Lal, Preet

Bio

Preet Lal is a Postdoctoral Associate specializing in microwave remote sensing and geospatial analysis. He completed his PhD in Civil Engineering from Michigan State University, where his research focused on developing high-resolution (100m) soil moisture retrieval algorithms for the NISAR mission. 

Currently, Preet is working on NISAR-GEDI fusion for above-ground biomass estimation and uncertainty analysis. He also contributes to NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System, focusing on savanna regions and utilizing NASA’s GEDI and ICESat-2 spaceborne LiDAR data to reduce uncertainty in SAR-based models. Preet’s expertise lies in SAR, LiDAR, and optical remote sensing, advancing algorithms for environmental monitoring and climate resilience.

 

Degrees

  • Ph.D. (Dec 2024), Civil Engineering, Michigan State University, MI, USA

  • M.Tech (2020), Geoinformatics, Central University of Jharkhand, India

Areas of Interest

  • Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
  • High-Resolution Remote Sensing
  • Above-Ground Biomass Estimation
  • Carbon Monitoring
  • Soil Moisture Retrieval

Research Topics

  • Carbon, Vegetation Dynamics and Landscape-Scale Processes
  • Geospatial Information Science
  • Geospatial Information Science and Remote Sensing
  • Remote Sensing
  • P. Lal, J. Armston, N. Bhogapurapu, M. Urbazaev, P. Siqueira, K. J. Wessels, R. Dubayah, and L. Duncanson, “Multifrequency InSAR Canopy Height Improves Generalization of Savanna Biomass Models,” IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 23, 2026, Art. no. 2505705. https://doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2026.3718772 

  • S. Paul, H. Hsu, P. Lal, and L. Karthikeyan, “Regime Shifting Potential: A New Metric to Diagnose Subseasonal Evapotranspiration Regime Dynamics,” Journal of Hydrometeorology, 2026, p. 1. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-25-0221.1 

  • K. J. Wessels, M. J. S. Peel, I. P. J. Smit, J. D. Armston, X. Li, P. Lal, and M. Urbazaev, “Assessing the Impacts of Changing Elephant Densities on Woody Vegetation Structure in Private Reserves within the Greater Kruger National Park, South Africa,” Biological Conservation, vol. 317, 2026, Art. no. 111815. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2026.111815 

  • P. Lal, G. Singh, N. N. Das, and R. B. Lohman, “Validation of the NISAR Multi-Scale Soil Moisture Retrieval Algorithm across Various Spatial Resolutions and Landcovers Using the ALOS-2 SAR Data,” Journal of Remote Sensing, 2025. https://doi.org/10.34133/remotesensing.0729 

  • P. Lal, G. Singh, N. N. Das, D. Entekhabi, R. Lohman, and A. Colliander, “Uncertainty Estimates in NISAR High-Resolution Soil Moisture Retrieval from Multi-Scale Algorithm,” Remote Sensing of Environment, vol. 311, 2024, Art. no. 114288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114288 

  • P. Lal, G. Singh, N. N. Das, D. Entekhabi, R. Lohman, A. Colliander, D. K. Pandey, and R. K. Setia, “A Multi-Scale Algorithm for the NISAR Mission High-Resolution Soil Moisture Product,” Remote Sensing of Environment, vol. 295, 2023, Art. no. 113667. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2023.113667  

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CV(s)

Preet

Preet Lal
Postdoctoral Associate

| 4600 River Rd, Suite 334 H1 (send mail to 2181 LeFrak)

| plal@umd.edu

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