People of the Steffen Group

Konrad Steffen (Curriculum Vitae)

Konrad Steffen

at work

in the field

on vacation

My general interest is the study of processes related to climate and cryosphere interaction in polar and alpine regions based on in-situ and satellite measurements, and using climate system modeling to study their sensitivity. I had an active involvement in the assessment of global sea level change and sensitivity studies of large ice sheets using in situ and modeling results. For the past eight years I was involved in organizing a NASA/NSF initiative called PARCA: Program in Regional Arctic Climate Assessment.

Currently, my research funding is supported by NASA Cryospheric Sciences, NASA/GSFC, and NSF/Arctic System Science for climate system modeling, remote sensing application related to ocean-climate-sea ice interactions, and LIDAR applications in the Arctic. Currently I serve as Chairman for the World Climate Research Program ACSYS Observation Products Panel, Science Steering Committee of the WMO Climate and Cryosphere project, Vice president of the International Commission for Snow and Ice (IAHS), SEARCH science steering committee member, Modeling and Observation Theme Leader at CIRES.

I currently hold the position of the Director of CIRES, which is the larges research unit at the University of Colorado at Boulder. I am a Fellow of CIRES since 1991. My research group is part of the Center for the Study of Earth from Space (CSES), one of the 5 research centers in CIRES. I am a Professor with the Department of Geography where I teach climatology and remote sensing courses.

Post Docs

Khalid Hussein

Dr. Hussein's research focus is on the radar backscatter properties in the percolation region of the Greenland ice sheet. Through the introduction of near polar orbiting satellites carrying radar sensors, such as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and scatterometers have made it possible to study ice sheets without the effect of clouds and polar nights. In addition, radar penetrates the snow surface which helps in sensing the internal properties of ice sheets or glaciers. He is currently involved in a research using ERS-1 and 2 scatterometer data to investigate and identify different surface properties and facies of the Greenland ice sheet. The objectives of the research are to (1) delineate the ice sheet facies and relate their surface and volume properties to the amount of microwave backscattered to the sensor and (2) examine if certain climatological parameters such as annual mean surface temperature and annual accumulation define the boundaries of the facies of Greenland ice sheet.

Russell Huff

Russell Huff is interested in describing melt on the Greenland ice sheet and understanding the large-scale processes that influence and are influenced by it. He is developing new remote sensing techniques for describing melt intensity on the ice sheet using both passive and active microwave sensors. The new remote sensing methods are calibrated and validated using in-situ measurements from the GC-NET and annual field campaigns in Greenland. The satellite and in-situ observations are then analyzed statistically to describe the physical mechanisms responsible for recent trends and observed variability in the melt signal.

Graduate Students

Kevin Sampson

Kevin Sampson is a new addition to the Konrad Steffen Research Group. He is interested in the dynamics of climate change in polar regions. His background includes remote sensing and geographic information systems combined with atmospheric, oceanic, and environmental science to study variability of climate factors in polar areas. His research experience includes NSF funded research on the increasing trend in river discharge of large Siberian rivers, and an undergraduate thesis regarding relative dating of multi-moraine systems in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. Kevin comes to CU from UCLA and looks forward to the possibilities for collaboration and cryosphere research that exist at CIRES.

Atsuhiro Muto

Atsumu Muto received his B.S. and M.S. in Earth Sciences from the Chiba University in Japan. His areas of interest are thermal properties of polar ice sheet and climate change, remote sensing of Polar Regions, paleo-climate studies from ice core. He is a member of Japanese Society of Snow and Ice and the American Geophysical Union. He spent 50 days in East Antarctica during the Antarctic Remote Ice Sensing Experiment (ARISE) in 2003, one week on Lake Saroma, Hokkaido in 2004 measuring physical parameters of salt lake ice, and 10 weeks at Fuji Dome, Antarctica during the 46th Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition in 2004/05.

Thomas Phillips

Thomas Phillips is a PhD student from Switzerland. His main interest is modeling the hydrologic system of ice. His current objective of interest is to understand the function and influence of moulins on the Greenland Ice Sheet. He got his previous education in remote sensing, GIS and physical glaciology at the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology but has shifted more to the modeling discipline since. His previous field work includes ice dynamic modeling and tracer measurements on Gornerglacier in Switzerland as well as rock glacier monitoring in the St.Moritz area.

John Adler

John Adler is studying supraglacial lakes on the Greenlandic Ice  Sheet. His scientific interests are using hyperspectral and lidar remote sensing techniques to determine supraglacial lake volumes.  John is a NOAA Corps officer with 20 years of aviation experience as  a navigator, both in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Recently, he  completed a Greenlandic Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) demonstration  survey using both Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and hyperspectral  instruments. John is also an passionate sailor of both monohulls and 
trimarans.

Liam Colgan

Dan Mcgrath

Dan McGrath is a MA candidate in the Steffen Research Group.  Dan received his BA in Geology and Environmental Studies from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.  His undergraduate thesis examined spectral transmission of solar radiation through first year sea ice on the Chukchi Sea near Barrow, Alaska and seasonal lake ice in Maine.  Previously, Dan worked at the US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences.  His research interests lie in examining the physical processes and climate variability of polar and alpine regions.  He is an avid telemark skier, whitewater kayaker, climber and cyclist.