U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory: Beltsville, MD
 close



    Research

                    Research Projects
                                    Publications
                                    Collaborations
                                    News
                                    Software
                People

                    Staff Listing
                                    CareersSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home Northeast Area Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) Beltsville Agricultural Research Center Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory People





- Find a person
- Find a location
- ARS Organizational Chart
- People
- Research
- Joseph Alfieri
- Martha Anderson
- Michael Cosh
- Octavia Crompton
- Wade Crow
- Feng Gao
- Cathleen Hapeman
- Simon Kraatz
- William Kustas
- Gregory McCarty
- Xuesong Zhang
- Alexia Bertholon
- Wayne Dulaney
- Sanam Izadidehkordi
- Lynn McKee
- Robert Parry
- Aquena Perry
- Andrew Russ
- Zacharias Smith
- Alan Stern
- William (Alex) White
- Uvirkaa Akumaga
- Nishan Bhattarai
- Richard Cirone
- Ling Du
- Maryam Foroughi
- Audra Hinson
- Wells (Dean) Hively
- Victoria Walker
- Yiming Wang
- Yun Yang
- Haoteng Zhao

Michael H Cosh    Research Hydrologist photo of Mike Cosh
**Michael H. Cosh, Ph.D.*****Research Hydrologist*****USDA-ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory****Bldg. 007, Rm. 104, BARC-West****10300 Baltimore Ave****Beltsville, MD 20705-2350 USA****Voice: (301) 504-6461****Fax: (301) 504-8931****Michael.Cosh@usda.gov**  **Research Interests:** (clickhereto see a list of current research projects) In-situ soil moisture network validation.
Scaling of land surface parameters to satellite scale.
Validation of satellite soil moisture products, such as AMSR-E, SMOS, Aquarius, and SMAP.  **Education:** 1995 B.A. (Engineering, minors in Math, Physics) Department of Mathematics, Chemistry, and Physical Sciences, Saint Francis College, Loretto, PA. (Graduated Magna Cum Laude with Honors)
1996 B.S. (Civil and Environmental Engineering) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
1998 M.S. (Hydraulics and Hydrology) School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
2002 Ph.D. (Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Hydrology) School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.  **Professional Experience:** 1998 - 2001: Research Assistant, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
2002 - 2005: Post-Doctoral Researcher, USDA-ARS-Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Beltsville, MD.
2005 - present: Research Hydrologist, USDA-ARS-Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Beltsville, MD.  **Awards:** 2003: ARS Outstanding Performance Award, USDA-ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Beltsville MD.
2008: ARS Beltsville Area Early Career Scientist of the Year.
2013: NASA Group Achievement Award, 2013 for the Soil Moisture Active Passive Validation Field Experiment 2012 Field Campaign Team.
2015: IEEE Highest Impact Paper Award 2015, for “Validation of Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer Soil Moisture Products” from 2010.
2016: Interagency Partnership Award, Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer for the SMAP Applications Working Group for promoting integration of SMAP data into operational applications.
2016: ARS Outreach, Diversity & Equal Opportunity Award, 2016 in the Supervisory/Managerial Category.
2017: NASA Group Achievement Award, Soil Moisture Active Passive Science and Cal/Val Team for contributions to the preparation of science algorithm and calibration/validation activities for the Soil Moisture Active Passive Mission.
2017: NASA Group Achievement Award, Soil Moisture Active Passive Science Team for outstanding contributions to the development of NASA SMAP mission and demonstration of its scientific and societal impact.
2017: Arthur S. Flemming Award for Outstanding Government Service (Basic Science) , George Washington University.
2017: ARS Northeast Area Technology Transfer Award.  **Professional Service:** American Geophysical Union Member
AGU Hydrology Remote Sensing Technical Committee Chairperson
AGU Hydrology Large Scale Field Experimentation Technical Committee Chairperson
AGU Fall Meeting Hydrology Program Chairperson
USDA Remote Sensing Coordination Committee, ARS Representative
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society,  Senior Member(awarded 2017).
