Our Research

The 2023 winter brought record snowfall to California and other parts of the western United States, but unlike rain, snowfall is much more nuanced in its properties. Getting accurate snow depth data over a wide area is not easy. Read more about the challenges of garnering snow data and the tools behind snow data.

Scientific researchers have made leaps and bounds in recent years gathering new data and insights on these regions, but there has been a lag in curriculum development for undergraduate students who are studying the geosciences and environmental sciences. Polar Places and Spaces (PolarPASS) seeks to fill this gap by developing a science-based curriculum to help students learn about the scientific discovery process and to connect them with far-away places that they may not have the opportunity to visit in person.

NASA’s OpenAltimetry tool allows experienced and new users alike to quickly find and download elevation data through a web browser without the need for costly software or hefty computational resources.

Melting glaciers and ice sheets are already the biggest contributors to global sea level rise. Yet, of the approximately 200,000 glaciers in the world currently, no database exists to identify which glaciers have disappeared, and when. The Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) initiative, an international project designed to monitor the world's glaciers primarily using data from optical satellite instruments, aims to change that.