Kalecinski, Natacha

Bio

Natacha Kalecinski earned her PhD in atmospheric science at the Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, in 2015 where her research centered on the solar irradiance forecasting model improvement based on the study of formation and dissipation of clouds over tropical islands.

Natacha currently is a postdoctoral associate at the University of Maryland Department of Geographical Sciences in the SALSA team working with Sergii Skakun and Jean-Claude Roger. Since 2019, her research are focused on yield variability assessment at national to local level to improve crop yield forecasting model. She is also working on the drastic land change cover as a co-investigator of the project "High-Impact Hot Spots of Land Cover Land Use Change: Ukraine and Neighboring Countries"

Since 2021, Natacha has been leading the operational yield forecasting development for many countries (Russia, Ukraine) supporting ongoing NASA projects with Science Team Leader, Eric Vermote

As part of the NASA Harvest team, results of her research on the impact of the war in Ukraine on crops production was featured in the mass media:

• Bloomberg: “Russia Reaped $1 Billion of Wheat in Occupied Ukraine, NASA Says”, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-03/russia-reaped-1-billion-of-wheat-in-occupied-ukraine-nasa-says
• NASA Earth Observatory: “Larger Wheat Harvest in Ukraine Than Expected”, https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/150590/larger-wheat-harvest-in-ukraine-than-expected
• NASA Earth Observatory: “Measuring War’s Effect on a Global Breadbasket”, https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/150025/measuring-wars-effect-on-a-global-breadbasket