American Meteorological Society Member
National Soil Moisture Network, Executive Committee
Committee on Earth Observing Satellites, Land Production Validation-Soil Moisture Co-lead, 2018-present  **Publication Databases:** ARIS
Google Scholar
LinkedIn
ORCID
ResearchGate  **Selected Publications:** Mohanty, B. P., **Cosh, M. H.**, Lakshmi, V., Montzka, C., Soil Moisture Remote Sensing: State of the Science, Vadose Zone Journal, 16(1), doi:10.2136/vzj2016.10.0105, 2017. Colliander, A., Jackson, T. J., Chan, S. K., O'Neill, P., Bindlish, R., **Cosh, M. H.**, Caldwell, T., Walker, J. P., Berg, A. A., McNairn, H., Thibeault, M., Martínez-Fernández, J., Jensen, K. H., Asanuma, J., Seyfried, M. S., Bosch, D., D., Starks, P. J., Holifield Collins, C., Yueh, S. H., An assessment of the differences between spatial resolution and grid size for the SMAP enhanced soil moisture product over homogeneous sites, Remote Sensing of Environment, 207:65-70. 2018. Chan, S. K., Bindlish, R., O’Neill, P., Jackson, T. J., Njoku, E., Dunbar, S., Chaubell, J., Piepmeier, J., Yueh, S., Entekhabi, E., Colliander, A., Chen, F., **Cosh, M. H.**, Caldwell, T., Walker, J., Berg, A., McNairn, H., Thibeault, M., Martinez-Fernandez, J., Uldall, F., Seyfried, M., Bosch, D., Starks, P., Holifield Collins, C., Prueger, J., van der Velde, R., Asanuma, J., Palecki, M., Small, E. E., Zreda, M., Calvet, J., Crow, W. T., Kerr, Y., 2017, Development and assessment of the SMAP enhanced passive soil moisture product, Remote Sensing of Environment. 204:931-941. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2017.08.025. Das, N., Entekhabi, D., Dunbar, R.S., Colliander, A., Chen, F., Crow, W.T., Jackson, T.J., Berg, A., Bosch, D.D., Caldwell, T., **Cosh, M.H.**, Holifield Collins, C., Lopez-Baeza, E., Moghaddam, M., Rowlandson, Tracy, Starks, P., Thibeault, M., Walker, J., Wu, X., O’Neill, P. E., Yueh, S., Njoku, E. The SMAP mission combined active-passive soil moisture product at 9 km and 3km spatial resolutions. Remote Sensing of Environment. 211:204-217. 2018. Dong, J., Steele-Dunne, S. C., Ochsner, T. E., Hatch, C. E., Sayde, C., Selker, J., Tyler, S., **Cosh, M. H.**, van de Giesen, N., Mapping high-resolution soil moisture and properties using distributed temperature sensing data and an adaptive particle batch smoother, Water Resources Research, doi:10.1002/2016WR019031. 2016. *Coopersmith, E.J.,***Cosh, M. H.,** Bell, J. E., Boyles, R., Lifting in situ soil moisture measurements with machine learning: A multi-depth analysis of USCRN profiles and an application for AMSR-E satellite validation with ECONet Sensors, doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2016.10.007. 2016. Shellito, P. J., Small, E. E., Colliander, A., Bindlish, R., **Cosh, M. H.**, Berg, A. A., Bosch, D. B., Caldwell, T. G., Goodrich, D. C., McNairn, H., Prueger, J. H., Starks, P. J., van der Velde, R., Walker, J. P. SMAP soil moisture drying more rapid than observed in situ following rainfall events. 43(15):8068–8075. doi:10.1002/2016GL069946. 2016. *Coopersmith, E.*, **Cosh, M. H.**, Bell, J. E., Kelly, V., Hall, M., Palecki, M. A., Temimi, M. Deploying temporary networks for upscaling of sparse network stations, International Journal of Applied Earth Observations and Geoinformation. 52: 433-444. 2016. *Coopersmith, E.*, **Cosh, M.H.**, Jacobs, J. Comparison Of In Situ Soil Moisture Measurements: An Examination of the Neutron and Dielectric Measurements within the Illinois Climate Network Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-16-0029.1. 2016. Colliander, A., Njoku, E. G., Jackson, T. J., Chazanoff, S., McNairn, H., Powers, J., **Cosh, M. H.** Retrieving soil moisture for non-forested areas using PALS radiometer measurements in SMAPVEX12 field campaign, Remote Sensing of Environment, 184:86-100. 2016. Shellito, P., Small, E., **Cosh, M.H.