Alia Khan

Department: Aerospace

Education: PhD, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, 2016; MS, Environmental Studies, University of Colorado Boulder, 2012; BSPH, with Honors, Environmental Science and Engineering, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, 2009

Teaching: GEEN 1400 First Year Engineering Projects and Drone Remote Sensing

Research: Optical remote sensing of Earth’s surface with uncrewed aerial systems and satellite-based sensors, autonomous system development for environmental monitoring, aquatic biogeochemistry, aerosols, cryosphere, glacial and snow hydrology

Honors and Distinctions:

National Science Foundation - CAREER Grant Awardee 2022
US Fulbright Scholar to the Chilean Antarctic Program, 2019
Antarctic Service Medal, National Science Foundation, 2012
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, 2010

Publications:

*Designates student advisee.

• 2025   *Rand, Colby F., and Khan, A. L., How Commercial SmallSats are Revolutionizing the Remote Detection and Mapping of Snow Algae, Frontiers in Remote Sensing. 6:1572973.
• 2025   Cordero, R.R., Feron, S., Malhotra, A.… & Khan, A.L…. Heavy metal imprints in Antarctic snow from research and tourism. Nature Sustainability (2025)., https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01616-7
• 2024   *Rand, Colby F., and Khan, A. L., Applicability of Relatively Low-Cost Multispectral Uncrewed Aerial Systems for Surface Characterization of the Cryosphere, Remote Sensing 16, no. 19: 3662.
• 2024   Cordero, R. R., Feron, S., Damiani, A., MacDonell, S., Carrasco, J., Pizarro, J., Karas, C., Jorquera, J., Sepulveda, E., Cabello, F., Fernandoy, F., Wang, C., Khan, A.L., & Casassa, G. Rapid decline in extratropical Andean snow cover driven by the poleward migration of the Southern Hemisphere westerlies. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 26365.
• 2023    Khan, A. L., Xian, P., and Schwarz, J.: Black carbon concentrations and modeled smoke deposition fluxes to the bare ice dark zone of the Greenland Ice Sheet, The Cryosphere.
• 2023    *Healy, S and Khan, A.L., “UAV remote detection of snow algae and the radiative forcing responses in the North Cascades.” Communications Earth and Environment.
• 2023   Cordero, R. R., Feron, S., Damiani, A., Llanillo, P. J., Carrasco, J., Khan, A. L., Bintanja, R., Ouyang, Z., and Casassa, G.: Signature of the stratosphere–troposphere coupling on recent record-breaking Antarctic sea-ice anomalies, The Cryosphere, 17, 4995–5006.
• 2023    Gold AU, Geraghty Ward EM, Marsh CL, Moon TA, Schoeneman SW, Khan A.L., et al. Measuring novice-expert sense of place for a far-away place: Implications for geoscience instruction. PLoS ONE 18(10): e0293003.
• 2023    Di Mauro, Biagio; Cappelletti, David; Moroni, Beatrice; Mazzola, Mauro; Gilardoni, Stefania; Luks, Bartłomiej; Nawrot, Adam; Lewandowski, Marek; Dagsson Waldhauserova, Pavla; Meinander, Outi; Wittmann, Monika; Kaspari, Susan; Khan, Alia.  Dust in Svalbard: local sources versus long-range transported dust (SVALDUST). In SESS report 2022 – The State of Environmental Science in Svalbard – an annual report (pp. 62-77). Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System.
• 2022    Cordero, R. R., Sepúlveda, E., Feron, S., Damiani, A., Fernandoy, F., Neshyba, S., ... & Khan, A.L., Casassa, G. (2022). Black carbon footprint of human presence in Antarctica. Nature Communications, 13(1), 1-11.
• 2022    *Healy, S. and Khan, A.L. Mapping glacier ablation with a UAV in the North Cascades: A comparison of traditional approaches to glacier mass balance with structure from motion technology. Frontiers In Remote Sensing.
• 2022    Cordero, R. R., Sepúlveda, E., Feron, S., Damiani, A., Fernandoy, F., Neshyba, S., ... & Khan, A.L., Casassa, G. “Black Carbon in the Southern Andean Snowpack”.
• 2022    Veyssiere, G., Castellani, G., Wilkinson, J., Karcher, M., Hayward, A., Stroeve, J. C., Nicolaus M, Kim JH, Yang EJ, Valcic L, Kauker F., Khan, A.L, Rogers, I. Under-Ice Light Field in the Western Arctic Ocean during late Summer. Frontiers in Earth Science, 1337.
• 2021    Khan, A. L., Dierssen, H.M., Scambos, T.A., Höfer, J., and Cordero, R. R.: Spectral characterization, radiative forcing, and pigment content of coastal Antarctic snow algae: approaches to spectrally discriminate red and green communities and their impact on snowmelt, The Cryosphere, 15, 133-148,.
• 2021    Khan, A. L., Sokol, E. R., McKnight, D. M., Saunders, J. F., Hohner, A. K., & Summers, R. S. Phytoplankton Drivers of Dissolved Organic Material Production in Colorado  Reservoirs and the Formation of Disinfection By-Products. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 9, 259.
• 2021    Schulte, N., Khan, A.L., Smith, E., Zoumplis, A., Kaul, D., Allen, A., Adams, B., McKnight, D. Blowin’ in the wind: dispersal, structure, and metacommunity dynamics of aeolian diatoms in the McMurdo Sound region, Antarctica. Journal of Phycology.
