John Bolten is a modern adventurer. He is eager to experience and embrace new places and cultures. His passport is riddled with proof. His social media is filled with photos of him exploring foreign shores; riding on the back of a scooter to get to a conference; talking with local farmers, water managers and science educators; or sampling the street food at a farmer’s market far from his home country. His adventures are numerous. John is also a problem solver, so when he meets new people, he is curious about their issues and challenges and how he can help.

Whether it is flying to remote locations or waking early to make an international call, his time is spent working to advance and spread the influence of remote sensing to all communities, near and far. He was the architect of the first operational global soil moisture product assimilation system, employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service to improve crop estimates in food-insecure regions of the world. To quote one analyst, “for the first time in 20 years, we have a reliable soil moisture product for Southern Africa!”

In 2017, he authored the first satellite-based soil moisture dataset in Google Earth Engine, bringing these data to thousands of researchers who lack the resources to run their own servers. He also designed the NASA flood inundation damage assessment system, which was leveraged in the 2018 Laos dam collapse. In 2020 he launched SHARE (Strategic Hydrologic and Agricultural Remote-sensing for Environments), a U.S. Department of State-funded program forming a community of practice response to strategic satellite data needs highlighted in the U.S. Global Water Strategy, targeting underserved communities particularly at risk of water and food insecurity.

John is also working with Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to improve water management strategies in Angola, Namibia and Botswana. He is enhancing their ability to assess the environmental consequences of decades of drastic water use and land use changes associated with civil war and industrial expansion. As stated by a project collaborator, “the program you’ve made available is a real game changer for us here at TNC Africa for our Water Funds work.”

In addition to his publications and collaborations, John is an example to scientists around the world with his positive attitude, eagerness for knowledge and eagerness to share that knowledge with those who need it most.

— Michael H. Cosh
Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
Beltsville, Maryland

I am grateful to Mike Cosh for this generous nomination and to several colleagues, including Matt Rodell, Brad Doorn, Venkat Lakshmi, Nancy Searby, Dalia Kirschbaum, Christa Peters-Lidard and Lawrence Friedl, for their encouragement and guidance over the years. I am indebted to the NASA Applied Sciences Program for the opportunities and support and, most of all, to my numerous team members and colleagues, who have done so much of the heavy lifting and shared a vision for seeing our research reach beyond our borders to have lasting impact across the world — Perry Oddo, Aakash Ahamed, Ibrahim Mohammed and Illiana Mladenova, to name a few. I have been extremely lucky to be able to work with creative, passionate and notable scientists throughout my career. Over time, I have witnessed our work become more and more relevant and noteworthy, just as the need for real water management strategies became more apparent on the global stage. Our ideas grew as the world seemed to grow smaller — and we became more connected by these shared ideas, goals, passions and vision, and our work could truly help others. In turn, through advances in satellite remote sensing, land surface modeling and cloud-based computing, this vision is becoming reality. It is one thing to witness subtle technological improvements, but it is something else altogether to be able to build and support a community that can help shape our understanding of how the world works. As more and more of the world’s population is affected by changing climate and our ability to address and meet these new water resources challenges also progresses, I see it as both an opportunity and an obligation to support and share these novel applications, particularly in regions of the world where impact will be most valued. It has been a goal to bridge the gap between water resources needs and wants and help bring the most state-of-the-art tools and training to economically developing nations through an array of scientific outreach. I’ve embraced the opportunity to share our work through mentorships, lectures and workshops, which has arguably only fostered more desire to help build capacity for those who need it most. The true star here is teamwork, through which we can support the next generation of leaders who will build upon our work to benefit generations to come. I’m deeply grateful for this recognition. Thank you for honoring me with the 2023 AGU International Award. — John D. Bolten, NASA, Greenbelt, Maryland