Earth Scientist
Earth Scientist

Biography

Dr. Sha Feng is an atmospheric scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) focused on leveraging atmospheric data and models to understand human impacts on the Earth system. An expert in estimating the carbon budget and its uncertainties from urban to continental scales, Dr. Feng’s research has expanded since joining PNNL in 2020 to include global and climate scales, particularly investigating carbon-climate feedback within land-atmosphere interactive systems. Committed to the global zero-carbon climate movement, she applies her expertise to advance wind resource assessments, improve wind energy forecasts, and address uncertainties in complex terrains and offshore environments. Dr. Feng’s work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science and Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy and NASA's Sciences Division.

Research Interest

  • Renewable energy resource assessment
  • Carbon cycle science
  • Carbon-climate feedback
  • Data assimilation
  • Uncertainty quantification

Disciplines and Skills

  • Atmospheric Modeling
  • Atmospheric Science
  • Data Assimilation
  • Numerical Weather Prediction
  • Uncertainty Quantification
  • Weather Forecasting
  • Wind Resource Assessment

Education

  • PhD in geophysics, University of Science and Technology of China
  • BS in atmospheric sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University/Zhongshan University

Affiliations and Professional Service

  • Affiliate Assistant Research Professor, The Pennsylvania State University, 2020 – 2023
  • Graduate Faculty Member, Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, The Pennsylvania State University, 2015 – 2023
  • Assistant Research Professor, The Pennsylvania State University, 2015 – 2020
  • Mentor, Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program in Climate Science, The Pennsylvania State University, 2015 – 2020
  • Visiting Independent Advisor, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2015 – 2016
  • Postdoctoral Research Associate, Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2012 –  2015

Publications

2025

Bracken, C., Voisin, N., Son, Y., Feng, S., Anderson, O., Chen, X., Li, H. and Oikonomou, K., 2025. Seasonal compound renewable energy droughts in the Unites States. Environmental Research: Energy, 2(2), p.025005. 10.1088/2753-3751/adc8ad

Feng, S., Harrop, B.E., Ricciuto, D.M., Burrows, S.M., Zhu, Q., Lin, W., Collier, N., Bond-Lamberty, B., Zhang, C., Forsyth, R.M. and Wolfe, J.D., 2025. Implementation and evaluation of emission-driven land-atmosphere coupled simulation in E3SMv2. 1. Authorea Preprints. 10.22541/essoar.174366438.80213187/v1

Gerken, T., Davis, K.J., Keller, K. and Feng, S., 2025. Application of PRIM for understanding patterns in carbon dioxide model-observation differences. EGUsphere, 2025, pp.1-23. 10.5194/egusphere-2025-341

Baier, B.C., Miller, J.B., Sweeney, C., Lehman, S., Wolak, C., DiGangi, J.P., Choi, Y., Davis, K., Feng, S. and Lauvaux, T., 2025. Mid-Atlantic US observations of radiocarbon in CO 2: fossil and biogenic source partitioning and model evaluation. EGUsphere, 2025, pp.1-30.10.5194/egusphere-2025-821

Tai, S.L., Gaudet, B., Feng, S., Krishnamurthy, R., Berg, L.K. and Fast, J.D., 2025. Characterizing model uncertainties in simulated coast-to-offshore wind over the northeast US using multi-platform measurements from the TCAP field campaign. Renewable Energy, 239, p.122022. 10.1016/j.renene.2024.122022

2024

Lipari, S., Balaguru, K., Rice, J., Feng, S., Xu, W., K Berg, L. and Judi, D., 2024. Amplified threat of tropical cyclones to US offshore wind energy in a changing climate. Communications Earth & Environment, 5(1), pp.1-10. 10.1038/s43247-024-01887-6

Kennedy, R.E., Serbin, S.P., Dietze, M.C., Andersen, H.E., Babcock, C., Baker, D.F., Brown, M.E., Davis, K.J., Duncanson, L., Feng, S. and Hudak, A.T., 2024. Characterizing and communicating uncertainty: lessons from NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System. Environmental Research Letters, 19(12), p.123003. 10.1088/1748-9326/ad8be0

Zheng, T., Feng, S., Steward, J., Tian, X., Baker, D. and Baxter, M., 2023. Development of the tangent linear and adjoint models of the global online chemical transport model MPAS-CO 2 v7. 3. Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, 2023, pp.1-32. 10.5194/gmd-17-1543-2024

Wesloh, D., Keller, K., Feng, S., Lauvaux, T. and Davis, K.J., 2024. Temporal error correlations in a terrestrial carbon cycle model derived by comparison to carbon dioxide eddy covariance flux tower measurements. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 129(1), p.e2023JG007526.10.1029/2023JG007526

2023

Zheng, T., S. Feng, J. Steward, X. Tian, D. Baker, M. Baxter. 2021. Development of the tangent linear and adjoint models of the global online chemical transport model MPAS-CO2 v7.3, Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 3037–3066, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-3037-2021  

Wesloh, D., Davis, K., Lauvaux, T., Feng, S., Keller, K., 2023. Temporal error correlations in a terrestrial carbon cycle model derived by comparison to carbon dioxide eddy covariance flux tower measurements. Geophys. Res. Lett.

