Research
Ice sheet surface processes
The Greenland Ice Sheet has recently become the single largest cryospheric contributor to global sea-level rise primarily due to enhanced surface melt. We use remote sensing, climate modeling, and fieldwork to constrain key processes that are responsible for ice sheet mass loss. Research topics include melt-albedo feedbacks, clouds radiative effects, and snowfall. Two studies on this research topic were cited in Chapter 3 of the IPCC’s recent (Sept. 2019) Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate and have led to refinements in climate models used to forecast ice sheet contributions to global sea-level rise.
Coastal sea ice
Coastal sea ice (also known as landfast or shorefast ice) is an important platform for communities in the Arctic. We combine remote sensing with Indigenous knowledge to understand how transportation and subsistence hunting opportunities have been impacted by diminishing coastal ice in Greenland, Canada, and Alaska. The knowledge produced by this project will provide a new understanding of community resilience to climate change and inform local and institutional adaptation strategies to rapidly changing environmental and social contexts.
Snow hydrology
