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Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research

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Interdisciplinary science for understanding change in Earth systems

We investigate climate change, Quaternary history, terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, Earth surface processes, biogeochemistry, carbon and nitrogen cycling, and more.

Research

Explore our labs & groups, our long-term collaborative programs, and our science articles, theses, and dissertations:

Lab researcher working with a wall of flasks for stable isotope analysis

Labs & groups

Steep forested towers of rock rise abruptly from a patterned set of small farm fields along a winding river

Programs

Closeup view of blueberries and other tundra plants

Publications

We take a global interdisciplinary approach

 

INSTAAR's research is truly global in scope, not only spanning latitudes, elevations, and timescales, but crossing multiple science disciplines. This wide range increases our ability to help solve the challenging environmental issues that confront our world.

Venn diagram of INSTAAR science showing overlapping science disciplines - hydrology, geomorphology, cyrospheric science, atmospheric science, paleoenvironmental science, oceanography, biogeochemistry, and ecology

See caption

We work across a number of science disciplines, including in the overlap between them.  Small white circles represent individual INSTAAR faculty fellows (as of early 2022). Not shown are our non-traditional fields (for a traditionally science institute) such as policy, art, and human dimensions.  The INSTAAR members who work in these additional fields help broaden our policy relevance and outreach.

News

Lines divide Sierra Nevada watersheds. Average is a modeled estimate for years 2000-2021. Figure by Leanne Lestak and Noah Molotch.

Scientists take flight to map California’s vast snowpack and measure flooding threats (L.A. Times)

Noah Molotch is quoted in this Los Angeles Times article about mapping the recent historic snowpack in California using laser pulses and spectrometers from the air. The flights are collecting data to estimate when and how fast the snow will melt, helping officials prepare for the runoff, manage water releases from dams, and asses areas at risk of flooding. Read more
CU Boulder researchers collect snow measurements near the Continental Divide in Colorado for the snow survey last May. Photo by Kate Hale.

Earlier snowpack melt in the West could bring summer water scarcity (CU Boulder Today)

Snow is melting earlier, and more rain is falling instead of snow in the mountain ranges of the Western U.S. and Canada, leading to a leaner snowpack that could impact agriculture, wildfire risk and municipal water supplies come summer, according to a new CU Boulder analysis. Kate Hale and Noah Molotch are authors on the study. Read more
nowpack in the Roaring Fork Valley in western Colorado, as seen during an Airborne Snow Observatories Inc. flight in mid-April.

Scientists are using lasers to uncover the secrets of Colorado’s snowpack. So what does it mean for your water supply?

In Colorado, 83% of the state’s water supply comes from surface water fed by winter snowpack and spring runoff. Colorado’s snowmelt also flows downstream to millions of other users in the Colorado River Basin. Having the most accurate snowpack measurement possible is vital for water agencies, which use the data to figure out how much ends up in home faucets and on farms for irrigation. The search for new, more accurate ways to measure snowpack is on. Read more
More research news

Research talks

During the Fall and Spring semesters, INSTAAR hosts research talks that are open to the public.  They are usually both online and in person. Speakers can be from inside or outside INSTAAR. Occasionally grad students will present research updates and PhD/MS defenses.  In the summer, INSTAAR's Mountain Research Station (MRS) hosts in-person summer seminars open to the public.

 

More events

Our research strengths

  • DEDUCING drivers and outcomes of climate and environmental change, constraining the range of our potential futures.
  • EXPLORING environmental connections between people, communities, climate change, and crucial ecosystem services.
  • DISCOVERING how climate change is altering environmental systems, and helping predict future transformations.
  • UNDERSTANDING the changing Arctic and the consequences at every latitude and altitude.
  • RECONSTRUCTING past climates to understand our potential future in a very changed world.
  • DECIPHERING fundamental Earth system processes, particularly interactions in land surface processes, coastal processes, and the critical zone.
     

Our ongoing and emerging research topics

Rooted in our research strengths, ongoing and emerging areas of study directly address the consequences of a changing world on people and communities.

  • Translational research that focuses on community benefit and multidisciplinary collaboration.
  • Permafrost change and resulting landscape and climate feedbacks.
  • Agricultural impacts on biogeochemical cycles.
  • Water quality and aquatic ecosystems.

  • Human dimensions and art-science collaborations.
  • Role of climate and environmental change in national security.
  • Extreme climate events.
  • Novel cyberinfrastructure and tools.

Research programs

Delve into the long-term collaborative efforts led by INSTAAR members

INSTAAR's national and international collaborations magnify our efforts and frame our work in a larger context.  We lead and manage long-running research programs around the world including two U.S. Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) programs.

Icon for Niwot Ridge LTER

Niwot Ridge LTER 

Logo for the McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER

McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER

Logo for the Mountain Research Station

Mountain Research Station

Logo for the Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System (CSDMS)

Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System

Logo for Dynamic Water critical zone project

Dynamic Water
critical zone project

More programs

Labs & groups

See how INSTAARs band together around common questions, set of methods, or interests. Our 20+ labs and groups are the heart of INSTAAR, where research gets done and students become scientists.

