I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow @ NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Caltech, in Pasadena (CA). I work on the space-time dynamics of Earth surface water stores and fluxes in support of past (e.g. Jasons, Sentinel-3), ongoing (SWOT) and planned (SMASH concept) space missions for hydrology.

My research interests focus on the use of earth observation instruments, in particular radar altimetry, to study rivers at the global scale. I particularly seek to lead and participate in highly motivated research activities combining observations, modeling and satellite remote sensing to improve our understanding of surface water processes as part of the water cycle. 

I am a graduate engineer from the French Ecole Polytechnique and ENSAE ParisTech (B.S. in Eng., 2013, M.S. in Data Sciences and Econometrics, 2015) with an extensive background in all branches of mathematics and physics. During my master's thesis, I developed mathematical tools for combinatorial game theory at Columbia University in the city of New York. Between 2015 and 2019 I worked for the French National Institute of Statistics and Economics Studies in Paris, France.

Embracing a new career path, I underwent a second M.S. in Meteorology, Oceanography, Climate Sciences and Remote Sensing from Sorbonne University Paris VI in 2020. For my thesis, I contributed to implementing and assessing the WRF-Hydro hydrometeorological model in the French tropical overseas territory of New Caledonia (SW Pacific) at IRD Research Institute.

I completed my Ph.D. in Earth and Space Sciences (Oct. 2020 - June 2023) at Onera, the French Aerospace Lab, and CNES, the French National Space Agency, in Toulouse, France. During that time, I also collaborated with the INRAE Institute within the RiverLy research unit in Lyon, France. My Ph.D. research was concerned with (i) pluvial floods (PFs) detection using machine learning techniques based on the fusion of multispectral bitemporal optical and SAR remote sensing and very high spatial resolution (VHR) imagery and (ii) hydrological risk modeling with geomatics approaches.

On this site you can find more information on my research interests and publications. If you have any questions or are interested in potential collaborations, please contact me at arnaud.cerbelaud@jpl.nasa.gov.