• 2020    Khan A.L., Rittger, K., Xian, P., Katich, J., Armstrong, R., Kayastha, R., Dana, J., McKnight, D.; Yak-dung burning influences refractory black carbon concentrations in seasonal snow at lower elevations of the Dudh Koshi River Basin of Nepal.
• 2020    Lee, S., Stroeve, J., Tsamados, M., & Khan, A. L. Machine learning approaches to retrieve pan-Arctic melt ponds from visible satellite imagery. Remote Sensing of Environment, 247.
• 2020    Diaz, M., Lyons, B., Welch, S., Welch, K., Khan, A.L., McKnight, D., Adams, B and Cary, C. Geochemistry of aeolian material from the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica: insights into Southern Hemisphere dust sources. Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
• 2019    Khan A.L., Klein, A., Katich, J., Xian, P. “Local emissions and regional wildfires influence refractory black carbon observations near Palmer Station, Antarctica”, Frontiers in Earth Science – Atmosphere Section.
• 2019    Bracegirdle, Thomas J., Colleoni, Florence, Abram, Nerilie J., Bertler, Nancy A.N., Dixon, Daniel A., England, Mark, Favier, Vincent, Fogwill, Chris J., Fyfe, John C., Goodwin, Ian, Goose, Hugues, Hobbs, Will, Jones, Julie M., Keller, Elizabeth D., Khan, Alia L., Phipps, Steven J., Raphael, Marilyn N., Russell, Joellen, Sime, Louise, Thomas, Elizabeth R., van den Broeke, Michiel R., Wainer, Ilana. (2019) Back to the Future: Using long-term observational and paleo-proxy reconstructions to improve model projections of Antarctic climate. Geosciences, 9, doi: 10.3390/geosciences906025
• 2018    Khan A.L., McMeeking, G., Schwarz, J.P, Xian, P., Welch, K., Lyons, B., McKnight, D. “Refractory black carbon measured in snow and air in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica and potential impacts of foehn winds”, Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres.
• 2018    Khan A.L., Bracegirdle, T., Russell, J. “Can We Crack the Climate Code of the Southern Polar Region?”, EOS, 99.
• 2018    Khan, A.L. “U.S. and China Assess Ecosystem Effects of a Fading Cryosphere”, EOS, 99.
• 2018    Armstrong, R.L., Rittger, K., Brodzik, M.J., Racoviteanu, A., Barrett, A.P., Singh Khalsa, S.J., Raup, B., Hill, A., Khan, A.L., Wilson, A., Kayastha, R.B., Fetterer, F., Armstrong, B. Reg Environ Change (2018).
• 2018    Diaz, M. A., Adams, B. J.,  Welch, K. A.,  Welch, S. A.,  Opiyo, S. O.,  Khan, A. L., McKnight, D., Cary, C., Lyons, B. Aeolian material transport and its role in landscape connectivity in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 123, 3323-3337.
• 2017    Khan, A. L., Wagner, S, Jaffe, R., Xian, P., Williams, M., Armstrong, R., and McKnight, D., “Dissolved black carbon in the global cryosphere: Concentrations and chemical signatures”, Geophysical Research Letters, 44, doi:10.1002/2017GL073485
• 2017    Khan, A.L., Dierssen, H., Schwartz, J., Schmitt, C., Hermanson, M., Painter, T., McKnight, D, “Impacts of coal dust on the spectral reflectance of Arctic surface snow in Svalbard, Norway”, Journal of Geophysical Research – Atmospheres, doi:10.1002/2016JD025757
• 2017    Stibal, M., J. E. Box, K. A. Cameron, P. L. Langen, M. L. Yallop, R. H. Mottram, A. L. Khan, N. P. Molotch, N. A. M. Chrismas, F. Calì Quaglia, D. Remias, C. J. P. P. Smeets, M. R. van den Broeke, J. C. Ryan, A. Hubbard, M. Tranter, D. van As, A. P., Ahlstrøm, “Algae drive enhanced darkening of bare ice on the Greenland ice sheet”, Geophysical Research Letters, 44, doi:10.1002/2017GL075958.
• 2017    Gutt, J., Isla, E., Bertler, N., …Khan, A.L., …Wall, D., Wilson, N., Xavier, J., “Cross-disciplinarity in the advance of Antarctic ecosystem research”, Marine Genomics, doi: 10.1016/j.margen.2017.09.006
• 2016    Khan, A. L., R. Jaffe, Y. Ding, and D.M. McKnight, “Dissolved black carbon in Antarctic lakes: Chemical signatures of past and present sources”, Geophysical Research Letters, 43, doi: 10.1002/2016GL068609
• 2015    Mayewski, P.A., T. Bracegirdle, I. Goodwin, D. Schneider, N.A.N. Bertler, S. Birkel, A. Carleton, M. H. England, J-H. Kang, A. Khan, J. Russell, J. Turner and I. Veliconga, “Potential for Southern Hemisphere climate surprises”, Quaternary Science, 30, 391-395, 10.1002/jqs.2794
• 2012    Alia Lauren Khan, “Creative Adaptation: Bangladesh's Resilience to Flooding in a Changing Climate," in Climate Change Modelling For Local Adaptation In The Hindu Kush-Himalayan Region Armando Lamadrid, Ilan Kelman, eds. (Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management, Volume 11), Emerald Group Publishing, 159 - 175, DOI: 10.1108/S2040-7262(2012)0000011015
• 2011    Brown, J., Stauber, C., Murphy, J., Khan, A., Mu, T., Elliott, M., Sobsey, M. “Ambient temperature incubation for the field detection of E. coli in drinking water”, Journal of Applied Microbiology, 110(4), 915-923. 10.1111/j.1365-2672.2011.04940.x