“We were the first interdisciplinary environmental science institute at CU-Boulder, and maybe one of the first in the country to look at environmental questions with a multidisciplinary focus,” said Tim Seastedt, INSTAAR fellow and professor of environmental, population, and organismic biology. “We are also one of only two institutes in North America that focus on cold regions.”

The scope of INSTAAR’s research extends far beyond just cold climates, added Seastedt, because earth-system dynamics must be understood from a global perspective. INSTAAR has three themes for its research. The Ecosystems Group focuses on the biological components of alpine and polar systems, global carbon and nitrogen cycling, the dynamics of biodiversity, and ecosystem disturbance and recovery. The Geophysics Group applies quantitative field and numerical methods to discover the properties and dynamics of snow, ice, water, and sediments in the world’s oceans, glaciers, and land areas. The Past Global Change Group focuses on the reconstruction of the dynamics of paleoenvironments and past climate variability.

INSTAAR’s recent research discoveries are remarkable in what they reveal about global climate dynamics especially with regard to land surface interactions with the atmosphere. For example, their researchers have discovered that land plants are capable of removing large amounts of CO² from the atmosphere perhaps equal to fossil fuel burning on short time scales. Their researchers have traced the increasingly rapid retreat of glaciers in Alaska. They have also proposed critical loads for nitrogen deposition in Colorado, which might provide the foundation for prescribing emission controls from source areas.

“As we celebrate our 50th anniversary at INSTAAR,” said Seastedt, “we are proud of the progression of our environmental research. We are also dedicated to integrating our work into the educational fabric of CU-Boulder through our support of the CU Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program, the Summer Minority Access to Research Training at INSTAAR, and the CU Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Program. It is critical to train the next generation to understand earth-system dynamics so that they can make informed decisions that will affect the quality of their lives and those of future generations.”