 

Play Video


Tour a few of our labs

Our key approaches:

MEASURING & MONITORING

environmental variables and precise time-series, including long-term data.

 DATING

environmental phenomena, including using radiocarbon. 

 MODELING

the past, present, and future Earth system, including integrating disciplines and datasets.

 BUILDING

partnerships to effect societal change.

 

See labs & groups

Performing fieldwork across the globe

 

INSTAAR research sites are located on all seven continents, the atmosphere, and the world ocean.

While our name reflects our deep expertise and history in high-elevation, high-latitude environments, today we work from the tropics to the poles, and in the atmosphere and world ocean.  

Our research is deeply embedded in places where we have often worked for years or decades. We strive to be trustworthy partners who have reciprocal relationships with local communities. 

Play Video


Watch fieldwork highlights

Spanning timescales

INSTAAR researchers work across a broad range of timescales, reconstructing environments of the past, studying present conditions and processes, and improving predictions of our uncertain future. 

About half of our faculty fellows study past environments and processes. Most of the focus is on the recent geologic past within the last ~2.6 million years (Quaternary period).  Many studies are further focused on the last ice age (~115,000 to ~12,000 years ago) and/or the subsequent warmer and more climatically stable Holocene epoch when humans developed intensive agriculture.

Studies within one timescale often help increase understanding in another timescale. For example, measuring carbon dioxide levels in ice cores improves understanding of past environments which, in turn, feeds into climate models that can make better predictions of future climate change.

Research interests by timeframe

The height of each colored box is weighted by the number of INSTAAR Faculty Fellows researching that discipline/timescale (as of early 2022).

Timeline graph of research interests of INSTAAR faculty fellows showing that many disciplines study a wide range of timescales from deep geologic past to the present and into future predictions

 

 

More about INSTAAR

 Image at top of this page

Dramatic aurora looms over several lighted tents camped on sea ice with a frozen-in iceberg behind.  Greenland. Photo by Kerry Koepping


Ice Camp Aurora by INSTAAR affiliate Kerry Koepping, with help of his team and Inuit friends. Location: Scoresby Sund, Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland. Koepping is the founder of the non-profit Arctic Arts Project and is dedicated to strengthening environmental sustainability by illuminating environmental issues through science and visual literacy.

  • Labs, groups, & programs
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Labs & Groups

  • Advanced Laser Technology for Atmospheric Research (Fried)
  • Amino Acid Geochronology (Miller)
  • AMS Radiocarbon Preparation & Research (Lehman)
  • Coastal Oceanography Modeling (Moriarty)
  • Core Processing & Sedimentology (Roth & Anderson)
  • Cryosphere and Surface Processes (Overeem et al.)
  • Diatoms (Spaulding)
  • Ecohydrology (Barnard)
  • Ecosystem Analysis (Turetsky) ↪︎
  • Hydroecology Science & Engineering (Gooseff) ↪︎
  • ICP-MS Trace Metals (Marchitto)
  • Micropaleontology (Jennings)
  • Mountain Hydrology (Molotch et al.)
  • Ocean Biogeochemistry (Lovenduski)
  • Organic Geochemistry (Sepúlveda)
  • Organic Matter Spectroscopy (McKnight)
  • Polar & Environmental Geochemistry (Diaz) ↪︎
  • Polar & Paleoclimate Modeling (Jahn)
  • Stable Isotope Lab
  • Suding Lab - plant community ecology ↪︎
  • Taylor Lab - evolutionary biology & genetics of birds ↪︎


Programs

  • Center for the Geochemical Analysis of the Global Environment (GAGE)
  • Community Surface Dynamics Modeling System (CSDMS)
  • Consortium for Capacity Building (CCB)
  • DFO - Flood Observatory
  • Dynamic Water critical zone project
  • McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research (MCM LTER)
  • Mountain Research Station (MRS)
  • Niwot Ridge Long-Term Ecological Research (NWT LTER)

Research

  • Labs & groups
  • Programs
  • Publications
    • AAAR journal ↪
    • Theses and dissertations
    • Occasional Papers

People

  • Faculty Fellows
  • Faculty Research Scientists
  • Faculty Fellows Emeriti
  • Research Staff
  • Postdocs
  • Students
  • Affiliates
  • Admin Staff

Diversity

  • Underrepresented groups
    • DEI summer scholarships
  • Allies
  • Our actions
  • Addressing problematic behavior


Community

News

  • Research news
  • People spotlights
  • Diversity news
  • Community news

Events

  • Seminars
  • Grad talks
  • Diversity events
  • Community events


About INSTAAR

  • Governance
  • Visit INSTAAR
  • Contact Us

Prospective students

  • Grad application assistance (GAAP)
  • Undergrad opportunities


Resources for INSTAARs

Jobs

Support INSTAAR

INSTAAR logo on thin colored banner

Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research

INSTAAR

         

email instaar@colorado.edu
phone (303) 492-6387
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Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research
University of Colorado
Campus Box 450
Boulder, CO 80309-0450 USA

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Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research
University of Colorado
4001 Discovery Drive
Boulder, CO 80303 USA

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