We advance Earth system understanding by quantifying how the geosphere (solid Earth) and cryosphere (sea ice, ice sheets, and glaciers) interact with each other — and with the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere — under natural variability and human-driven change.
Our Science
We integrate spaceborne, airborne, and in situ observations with numerical modeling to deliver actionable insight on sea level change, cryospheric response to climate forcing, and natural hazards. We focus on three core science themes:
Sea Level & Ice–Ocean–Geosphere Coupling How do ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice, geosphere deformation, and ocean and atmosphere processes couple to drive global and regional sea level change?
Cryosphere State & Change How are sea ice, ice sheet, and glacier area, motion, height, thickness, type, and structure changing, and what does this reveal about cryospheric response to forcing?
Solid Earth Dynamics & Natural Hazards What is the nature of deformation at plate boundaries, and what are the implications for earthquake, volcano, and landslide hazards? How does mass redistribution — measured through time-variable gravity and vertical land motion — reveal change across the geosphere and cryosphere?
Key Capabilities
Spaceborne & Airborne Observation: Mission science and campaign support across GRACE/FO/C, NISAR, ICESat-2, SMAP, SWOT, CRYSTAL, and GNSS, and airborne campaigns including UAVSAR, OMG, and IceBridge, to measure the geosphere and cryosphere from space and air.
Ice Sheet, Glacier & Sea Ice Modeling: Numerical modeling of ice sheet, glacier, and surface-mass-balance dynamics (e.g., ISSM, GEMB) to project cryospheric contributions to sea level.
Sea Level System Integration: End-to-end modeling linking geodesy, solid Earth processes, glaciers, and ice sheets to close the sea level budget.
Geodetic & Gravimetric Analysis: Measurement of vertical land motion, crustal deformation, and time-variable gravity to quantify mass redistribution and tectonic activity.
Groundwater, Terrestrial Water Storage & Land Subsidence: Tracking of groundwater depletion, terrestrial water storage, and land subsidence by fusing satellite gravimetry, InSAR, and GNSS, supporting drought and flood monitoring, water resource management, and infrastructure risk assessment.
Natural Hazard Modeling & Interpretation: Modeling and interpretation of earthquake, volcano, and landslide hazards from deformation and remote sensing data.
Algorithms, Data Products & Processing Systems: Development, validation, and stewardship of retrieval algorithms and higher-level data products that support research, missions, and applications.
Mission & Campaign Support: Mission formulation, implementation, and operations support, including targeted airborne and field campaigns for calibration and validation.