Scientists at NSIDC

Scientists from around the world use data housed at NSIDC to support their research. Some of these scientists work here at NSIDC (see list below), providing both context and input concerning our data management activities. NSIDC also works with a network of affiliated scientists. Through their research, our scientists help further understanding of the many changes that our planet is undergoing.

NSIDC scientists are widely published in such journals as Geophysical Research Letters; Journal of Geophysical Research; Journal of Climate; Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research; EOS, Transactions American Geophysical Union ; and IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. Our scientists’ expertise has reached a wide audience through Scientific American, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), just to name a few.

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

NASA logo NSF logo CIRES logo CU-Boulder logo

Scientist	Specialties	Projects
Mark Serreze NSIDC Director Professor, Department of Geography, University of Colorado Boulder CIRES Fellow American Meteorological Society Fellow	Arctic climate; global implications; and climate warming in the Arctic	Collaborative Research: Assessing the Impact of Arctic Sea Ice Variability on the Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Mass and Energy Balance Collaborative Research: Integrated Arctic Data Management Services to Support Arctic Research (ACADIS) Reducing Uncertainty in 21st Century Projections of Arctic Sea Ice Loss and Associated Impacts
Richard Armstrong Senior Research Scientist CIRES Fellow	Remote sensing of snow, ice, and frozen ground; physical and mechanical properties of snow; snow cover and glacier mass/extent as indicators of climate change.	Detecting Change in Glacier Systems (GLIMS) Establishing a Collaborative Effort to Assess the Role of Glaciers and Seasonal Snow Cover: Hydrology of the Mountains of High Asia (CHARIS)
Andrew Barrett Professional Research Assistant	Land surface hydrology and modeling
Roger Barry CIRES Fellow Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Geography, Emeritus	Arctic climate; cryosphere-climate interactions; mountain climate; climate change	Preparing invited paper on the Arctic cryosphere in the 21st century for Geographical Review Writing a text on Microclimate and Local Climate with Peter Blanken (Geography) for Cambridge University Press
Mary J. Brodzik Senior Associate Scientist Special Projects Lead	Remote sensing of snow and ice, data processing algorithm development for passive microwave
Jeffrey Deems Research Scientist II	Snow properties; snow hydrology; snow depth mapping; climate change impacts on snow and water resources; LIDAR remote sensing; avalanche formation; hydrologic modeling	Integrated Hydrologic Response to Extreme Deposition of the Snow Cover of the Colorado River Basin
Florence Fetterer Principal Investigator, NOAA @ NSIDC	Sea ice; applications-oriented remote sensing; data rescue; data set development	Project manager, Contribution to High Asia Runoff from Ice and Snow (CHARIS): CHARIS is USAID-supported project that promotes scientific collaboration and data sharing while conducting research on science questions that have broad economic and political impact. PI, Ice Concentration and Ice Age Products for ArcticCAP: This work has two overarching deliverables: an improved daily ice concentration product and a proxy ice thickness product, both for use in sea ice modeling at the Navel Research Laboratory. PI, Managing the SCICEX Data Collection: The SCience ICe EXcercise (SCICEX) program is a collaboration between the U.S. Navy and the marine research community to utilize data acquired by nuclear-powered submarines for the study of the Arctic Ocean. Unlike surface ships, submarines are able to acquire scientifically valuable data regardless of sea ice cover, weather conditions, and time of year. PI, Sea Ice Concentration Climate Data Record Sustainment, Enhancement, and Production of Value-Added Products through the Sea Ice Index (NOAA)
Shari Fox Gearheard Research Scientist III	Arctic environment and change; Inuit knowledge; sea ice; knowledge co-production; environmental geography	Water, Energy, and Food Security in the North: Synergies, tradeoffs, and building community capacity for sustainable futures (Sustainable Futures North) Collaborative Research: Linking Inuit Knowledge and Local-Scale Environmental Modeling to Evaluate the Impacts of Changing Weather on Human Activities at Clyde River, Nunavut (Silalirijiit Project) The Dynamics of Human-Sea Ice Relationships: Comparing Changing Environments in Alaska, Nunavut, and Greenland (also referred to as the "Siku-Inuit-Hila" project) Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA) Inuit Women and Subsistence: Social and Environmental Change Igliniit Project
