INSTAAR and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) are coming together one Friday a month to foster scientific collaborations... with frozen treats!

Each month, cold region scientists will give mini-talks about their research. Join in to learn more about current, interesting research projects. Attend in person or on Zoom.

2:00-3:00PM in SEEC S228 (Sievers)

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11 APRIL

Zaria Cast - NSIDC

Cast is a climate data scientist and master's student of Geography at the University of Colorado Boulder, specializing in Arctic climate research. Her current work focuses on precipitation partitioning over the Arctic Ocean, analyzing how rain and snow events have shifted over time and their implications for sea ice age and thickness. Using ERA5 reanalysis data, she investigates seasonal and long-term changes in rain-on-snow (ROS) events and their impact on the Arctic cryosphere, contributing to a deeper understanding of climate dynamics in polar regions.

Karl Rittger - INSTAAR & NSIDC
An INSTAAR and NSIDC collaboration, Snow Today: a multi-decadal snow surface property suite and analysis from satellite remote sensing –

Rittger is an Associate Researcher/Research Scientist III at the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR). At the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) Dr. Rittger is the Snow Today project lead and a scientist for the Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) on a project to map snow cover, snow albedo, and snow darkening for all mountainous regions of the world. This short talk will showcase the use of spectral mixture analysis methods for estimating snow surface properties. Highlights will include data visualizations from the Snow Today website, a 6-year collaborative effort that provides information to researchers, water managers, and the public that inform current conditions in the context of historical conditions.

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14 FEBRUARY

Twila Moon – NSIDC
Insights and resources for Arctic research and teaching.

Dr. Twila Moon is the Deputy Lead Scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, will cover several quick topics to spark ideas for research and education collaboration. Research highlights include focus on freshwater flux from the Greenland Ice Sheet and creating more FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) data for Greenland-focused efforts. Education highlights include opportunities to use and expand the PolarPASS undergraduate curriculum and resources for Arctic and GIS-focused teaching and learning.

Alexandra Jahn – INSTAAR & ATOC
What will happen to the September Arctic sea ice cover in the future?              

The September Arctic sea ice loss is one of the most visible signals of anthropogenic climate change. At the end of the seasonal melt season, the Arctic sea ice is now about half as extensive as it used to be just three decades ago. Climate models predict that the Arctic sea ice cover will continue to decline as long as atmospheric CO2 concentrations rise. Which means that eventually sea ice will completely disappear at the end of summer, leading to a so called ‘ice-free’ Arctic Ocean. In this short talk, I will discuss when this transition to ice-free conditions is expected to occur based on CMIP6 models, both in terms of when we will see the first practically ice-free conditions in the September monthly mean and when we may see the first ice-free day.

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DATES

2025

• Fri Feb 14th - Hear mini seminars from Alexandra Jahn and Twila Moon.
• Fri Apr 11th - Hear mini seminars from Zaria Cast and Karl Rittger

2024

• Fri Sept 13th - Tour the ice core room. Hear from Nikki Lovenduski & Mark Serreze.
• Fri Oct 11th - Hear mini seminars from Cara Nissen & Walt Meier.
• Fri Nov 8th - Postponed until the 22nd due to heavy snowfall (ironic, eh?).
• Fri Nov 22nd - Hear mini seminars from YoungHyun Koo & Peyton Thomas.