** Calibration of Noah soil hydraulic property parameters using surface soil moisture from SMOS and basin-wide in situ observations. Journal of Hydrometeorology. doi: 10.1175/JHM-D-15-0153.1. 2016. Chen, F., Crow, W.T., Colliander, A., **Cosh, M.H.**, Jackson, T.J., Bindlish, R., Reichle, R., Chan, S., Starks, P., Goodrich, D.C., Seyfried, M.S. Application of triple collocation in ground-based validation of soil moisture active/passive (SMAP) level 2 data products Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing. doi:10.1109/JSTARS.2016.2569998. 2016. Kumar, S., Zaitchik, B.F., Peters-Lidard, C., Rodell, M., Reichle, R., Li, B., Jasinski, M., Mocko, David, Getirana, A., De Lannoy, G., **Cosh, M.H.**, Hain, C., Anderson, M.C., Arsenault, K. R., Xia, Y., and Ek, M. Assimilation of gridded GRACE terrestrial water storage estimates in the North American Land Data Assimilation System. Journal of Hydrometeorology. 17(7):1951-1972. doi:10.1175/jhm-d-15-0157.1. 2016. Chan, S., Bindlish, R., O’Neill, Peggy .E., Njoku, Eni., Jackson, T.J., Colliander, Andreas, Chen, F., Burgin, M., Dunbar, R.S., Piepmeier, J, Yueh, S., Entekhabi, Dara, **Cosh, M.H.**, Seyfried, M.S., Bosch, D.D., Starks, P., Goodrich, D.C., Prueger, J.H., Crow, W.T., Caldwell, T., Walker, J., Wu, X., Berg, A., Rowlandson, T., Pacheco, A., McNairn, H., Thibeault, M., Martinez-Fernandez, J., Gonzalez-Zamora, A., Seyfried, M., Bosch, D., Starks, P., Goodrich, D., Prueger, J., Palecki, M., Small, E. E., Zreda, M., Calvet, J.-C., Crow, Kerr, Y. Assessment of the SMAP Level 2 passive Soil Moisture Product IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. 54(8):4994-5007. 2016. Molero, B., Merlin, O., Malbeteau, Y., Al Bitar, A., Cabot, F., Stefan, V., Kerr, Y., Bacon, S., **Cosh, M. H.**, Bindlish, R., Jackson, T. J. SMOS disaggregated soil moisture product at 1 km resolution: processor overview and first validation results, Remote Sensing of Environment. 180. 361-376. 2016. **Cosh, M.H.**, Ochsner, T., McKee, L.G., Dong, G., Basara, J., Evett, S.R., Hatch, C., Small, E., Steele-Dunne, S., Zreda, M., Sayde, C. The Soil Moisture Active Passive Marena Oklahoma In Situ Sensor Testbed (SMAP-MOISST): Design and Initial Results. Vadose Zone Journal. 15(4). DOI:10.2136/vzj2015.09.0122. 2016.** *Coopersmith, E.,***Cosh, M. H.***,* Bell, J., Crow, W.T. Multi-profile analysis of soil moisture within the U.S. Climate Reference Network. Vadose Zone Journal.15(1). doi:10.2136/vzj2015.01.0016. 2016. *Coopersmith, E.*, **Cosh, M.H.**, Bindlish, R., Bell, J. Comparing AMSR-E soil moisture estimates to the extended record of the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) Advances in Water Resources. 85:79-85. doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2015.09.003. 2016. Kornelsen, K.C., **Cosh, M.H.**, Coulibaly, P. Potential of bias correction for downscaling passive microwave and soil moisture data. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres. 120(13):6460-6479. doi:/10.1002/2015JD023550. 2015. Colaizzi, P. D., Evett, S. R., Agam, N., Schwartz, R. C., Kustas, W. P., **Cosh, M. H.**, McKee, L.G. Soil heat flux calculation for sunlit and shaded surfaces under row crops: 2. Model test. Agric. Forest Meteorol., 216: 129-140. doi: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2015.10.009. 2015. Zhao, T., Shi, J., Bindlish, R., Jackson, T.J., **Cosh, M.H.**, Lingmei, J., Zhongjun, Z., Huimin, L. Parametric Exponentially Correlated Surface Emission Model for L-band Passive Microwave Soil Moisture Retrieval Physics and Chemistry of the Earth. 83–84: 65-74. 2015. Paloscia, S., Santi., E., Pettinato, S., Mladenova, I., Jackson, T. J., Bindlish, R., **Cosh, M. H.**, A comparison between two algorithms for the retrieval of soil moisture using AMSR-E data. Frontiers of Earth Science. 3(16):1-10. doi: 10.3389/feart.2015.00016. 2015. *Coopersmith, E.J.*, Bell, J., **Cosh, M.H.