Breadcrumb

Prounouns: he/his
Office: SEEC S235A
Bio
I’m interested in water movement and storage and the use of this information for weather, climate, food and energy production, and regional water management.
I’m also interested in building tools that can be used repeatably and that are useful to people that do not have as much expertise or funding but have the desire to learn and expand local expertise.
Service roles
- Executive Committee, International Snow Working Group
- Member, Snow Albedo Working Group, NASA Hydrology
- Science Board Advisor, National Center Ecological Analysis
Education
- PhD (Environmental Science and Management): University of California, Santa Barbara, 2012
- MESM (Environmental Science and Management): University of California, Santa Barbara, 2006
- ScB (Geology-Physics/Mathematics): Brown University, 2002
Research
Snow hydrology, remote sensing of ice and snow, earth surface energy and water balance, and large-scale data modeling
Dr. Rittger is a Research Associate at INSTAAR where he works on federally sponsored projects from NASA, NOAA, USGS, and USAID that focus on scientific research, application, data archiving and distribution, and capacity building. His research areas include mapping snow and ice at a spatial scale suitable for mountainous terrain and large-scale physically-based distributed modeling of snow. He has remote sensing, modeling, and fieldwork experience working in data rich regions like the Continental US and data poor regions like the Himalaya and Hindu Kush. His work has led to publications that use NASA satellite data to better understand the Earth climate system. He leads the Snow Today team at the National Snow and Ice Data Center providing real-time information for users. His cross-agency efforts include collaboration with NOAA remote sensing experts for a 10-year plan and also lead to the production of the USGS fractional snow cover products. He a MODIS/VIIRS Land Team member, an Executive Board Member of the Snow International Working Group, and participates in multiple NASA working groups on snow.
Publications
For additional publications, see Karl's Google Scholar profile.
How do tradeoffs in satellite spatial and temporal resolution impact snowwater equivalent reconstruction?
Publication Date: 2023-07-06
Type: Journal Article
Midwinter Dry Spells Amplify Post-Fire Snowpack Decline
Hatchett BJ; Koshkin AL; Guirguis K; Rittger K; Nolin AW; Heggli A; Rhoades AM; East AE; Siirila-Woodburn ER; Brandt WT...
- Hatchett BJ
- Koshkin AL
- Guirguis K
- Rittger K
- Nolin AW
- Heggli A
- Rhoades AM
- East AE
- Siirila-Woodburn ER
- Brandt WT
Publication Date: 2023-02-16
Type: Journal Article
Evaluation of E3SM land model snow simulations over the western United States
Publication Date: 2023-02-10
Type: Journal Article
Landsat, MODIS, and VIIRS snow cover mapping algorithm performance asvalidated by airborne lidar datasets
Publication Date: 2023-02-08
Type: Journal Article
Improving snow albedo modeling in the E3SM land model (version 2.0) and assessing its impacts on snow and surface fluxes over the Tibetan Plateau
Publication Date: 2023-01-04
Type: Journal Article
Snow Albedo Feedbacks Enhance Snow Impurity-Induced Radiative Forcing in the Sierra Nevada
Publication Date: 2022-06-16
Type: Journal Article
Divergence of apparent and intrinsic snow albedo over a season at a sub-alpine site with implications for remote sensing
Publication Date: 2022-05-06
Type: Journal Article
Combining ground-based and remotely sensed snow data in a linear regression model for real-time estimation of snow water equivalent
Publication Date: 2022-01-10
Type: Journal Article
Grand Challenges of Hydrologic Modeling for Food-Energy-Water Nexus Security in High Mountain Asia
Mishra SK; Rupper S; Kapnick S; Casey K; Chan HG; Ciraci E; Haritashya U; Hayse J; Kargel JS; Kayastha RB...
- Mishra SK
- Rupper S
- Kapnick S
- Casey K
- Chan HG
- Ciraci E
- Haritashya U
- Hayse J
- Kargel JS
- Kayastha RB
Publication Date: 2021-10-05
Type: Journal Article
Trends in Snow Cover Duration Across River Basins in High Mountain Asia From Daily Gap-Filled MODIS Fractional Snow Covered Area
Publication Date: 2021-09-21
Type: Journal Article
Multi-sensor fusion using random forests for daily fractional snow cover at 30 m
Rittger K; Krock M; Kleiber W; Bair EH; Brodzik MJ; Stephenson TR; Rajagopalan B; Bormann KJ; Painter TH...
