Research Projects at NSIDC

NSIDC scientists are known internationally for their expertise in a range of fields related to the cryosphere. In-house scientists investigate the dynamics of Antarctic ice shelves, monitor the links between Arctic sea ice and climate, study new techniques for the remote sensing of snow and freeze/thaw cycles of soil, account for snow in hydrologic modeling, research large-scale shifts in polar climate, investigate seasonally and permanently frozen ground, and work to improve understanding of river and lake ice. Browse the table below to view project summaries.

Scientists pursue their work as part of the CIRES Cryospheric and Polar Processes Division, at the University of Colorado at Boulder. National agencies fund research through the peer review proposal process.

ARCTIC PEOPLES [top]	Principal Investigator
Bridging Perspectives from Remote Sensing and Inuit Communities on Changing Sea Ice Cover in the Baffin Bay Region	Walt Meier
Data Management for a Community-Based Monitoring Network: A Pilot Project	Roger Barry
The Dynamics of Human-Sea Ice Relationships: Comparing Changing Environments in Alaska, Nunavut, and Greenland (also referred to as the "Siku-Inuit-Hila" project)	Shari Gearheard
Igliniit Project	Shari Gearheard
An Integrated Investigation of Coupled Human and Sea Ice Systems: A Comparison of Changing Environments and Their Uses in the North American Arctic	Roger Barry
ARCTIC HYDROLOGY & CLIMATE [top]	Principal Investigator
Collaborative Research: A Heat Budget Analysis of the Arctic Climate System	Mark Serreze
Collaborative Research: A Land Surface Model Hind-cast of the Terrestrial Arctic Drainage System	Mark Serreze
Collaborative Research – IPY: Arctic System Reanalysis	Mark Serreze
Hydrologic Responses to a Shrinking Arctic Sea Ice Cover	Mark Serreze
Pan-Arctic Land Surface Modeling	Andrew Slater
Satellite Studies of Arctic Climate Connections Between Sea Ice, the Greenland Ice Sheet, the Adjacent Land and Atmospheric Cloud Properties	Julienne Stroeve
Synthesis of Modes of Ocean-Ice-Atmosphere Covariability in the Arctic System from Multivariate Century-Scale Observations	Mark Serreze
ANTARCTIC GLACIOLOGY & CLIMATE [top]	Principal Investigator
Antarctic Glaciological Data Center: Continued Data Collection and Management for Antarctic Glaciology	Ted Scambos
"At Risk" Ice Shelves and Outlet Glaciers	Ted Scambos
Building the VELMAP Database for Antarctic Outlet Glaciers	Ted Scambos
Collaborative Research: Characteristics of Snow Megadunes and their Potential Effects on Ice Core Interpretation	Ted Scambos
Detecting Change in Glacier Systems (GLIMS)	Richard Armstrong
Detecting Ice Sheet Changes via Optical Image Differencing	Ted Scambos
Improved Ice Sheet DEMs Using MODIS and GLAS	Ted Scambos
An International Workshop on the Ice and Climate System of the Antarctic Peninsula	Ted Scambos
Investigating Iceberg Evolution During Drift and Break-Up: A Proxy for Climate-Related Changes in Antarctic Ice Shelves	Ted Scambos
CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE CRYOSPHERE [top]	Principal Investigator
Collaborative Research: A Heat Budget Analysis of the Arctic Climate System	Mark Serreze
The Contribution of Land-Surface Processes to Climate Change on the Tibetan Plateau	Oliver W. Frauenfeld (Texas A&M University)
The Dynamics of Human-Sea Ice Relationships: Comparing Changing Environments in Alaska, Nunavut, and Greenland (also referred to as the "Siku-Inuit-Hila" project)	Shari Gearheard
An International Workshop on the Ice and Climate System of the Antarctic Peninsula	Ted Scambos
State of the Cryosphere Web Site	Richard Armstrong
GLACIERS & ICE SHEETS [top]	Principal Investigator
"At Risk" Ice Shelves and Outlet Glaciers	Ted Scambos
Building the VELMAP Database for Antarctic Outlet Glaciers	Ted Scambos
Detecting Change in Glacier Systems (GLIMS)	Richard Armstrong
Detecting Ice Sheet Changes via Optical Image Differencing	Ted Scambos
Improved Ice Sheet DEMs Using MODIS and GLAS	Ted Scambos
An International Workshop on the Ice and Climate System of the Antarctic Peninsula	Ted Scambos
Investigating Iceberg Evolution During Drift and Break-Up: A Proxy for Climate-Related Changes in Antarctic Ice Shelves	Ted Scambos
Satellite Studies of Arctic Climate Connections Between Sea Ice, the Greenland Ice Sheet, the Adjacent Land and Atmospheric Cloud Properties	Julienne Stroeve
FROZEN GROUND [top]	Principal Investigator
Biogenic Heat Production in Frozen Tundra and Permafrost: Adaptation to Cold and Impact on Biogeochemical Processes	Tingjun Zhang