** Improving the soil moisture data record of the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) and Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN). Advances in Water Resources. 79:80-90. doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2015.02.006. 2015. Djamaï, N., Magagi, R., Goita, K., Hosseini, M., **Cosh, M.H.**, Berg, A., Toth, B.  Evaluation of SMOS soil moisture products over the CanEx-SM10 area Journal of Hydrology.520:254-267. 2015. *Coopersmith, E. J.*, **Cosh, M. H.**, Petersen, W. A., Prueger, J. H., and Niemeier, J. J. Soil Moisture Model Calibration and Validation: An ARS Watershed on the South Fork Iowa River. J. Hydrometeor, 16, 1087–1101. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-14-0145.1. 2015.**** Rondinelli, W. J*.*, Hornbuckle, B. K., Patton, J. C., **Cosh, M. H.**, Walker, V. A., Carr, B. D., Logsdon, S. D. Different Rates of Soil Drying after Rainfall Are Observed by the SMOS Satellite and the South Fork *in situ* Soil Moisture Network. J. Hydrometeor, 16, 889–903. doi: 10.1175/JHM-D-14-0137.1. 2015. Zhao, T., Shi, J., Bindlish, R., Jackson, T.J., **Cosh, M.H.**, Lingmei, J., Zhongjun, Z., Huimin, L. Parametric exponentially correlated surface emission model for L-band passive microwave soil moisture retrieval. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth. 83-84:65-74. 2015. Bindlish, R., Jackson, T.J., **Cosh, M.H.**, Zhao, T., O’Neill, P. E. Global soil moisture from the Aquarius satellite description and initial assessment. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters. 12(5): 923-927. doi:10.1109/LGRS.2014.2364151. 2015. McNairn, H., Jackson, T.J., Wiseman, Grant, Belair, S., Bullock, Paul, Colliander, Andreas, **Cosh, M.H.**, Magagi, R., Moghaddam, M., Adams, J., Berg, A., Homayouni, S., Ojo, E. Rotimi, Rowlandson, Tracy, Shang, J., Goita, K., Hosseini, M. 2014. The Soil Moisture Active Passive Validation Experiment 2012 (SMAPVEX12): pre-launch calibration and validation of the SMAP satellite IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 53(5):2784–2801.doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2014.2364913. 2015. Kumar, S. V., Peters-Lidard, C., Mocko, D., Reichle, R., Liu, Y., Arsenault, K. R., Xia, Youlong, Ek, M.B., Riggs, G., Livneh, B., **Cosh, M.H.** Assimilation of passive microwave-based soil moisture and snow depth retrievals for drought estimation Journal of Hydrometeorology. 15(6):2446-2469. 2014. Srivastava, P., O'Neill, P., **Cosh, M. H.**, Kurum, M., Lang, R., Joseph, A. Evaluation of Dielectric Mixing Models for Passive Microwave Soil Moisture Retrieval Using Data From ComRAD Ground-Based SMAP Simulator. Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, IEEE. 99: 1-10, doi: 10.1109/JSTARS.2014.2372031. 2014. *Coopersmith, E*. *J.*, **Cosh, M.H.**, Daughtry, C.S. Field-Scale Moisture Estimates Using COSMOS Sensors:A Validation Study with Temporary Networks and Leaf-Area-Indices, Journal of Hydrology, 519(A), 637-643. 2014. Temimi, M., Lakhankar, T., Zhan, X., **Cosh, M.H.**, Krakauer, N., Fares, A., Kelly, V., Khanbilvardi, R., and Kumassi, L. Soil moisture retrieval using ground-based L-band passive microwave observations in northeastern USA, Vadose Zone Journal, 13, 3, doi:10.2136/vzj2013.06.0101. 2014. *Dong, J.*, Ochsner, T., Zreda, M., **Cosh, M.H.**, Zou, C. B. Calibration and validation of the COSMOS Rover for surface soil moisture. Vadose Zone Journal, 13:4. 2014. Kumar, S. V., Peters-Lidard, C., Mocko, David, Reichle, R., Liu, Y., Arsenault, K. R., Xia, Y., Ek, M.B., Riggs, G., Livneh, B., **Cosh, M.H.** Assimilation of passive microwave-based soil moisture and snow depth retrievals for drought estimation. Journal of Hydrometeorology. 15(6):2446-2469, doi:10.1175/JHM-D-13-0132.1. 2013. Ochsner, T., **Cosh, M.H.**, Cuenca, R., Dorigo, W.A., Draper, C., Hagimoto, Yutaka, Kerr, Y., Larson, Kristine, Njoku, E., Small, Eric, Zreda, M. State of the art in large-scale soil moisture monitoring. Soil Science Society of America Journal. 