Liu, Y., Feng, S., Qian, Y., and Berg, K. L.: How do the weather regimes drive wind energy at the sub‐ seasonal to seasonal timescales over the CONUS? npj Clim. Atmos Sci 6,100 (2023). 6, 100 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-023-00403-5

Byrne, B., Baker, D. F., Basu, and co-authors [including S. Feng]. 2023. National CO2 budgets (2015–2020) inferred from atmospheric CO2 observations in support of the Global Stocktake, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 963–1004, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-963-2023

2022

Liu, Y., Y. Qian, S. Feng, L.K. Berg, T. Juliano, P. Jimenez, and Y. Liu. 2022. Sensitivity of solar irradiance to model parameters in cloud and aerosol treatments of WRF-solar. Sol. Energy., 241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2022.01.061

Kaufman, D., Feng, S., Calvin, K. Harrop, B.E., Burrows, S.M. (2022): gdess: A framework for evaluating simulated atmospheric CO2 in Earth System Models. J. Open Source Softw., 1 7(76), 4326. https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.04326

Lei, R, Feng, S., Xu, Y., Tran, S., Ramonet, M., Grutter, M., Agustin Garcia A., Campos-Pineda, M., Lauvaux, T. (2022). Reconciliation of asynchronous satellite-based NO2 and XCO2 enhancements with mesoscale modeling over two urban landscapes. Remote Sens. Environ., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2022.113241

Walley, S., Pal, S., Campbell, J. F., Dobler, J., Bell, E., Weir, B., Feng, S., et al., (2022). Airborne lidar measurements of XCO2 in a synoptically active environment and associated comparisons with numerical simulations. J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos, 127, e2021JD035664. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD035664

Liu, Y., Y. Qian, S. Feng, L.K. Berg, T. Juliano, P. Jimenez, and Y. Liu. 2022. Calibration of cloud and aerosol-related parameters for solar irradiance forecasts in WRF-Solar. Sol. Energy., 241. PNNL-SA-169690. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2022.05.064

2021

DiGangi, J. P., Choi, Y., Nowak, J. B., Halliday, H. S., Diskin, G. S., Feng, S., et al. (2021). Seasonal Variability in Local Carbon Dioxide Biomass Burning Sources over the Central and Eastern US using Airborne In Situ Enhancement Ratios. J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos, 126, e2020JD034525. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD034525

Parazoo, N., Bowman, K., Baier, B., and co-authors [including S. Feng] (2021). Covariation of airborne biogenic tracers (CO2, COS, and CO) supports stronger than expected growing season photosynthetic uptake in the southeastern US. Global Biogeochem. Cy., 35, e2021GB006956. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GB006956

Gerken, T., Feng, S., Keller, K., Lauvaux, T., DiGangi, J. P., Choi, Y., et al. (2021). Examining CO2 model observation residuals using ACT-America data. J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos, 126, e2020JD034481. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD034481

Lei, R., Feng, S., Danjou, A., Broquet, G., Wu, D., Lin, J. C., et al. (2021). Fossil fuel CO2 emissions over metropolitan areas from space: A multi-model analysis of OCO-2 data over Lahore, Pakistan. Remote Sens. Environ., 264, 112625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112625

Feng, S., Lauvaux, T., Williams, C. A., Davis, K. J., Zhou, Y., Baker, I., et al. (2021). Joint CO2 mole fraction and flux analysis confirms missing processes in CASA terrestrial carbon uptake over North America. Global Biogeochem. Cy., 35, e2020GB006914. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GB006914

Davis, K. J., Browell, E. V., Feng, S., and co-authors (2021). The Atmospheric Carbon and Transport (ACT) – America Mission, Bull. Amer. Meteor., (published online ahead of print 2021). Retrieved Jun 9, 2021, from https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/aop/BAMS-D-20-0300.1/BAMS-D-20-0300.1.xml

Wei, Y., Shrestha, R., Pal, S., Gerken, T., Feng, S., McNelis, J., et al. (2021). Atmospheric Carbon and Transport – America (ACT-America) data sets: Description, management, and delivery. Earth Space Sci, 8, e2020EA001634. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EA001634

Cui, Y. Y., Jacobson, A. R., Feng, S., Wesloh, D., Barkley, Z. R., Zhang, L., et al. (2021). Evaluation of CarbonTracker's inverse estimates of North American net ecosystem exchange of CO2 from different observing systems using ACT-America airborne observations. J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos, 126, e2020JD034406. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD034406

Barkley, Z. R., Davis, K. J., Feng, S., Cui, Y. Y., Fried, A., Weibring, P., et al. (2021). Analysis of Oil and Gas Ethane and Methane Emissions in the Southcentral and Eastern United States Using Four Seasons of Continuous Aircraft Ethane Measurements. J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos, n/a(n/a), e2020JD034194. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD034194

Samaddar*, A., Feng, S., Lauvaux, T., Barkley, Z. R., Pal, S., & Davis, K. J. (2021). Carbon dioxide distribution, origins, and transport along a frontal boundary during summer in mid-latitudes. J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., n/a(n/a), e2020JD033118. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD033118

Hu, X.-M., Gourdji, S. M., Davis, K. J., and co-authors [including S. Feng]. (2021). Implementation of improved parameterization of terrestrial flux in WRF-VPRM improves the simulation of nighttime CO2 peaks and a daytime CO2 band ahead of a cold front. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., e2020JD034362. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD034362

Gaudet, B. J., Davis, K. J., Pal, S., and co-authors [including S. Feng]. (2021). Regional‐scale, sector‐specific evaluation of global CO2 inversion models using aircraft data from the ACT‐America project. J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 126, e2020JD033623. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD033623

Kiel, M., Eldering, A., Roten, D. D., Lin, J. C., Feng, S., Lei, R., et al. (2021). Urban-focused satellite CO2 observations from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3: A first look at the Los Angeles megacity. Remote Sens. Environ., 258, 112314. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112314