Siri Jodha Singh Khalsa Research Scientist III	Remote sensing and geographic information systems; client interface and metadata; data tool development; algorithm support	Data Conservancy Detecting Change in Glacier Systems (GLIMS) EarthCube Building Blocks: A Broker Framework for Next Generation Geoscience (BCube) Science Data Systems for Satellite and Airborn Lidar Data Semantic Sea Ice Interoperability Initiative
Lora Koenig Research Scientist	Remote sensing of ice sheets and snow, patterns of snow accumulation on ice sheets, firn aquifers (meltwater storage in ice sheet snowpack)	Operation IceBridge science team
Allen Pope Postdoctoral Research Associate	Remote sensing of the cryosphere; glaciology; Landsat 8; LiDAR and elevation change	The Coldest Place On Earth Estimating Supraglacial Lake Depth using Landsat 8 A Landsat 8 Image Mosaic of Antarctica
Peter Pulsifer Research Scientist I	Establishment of data management and sharing protocols; understanding terminology related to traditional and community-based knowledge; and the development of web-based mapping and visualization applications	Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA) Inuit Knowledge, Data Management, Stewardship and Representation Inuit Sea Ice Use and Occupancy Project (ISIUOP) Semantic Sea Ice Interoperability Initiative
Bruce Raup Senior Associate Scientist	Remote sensing of glaciers; geographic information systems and software development; Web-based client interfaces; metadata; data tool development; algorithm development	Detecting Change in Glacier Systems (GLIMS) Contribution to High Asia Runoff from Ice and Snow (CHARIS) Oversees the evaluation and use of existing and new outlines for derivation of glacier hypsometries, and ensures that new glacier outlines are inserted into the NSIDC GLIMS Glacier Database. Organizes and reformats field data from NSIDC partners.
Karl Rittger Research Scientist II	Snow hydrology, remote sensing of ice and snow, Earth surface energy and water balance, large-scale data modeling	CHARIS - Contribution to High Asia Runoff from Ice and Snow Development of a Landsat-MODIS snow-covered area essential climate variable product
Ted Scambos Senior Research Scientist Lead Scientist for NSIDC Science Team	Glaciology; remote sensing of the poles; climate change effects on the cryosphere; Antarctic history; geochemistry; and planetary science	Abrupt Environmental Change in the Larsen Ice Shelf System The Antarctic Glaciological Data Center: Continued Data Collection, Archiving, and Distribution of Results of NSF-OPP Funded Research in Antarctic Glaciology Antarctic Subglacial Lakes: Satellite Analysis in Support of ICESat-1 and CryoSat-2 Altimetry Cryospheric Application of the LandSAT Data Continuity Mission (LandSAT 8) Making Earth System Data Records for Use in Research Environments (MEaSUREs): Antarctic and Greenland Ice Velocity Surface Mass Balance and Wind Glaze Mapping in Antarctica Development of Automated Measurement Systems for Remote Geophysical Observations in the Polar Regions
Kevin Schaefer Research Scientist III	Permafrost carbon feedback, modeling of the terrestrial biosphere, biogeochemistry, remote sensing of active layer thickness	Exploring the Dynamics of the Active Layer and Near-Surface Permafrost across the North Slope of Alaska Exploring the Dynamics of High Latitude Carbon Balance The North American Carbon Program Multi-Scale Synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project Quantifying Uncertainty in the Permafrost Carbon Feedback Science-Driven Cyberinfrastructure: Integrating Permafrost Data, Services, and Research Applications (PermaData)
Andrew Slater Research Scientist III	Land-surface and hydrologic modeling of snow, frozen ground, permafrost; hydrologic forecasting and data assimilation	Collaborative Research: The Climatic Role of Permafrost. As permafrost thaws, could a weakening terrestrial freezer and an increasingly leaky bathplug amplify Arctic climate change? Hydrological Impacts of Climate Change over the Contiguous United States (Collaborative with NCAR-RAL)
Colleen Strawhacker Postdoctoral Research Associate	Social sciences data management; anthropology; environmental science; human and environmental interactions	North Atlantic Biocultural Organization Cyberinfrastructure Project CLIR Postdoctoral Fellowship in Data Management for the Arctic Social Sciences
Julienne Stroeve Senior Research Scientist	Remote sensing of snow and ice in the visible, infrared, and microwave wavelengths	Collaborative Research: Assessing the Impact of Arctic Sea Ice Variability on the Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Mass and Energy Balance Evaluation of Arctic and Antarctic Sea Ice An Innovative Network to Improve Sea Ice Prediction in a Changing Arctic
Jeffery Thompson CIRES Visiting Post-doctoral Fellow	Remote sensing of vegetation and snow; patterns of snow seasonality; vegetation phenology; snow-cover and vegetation interactions

National Snow and Ice Data Center

Service Interruption

Scientists at NSIDC

Scientists at NSIDC

Find Data

Stay Current

Learn About Snow and Ice

Get Help

Etc.