Changes in Freeze-Thaw Cycle and Permafrost Dynamics, and their Hydrological Implications over the Russian Arctic Drainage Basin	Tingjun Zhang
Freezing and Thawing Cycle of Soils at Local, Regional, and Global Scales	Tingjun Zhang
Hydrological Response to Changes in Active Layer and Permafrost Conditions in the Russian Arctic	Tingjun Zhang
Interactions Between Frozen Ground in the Russian Arctic and Atmospheric Circulation	Oliver Frauenfeld (Texas A&M University)
Investigation of the Spatial and Temporal Variations of the Seasonally Frozen Ground in the Contiguous United States	Tingjun Zhang
Permafrost Models Intercomparison Project	Tingjun Zhang
SEA ICE [top]	Principal Investigator
Bridging Perspectives from Remote Sensing and Inuit Communities on Changing Sea Ice Cover in the Baffin Bay Region	Walt Meier
Diagnosing the Declining Arctic Ice Cover	Julienne Stroeve
The Dynamics of Human-Sea Ice Relationships: Comparing Changing Environments in Alaska, Nunavut, and Greenland (also referred to as the "Siku-Inuit-Hila" project)	Shari Gearheard
Hydrologic Responses to a Shrinking Arctic Sea Ice Cover	Mark Serreze
An Integrated Investigation of Coupled Human and Sea Ice Systems: A Comparison of changing Environments and Their Uses in the North American Arctic	Roger Barry
Investigations of Sea Ice State using Multisensor Data, Time History and Lagrangian Tracking	Julienne Stroeve
Kalman Filter Techniques for the Assimilation of Ice Concentration Data into an Ice Prediction Model	Walt Meier
Potential Improved Sea Ice Analyses and Forecasts via Assimilation of Sea Ice Motions	Walt Meier
Satellite Data Rescue for Sea Ice Extent in the 1960s	David Gallaher
Satellite Studies of Arctic Climate Connections between Sea Ice, the Greenland Ice Sheet, the Adjacent Land and Atmospheric Cloud Properties	Julienne Stroeve
Synthesis of Modes of Ocean-Ice-Atmosphere Covariability in the Arctic System from Multivariate Century-Scale Observations	Mark Serreze
Twentieth Century Sea Ice Conditions in the Eurasian Arctic from a Comprehensive Reconstitution and Synthesis of Russian Data Sources with Modern Satellite Data	Roger Barry
SNOW COVER & SNOW HYDROLOGY [top]	Principal Investigator
Collaborative Research: Characteristics of Snow Megadunes and their Potential Effects on Ice Core Interpretation	Ted Scambos
Improving Operational Streamflow Forecasting in the Upper Colorado River Basin	Andrew Slater
Monthly EASE-Grid Snow Water Equivalent Climatology	Richard Armstrong
Snow Cover Validation Case Study: Tibet Plateau	Richard Armstrong
Validation of AMSR-E Snow Products	Richard Armstrong
REMOTE SENSING & ALGORITHM DEVEOLOPMENT [top]	Principal Investigator
Bridging Perspectives from Remote Sensing and Inuit Communities on Changing Sea Ice Cover in the Baffin Bay Region	Walt Meier
Building the VELMAP Database for Antarctic Outlet Glaciers	Ted Scambos
Improved Ice Sheet DEMs Using MODIS and GLAS	Ted Scambos
Investigations of Sea Ice State Using Multisensor Data, Time History, and Lagrangian Tracking	Julienne Stroeve
Merging of Precursor and EOS Data Sets: Resampling of AMSR-E Swath TBs to EASE-Grid	Richard Armstrong
Monthly EASE-Grid Snow Water Equivalent Climatology	Richard Armstrong
Snow Cover Validation Case Study: Tibet Plateau	Richard Armstrong
Validation of AMSR-E Snow Products	Richard Armstrong
CARBON CYCLE [top]	Principal Investigator
Impacts of Soil Freeze/Thaw Dynamics on the North American Carbon Cycle	Tingjun Zhang
Carbon Data Assimilation	Wouter Peters (CIRES)
Flux Tower Spatial Coherence	Chris Williams (University of Maryland)
DATA MANAGEMENT [top]	Principal Investigator
Antarctic Glaciological Data Center: Continued Data Collection and Management for Antarctic Glaciology	Ted Scambos
Community-Enabled Discovery, Access, Publishing, and Enhancement (CEDDAPE): Enabling an Information Commons	Ruth Duerr
Cryospheric Change Analysis Web Services Project	Julienne Stroeve
Data Conservancy	Ruth Duerr
Data Management for a Community-Based Monitoring Network: A Pilot Project	Roger Barry
Detecting Change in Glacier Systems (GLIMS)	Richard Armstrong
Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA)	Shari Gearheard
Improving Long-term Preservation of EOS Data by Independently Mapping HDF Data Objects	Ruth Duerr
A Product Development Team for Snow and Ice Climate Data Records	Walt Meier
INFORMATICS [top]	Principal Investigator
Managing Cryospheric Remote Sensing Data Entirely Within a Pure-object Database	David Gallaher
Semantic Sea Ice Interoperability Initiative	Mark Parsons