Karl Rittger

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.