77:1888-1919. 2013. **Cosh, M. H.**, Starks, P., Guzman, J., Moriasi, D. Long-term agro-hydrological research in upper Washita River experimental watersheds: Inter-annual persistence of soil water content profiles. Journal of Environmental Quality. 43:1328-1333. doi:10.2134/jeq2013.08.0318. 2013.**** Magagi, R., Berg, A., Goita, K., Belair, S., Jackson, T. J., Toth, B., Walker, A., McNairn, H., O’Neill, P. E., Moghaddam, M., Gherboudj, I., Colliander, A., **Cosh, M. H.**, Belanger, J., Burgin, M., Fisher, J., Kim, S., Rousseau, L.-P., Djamai, N., Shang, J., and Merzouki, A. Canadian Experiment for Soil Moisture in 2010 (CanEx-SM10): Overview and preliminary results, *IEEE Transactions of Geoscience and Remote Sensing,*51(1):347-363. 2013. Fang, B., Lakshmi, V., Bindlish, R., Jackson, T.J., **Cosh, M.H.**, Basara, J. Passive microwave soil moisture downscaling using vegetation index and skin surface temperature. Vadose Zone Journal. 12(4). doi:10.2136/vzj2013.05.0089. 2013. Mladenova, I., Jackson, T.J., Njoku, Eni., Bindlish, R., Chan, S., **Cosh, M.H.**, Holmes, T., De Jeu, R.A.M., Jones, L. , Kimball, J., Paloscia, S., Santi, E. Remote Monitoring of Soil Moisture Using Passive Microwave-Based Technologies – Theoretical Basic and Overview of Selected Algorithms for AMSR-E. Remote Sensing of Environment. 144:197-213. 2013. Rowlandson, T., Berg, A., Bullock, Paul, Ojo, E. Rotimi, McNairn, H., Wiseman, G., **Cosh, M.H.** Evaluation of Several Calibration Procedures for a Portable Soil Moisture Sensor. Journal of Hydrology. 498:335-344. 2013. **Cosh, M.H.**, Jackson, T.J., Smith, Craig, Toth, Brenda, Berg, A. Validating the BERMS *in situ* soil water content data record with a large scale temporary network, Vadose Zone Journal. 12(2). doi:10.2136/vzj2012.0151. 2013. Han, E., Heathman, G. C., Merwade, V., **Cosh, M.H.** Application of observation operators for field scale soil mositure averages and variances in agricultural landscapes. Journal of Hydrology. 444-445:34-50. 2012. Vanderlinden, K., Vereecken, H., Hardelauf, H., Herbst, M., Martinez, G., **Cosh, M.H.**, Pachepsky, Y.A. Temporal stability of soil water contents: A review of data and analyses. Vadose Zone Journal. 11(2). doi:10.2136/vzj2011.0178. 2012. Colliander, A., Chan, S., Kim, S., Das, N., Yueh, S., **Cosh, M.H.**, Bindlish, R., Jackson, T.J., Njoku, E. Long Term Analysis of PALS Soil Moisture Campaign Measurements for Global Soil Moisture Algorithm Development Remote Sensing of Environment. 121:309-322. 2012. Du, David, Jackson, T.J., Bindlish, R., **Cosh, M.H.**, Li, L., Hornbuckle, B., Kabela, E. Effect of dew on aircraft-based passive microwave observations over an agricultural domain. Journal of Applied Remote Sensing. 6(1):063571. doi: 10.1117/1.JRS.6.063571. 2012. Heathman, G. C., **Cosh, M. H.**, Merwade, V., and Han, E. Multi-scale temporal stability analysis of surface and subsurface soil moisture within the Upper Cedar Creek Watershed, Indiana, Catena, 95, 91-103*.* 2012. Agam, N., Kustas, W.P., Evett, S.R., Colaizzi, P.D., **Cosh, M.H.**, McKee, L.G. Soil heat flux variability influenced by row direction in irrigated cotton. Advances in Water Resources. 50:31-40. 2012. Heathman, G. C., **Cosh, M. H.**, Han, E., Jackson, T. J., McKee, L. G., and McAfee, S. Field scale spatiotemporal analysis of surface soil moisture for evaluating point-scale *in situ* networks. Geoderma. 170:195-205. 2012. **Cosh, M.H.**, Evett, S.R., McKee, L.G. Surface soil water content spatial organization within irrigated and non-irrigated agricultural fields, Advances in Water Resources, 50, 55-61. 2012. Kurum, M., O’Neill, P. E., Lang, R. H., Joseph, A. T., **Cosh, M. H.**, and Jackson, T. J. Effective tree scattering and opacity at L-Band. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 118, 1-9. 2012.  ****


Return to top


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov