture drought monitor for East Africa. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (submitted).

M. T. Yilmaz and W. T. Crow (2012). The Optimality of Potential Rescaling Approaches in Land Data Assimilation. Journal of Hydrometeorology (submitted).

M. T. Yilmaz, W. T. Crow, M. C. Anderson, and C. Hain (2012). An Objective Methodology to Merge Satellite- and Model-Based Soil Moisture Products. Water Resources Research (in review). (Download PDF reprint.)

M. Tugrul Yilmaz, Timothy DelSole, and Paul R. Houser (2012). Reducing Water Imbalance in Land Data Assimilation: Ensemble Filtering without Perturbed Observations. Journal of Hydrometeorology, 13, 413-420, doi: 10.1175/JHM-D-11-010.1 (Copyrights 2011 AMS)

R. M. Parinussa, T. R. H. Holmes, M. T. Yilmaz, and W. T. Crow (2011). The impact of land surface temperature on soil moisture anomaly detection from passive microwave observations. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 15, 3135-3151. doi:10.5194/hess-15-3135-2011

E. Raymond Hunt Jr., Li Li, M. Tugrul Yilmaz, and Thomas J. Jackson (2011). Comparison of vegetation water contents derived from shortwave-infrared and passive-microwave sensors over central Iowa. Remote Sensing of Environment 115(9), 2376-2383 doi:10.1016/j.rse.2011.04.037 (Copyrights 2011 Elsevier)

M. Tugrul Yilmaz, Timothy DelSole, and Paul R. Houser (2011). Introducing a Water Budget Constraint to Improve Land Data Assimilation Performance. Journal of Hydrometeorology 12(5), 1040-1055 doi: 10.1175/2011JHM1346.1 (Copyrights 2011 AMS)

M. Tugrul Yilmaz and Timothy DelSole (2010). Predictability of Seasonal Precipitation Using Transitional Probabilities. Journal of Hydrometeorology 11(2), 533-541. doi: 10.1175/2009JHM1187.1 (Download PDF reprint.) (AMS Copyright Policy.)

M. Tugrul Yilmaz, Paul R. Houser, Roshan Shrestha and Valentine Anantharaj (2010). Optimally Merging Precipitation by Minimizing Land Surface Modeling Errors. Journal Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 49(3), 415-423. doi: 10.1175/2009JAMC2305.1 (Download PDF reprint.) (AMS Copyright Policy.)

M. Tugrul Yilmaz, E. Raymond Hunt, Jr. and Thomas J. Jackson (2008b). Remote Sensing of Vegetation Water Content from Equivalent Water Thickness Using Satellite Imagery. Remote Sensing of Environment, 112(5), 2514-2522. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2007.11.014 (Download PDF reprint.) (Elsevier Copyright Policy.)

M. Tugrul Yilmaz, E. Raymond Hunt Jr., Lyssa D. Goins, Susan L. Ustin, Vern C. Vanderbilt and Thomas J. Jackson (2008a). Vegetation water content during SMEX04 from ground data and Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper imagery. Remote Sensing of Environment, 112(2), 350-362. doi:10.1016/j.rse.2007.03.029 (Download PDF reprint.) (Elsevier Copyright Policy.)