Karl Rittger

Snow hydrology • Remote sensing of ice & snow • Earth surface energy & water balance

I am a Research Associate at INSTAAR where I work on federally sponsored projects from NASA, NOAA, USGS, and USAID that focus on scientific research, application, data archiving and distribution, and capacity building. My research areas include mapping snow and ice at a spatial scale suitable for mountainous terrain and large-scale, physically-based, distributed modeling of snow. I have remote sensing, modeling, and fieldwork experience working in data rich regions like the Continental U.S. and data poor regions like the Himalaya and Hindu Kush. My work has led to publications that use NASA satellite data to better understand the Earth climate system.

I lead the Snow Today team at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, providing real-time information for users. My 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. I am a MODIS/VIIRS Land Team member, an Executive Board Member of the Snow International Working Group, and participate in multiple NASA working groups on snow.

Mountain Hydrology Group  News about Karl 

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

Service roles

• Executive Committee, International Snow Working Group
• Member, Snow Albedo Working Group, NASA Hydrology
• Science Board Advisor, National Center Ecological Analysis

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.

Teaching

Although my current position is 100% research, I also advise several students.

Current postdoc: Ross Palomaki

Publications

For additional publications, see Karl's Google Scholar profile.