- Rittger K
- Krock M
- Kleiber W
- Bair EH
- Brodzik MJ
- Stephenson TR
- Rajagopalan B
- Bormann KJ
- Painter TH
Publication Date: 2021-08-10
Type: Journal Article
COVID-19 lockdowns show reduced pollution on snow and ice in the Indus River Basin
Publication Date: 2021-05-04
Type: Journal Article
Dust dominates high-altitude snow darkening and melt over high-mountain Asia
Publication Date: 2020-11-01
Type: Journal Article
Biofuel Burning Influences Refractory Black Carbon Concentrations in Seasonal Snow at Lower Elevations of the Dudh Koshi River Basin of Nepal
Publication Date: 2020-09-16
Type: Journal Article
Canopy Adjustment and Improved Cloud Detection for Remotely Sensed Snow Cover Mapping
Publication Date: 2020-06-01
Type: Journal Article
How Important Is Meltwater to the Chamkhar Chhu Headwaters of the Brahmaputra River?
Publication Date: 2020-03-31
Type: Journal Article
Comparison of modeled snow properties in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan
Publication Date: 2020-01-30
Type: Journal Article
An Automated Approach for Estimating Snowline Altitudes in the Karakoram and Eastern Himalaya From Remote Sensing
Publication Date: 2019-09-20
Type: Journal Article
An Examination of Snow Albedo Estimates From MODIS and Their Impact on Snow Water Equivalent Reconstruction
Publication Date: 2019-09-01
Type: Journal Article
Runoff from glacier ice and seasonal snow in High Asia: separating melt water sources in river flow
Armstrong RL; Rittger K; Brodzik MJ; Racoviteanu A; Barrett AP; Khalsa S-JS; Raup B; Hill AF; Khan AL; Wilson AM...
- Armstrong RL
- Rittger K
- Brodzik MJ
- Racoviteanu A
- Barrett AP
- Khalsa S-JS
- Raup B
- Hill AF
- Khan AL
- Wilson AM
Publication Date: 2019-06-01
Type: Journal Article
Impact of light-absorbing particles on snow albedo darkening and associated radiative forcing over high-mountain Asia: high-resolution WRF-Chem modeling and new satellite observations
Publication Date: 2019-05-27
Type: Journal Article
NASA SNOWEX'17 IN SITU MEASUREMENTS AND GROUND-BASED REMOTE SENSING
Brucker L; Hiemstra C; Marshall H-P; Elder K; De Roo R; Mousavi M; Bliven F; Peterson W; Deems J; Gadomski P...
- Brucker L
- Hiemstra C
- Marshall H-P
- Elder K
- De Roo R
- Mousavi M
- Bliven F
- Peterson W
- Deems J
- Gadomski P
Type: Conference Proceeding
Using machine learning for real-time estimates of snow water equivalent in the watersheds of Afghanistan
Publication Date: 2018-05-03
Type: Journal Article
Clarifying regional hydrologic controls of the Maranon River, Peru through rapid assessment to inform system-wide basin planning approaches
Publication Date: 2018-04-27
Type: Journal Article
A FIRST OVERVIEW OF SNOWEX GROUND-BASED REMOTE SENSING ACTIVITIES DURING THE WINTER 2016-2017
Brucker L; Hiemstra C; Marshall H-P; Elder K; De Roo R; Mousavi M; Bliven F; Peterson W; Deems J; Gadomski P...
- Brucker L
- Hiemstra C
- Marshall H-P
- Elder K
- De Roo R
- Mousavi M
- Bliven F
- Peterson W
- Deems J
- Gadomski P
Type: Conference Proceeding
Pages
Teaching
Although my current position is 100% research, I also advise several students.
Current students & postdocs
PhD committee member
- Patrick Naple, University of Utah.
Outreach
To assist water managers, scientists, and the public in understanding snow, I lead Snow Today, an INSTAAR and NSIDC collaboration using NASA data for near real-time snow analyses. Considering the importance of seasonal snow cover to climate and hydrology, coupled with the rapid changes occurring throughout the cryosphere, there is a pressing need for science-based community forums for monitoring, discussing, and contextualizing the state of snow conditions. We contribute snow analyses that provide (1) near-real-time updates of multivariate snow conditions, and (2) regular narratives that analyze the presented snow data from a climate and hydrologic perspective. These analyses and a frequent presentation of the basic data are an ideal approach for promoting science and understanding to the engaged public as well as scientists and students in related disciplines.