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Brett Buzzanga

Brett Buzzanga

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2025
Vertial land motion rates of subsidence (sinking). Rates are estimated from Sentinel-1–derived interferograms spanning April 2016 to November 2023. Circles mark stations used in validation against GNSS.
Buzzanga, B., Govorcin, M., Kremer, F. et al. (2025). Satellite-based vertical land motion for infrastructure monitoring: a prototype roadmap in Greater Houston, Texas. Nature Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-01970-8

Satellite-based vertical land motion for infrastructure monitoring: a prototype roadmap in Greater Houston, Texas



Linear trends in terrestrial water storage (TWS) during a) January, 2003 to June, 2013; b) July, 2013 to December, 2023; and c) January, 2003 to December, 2023, and d) the trend difference at locations where the sign is different between the first and second half of the record, such that positive (green) numbers indicate a reversal from drying to wetting, negative (brown) from wetting to drying, and white do not experience significant changes. Ice-covered regions are excluded.
Buzzanga, B., Hamlington, B., Fasullo, J., Landerer, F., & Peidou, A. Interdecadal variability of terrestrial water storage since 2003. Nature Communications Earth & Environment. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02203-6

Interdecadal variability of terrestrial water storage since 2003



SWOT water depth (top) and OPERA DSWx-HLS surface water extent (bottom) timeseries over Badwater Basin, in Death Valley National Park. Maximum water depth and spatial extent occurred on August 29, 2023 following Hurricane Hilary. Water generally recede until precipitation from atmospheric rivers in February, 2024. A digital elevation model was subtracted from SWOT heights to estimate water depth. DSWx ‘Partial’ pixels have between 20% and 100% water coverage, ‘Possible’ pixels may contain water,  and ‘Null’ are missing data retrievals. The red line in January 12 shows the location of Lake Manly.
Buzzanga, B., Hamlington B.D., Bekaert, D., Pavelsky, T., Handwerger, A., Bonnema, M., and Lee, C. Monitoring water from space: An illustration in Death Valley, California. Geophysical Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL110250

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Monitoring water from space: An illustration in Death Valley, CA

2024
Saltwater intrusion relative to present-day coastline with 2100 recharge and 2100 sea-level. Changes to recharge drive high magnitudes of saltwater intrusion, while sea level drives it to be much more pervasive globally. With sea level rise, previously less vulnerable regions of high recharge (e.g., Southeast Asia) emerge as more vulnerable regions due to its low-lying topography.
Adams, K. H., Reager, J. T., Buzzanga, B., David, C. H., Sawyer, A. H., & Hamlington, B. D. (2024). Climate-induced saltwater intrusion in 2100: Recharge-driven severity, sea level-driven prevalence. Geophysical Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL110359

Climate-induced saltwater intrusion in 2100.

2023
Vertial land motion rates. Blue colors indicate subsidence (sinking), red colors uplift. Rates are estimated from Sentinel-1–derived interferograms spanning May 2016 to March 2023. Colored square markers indicate GNSS stations used in referencing InSAR velocities to ITRF14, while circles mark stations used in validation.
Buzzanga, B., Bekaert, D., Hamlington, B., Kopp, R., Govorcin, M., Miller, K (2023). Localized uplift, widespread subsidence, and implications for sea level rise in the New York City metropolitan area. Science Advances. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi8259

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Localized uplift, broad subsidence and implications for sea level in greater NYC.

2022
Projections of future sea-level rise are typically produced using numerical computer models. Instead, we used just observations - from both satellites and ground measurements - to project future sea-level rise along the US Coastlines. We find that our method agrees with high end numerical future model estimates.
Hamlington, B., Chambers, D. P., Frederikse, T., Dangendorf, S., Fournier, S., Buzzanga, B., Nerem., R.S. (2022). Observation-based trajectory of future sea level for the coastal United States tracks near high-end model projections. Nature Communications Earth & Environment. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00537-z

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Observation-based trajectory of future sea level for the coastal United States tracks near high-end model projections. News!

2021
Conventional radar satellites have difficulty measuring sea level close to the coast because of the size of their ground footprints. Here we explored measurements from a laser satellite, ICESat-2, which has a smaller footprint. The measurements from ICESat-2 are of good quality and well complement the measurements from radar.
Buzzanga, B., Heijkoop, E., Hamlington, B., Nerem, R., and Gardner, A. S. (2021). An assessment of regional ICESat-2 sea-level trends. Geophysical Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL092327

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An assessment of regional ICESat-2 sea-level trends. News!

My doctoral dissertation was focused on understanding coastal sea-level rise using satellites. The three chapters were published separately and can be found on the underlying page.
Buzzanga, B. (2021). Towards an integrated assessment of sea-level observations along the U.S. Atlantic coast. PhD Thesis. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/oeas_etds/181/

Towards an integrated assessment of sea-level observations along the U.S. Atlantic coast.

2020
Similar to our study in 2017, we used a satellite technique called InSAR to measure how fast land was moving in Hampton Roads, VA. This time, we used InSAR data from a different satellite processed with an automated system. We again see that much of the region is subsiding, but that some hotspots have reversed due to changes in human activity.
Buzzanga, B., Bekaert, D. P. S., Hamlington, B. D., and Sangha, S. S. (2020). Towards sustained monitoring of subsidence at the coast using InSAR and GPS: An application in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Geophysical Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090013

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Towards sustained monitoring of subsidence at the coast using InSAR and GPS: An application in Hampton Roads, Virginia. News!

2017
We used a satellite technique called InSAR to measure how fast land movement in Hampton Roads, VA. We found that most of it was subsiding (moving down), with particular hotspots of subsidence that could make flooding from sea-level rise worse.
Bekaert, D. P. S., Hamlington, B.D., Buzzanga, B., Jones, C.E. (2017). Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar survey of subsidence in Hampton Roads, Virginia (USA) Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15309-5

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Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar survey of subsidence in Hampton Roads, Virginia (USA) News!

As sea-level rises, connected groundwater levels can also rise. When groundwater is elevated, precipitation has less room to infiltrate and can lead to more flooding. I coupled a groundwater model (MODFLFOW) and surface water model (SWMM) to quantify and map groundwater levels for different amounts of sea-level rise.
Buzzanga, B. (2017). Precipitation and sea-level rise impacts on groundwater levels in Virgina Beach, Virginia. Master's Thesis. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/oeas_etds/10/

Precipitation and sea-level rise impacts on groundwater levels in Virgina Beach, Virginia.

© Brett Buzzanga