Research Interests
The unifying theme of my rather broad research interests is the application of remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) techniques to the study of the cryosphere. I have applied geographical techniques various components of the cryosphere including snow, glaciers and glacial landforms. My research stresses the development of geographic techniques and the application of these technologies to answer basic research questions. Most recently, I have had the fortunate opportunity to apply geographic techniques studying human impact in polar regions.
My overarching research agenda is to use remote sensing and GIS to:
- Develop and implement techniques that effectively document changes that have occurred in the cryosphere on timescales ranging from seasonal to glacial/interglacial
- Better understand the relationship between the modern cryosphere and current climate and apply this improved understanding to improving paleoclimatic reconstructions
- Utilize geographic techniques for environmental improvement of the earth's alpine and polar regions
The following paragraphs briefly describe my past and current research.
Over the next several years I intend to continue work in the same topical areas, but with decreased emphasis on algorithm development and increased emphasis of using newly released data in cryospheric studies. Additional research information and selected reprints are available online at http://geography.tamu.edu/class/aklein/.
Remote Sensing of Snow and Tropical Glaciers
One of my current research themes is remote sensing of modern snowcover and to
lesser extent tropical glaciers. As a visiting scientist at NASA/Goddard Space
Flight Center, I helped to develop and validate the algorithm used to create global,
daily snow cover maps from the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) instrument (Klein, Hall and Riggs, 1998 and Klein, Hall and Seidel, 1998).
MODIS was launched on December 18, 1999 and snow cover maps are now being publicly
released from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The MODIS snow-mapping
project is described at http://modis-snow-ice.gsfc.nasa.gov/intro.html
In addition to developing the MODIS snow-mapping algorithm I am also undertaking research in two other avenues of MODIS snow research. I am currently funded by the MODIS snow-mapping project to develop an algorithm to calculate broadband albedo for snow-covered pixels from MODIS data. A prototype algorithm (described in Klein, Hall and Nolin, in press) has been developed and is currently being tested. A second MODIS research area is the development of a technique to estimate the snow-covered fraction of snow in each MODIS pixel based on techniques developed to detect atmospheric aerosols over forested areas.
Now that MODIS snowcover maps are being publicly released, I intend to exploit their potential by studying snow cover patterns in South America where snow cover products have not been operationally produced and to investigate the relationship between South American snow cover and regional climate as well as its attendant hydrologic implications.
I am also funded to work on two smaller snow remote sensing projects. I currently am collaborating with civil engineers on a one-year Texas A&M funded project investigating whether ENSO indicators can be used to improve stream flow forecasting from the snowmelt-dominated Upper Rio Grande River basin in Colorado and New Mexico. I am also studying angular effects on the observed reflectance of snow using data from the European Space Agency POLDER instrument that I am receiving through a satellite data grant.
In addition to my work on remote sensing of snow, I am continuing work using
high-resolution satellite images to study changes in the extent of glaciers
in the tropics, how these changes relate to climate variations and the potential
human consequences of the retreat in the tropical Andes. I have been actively
involved in developing techniques to detect and monitor tropical glaciers (Klein
and Isacks, 1999) and helped identify glaciologically important areas to be
imaged using the Landsat-7 satellite, through an INQUA initiative http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/gage/glacier7.htm.
I have been continuing to use Landsat remote sensing data to monitor glacier
changes in Andean glaciers in collaboration with faculty and students at Appalachian
State University that has been running a study abroad program in Bolivia.
Tropical Paleoclimate
One of my primary research interests has been determining what environmental conditions were like in the tropics during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), which occurred ca., 20,000 BP in the central Andes. As a graduate student, I received a DOE Graduate Fellowship for Global Change to apply remote sensing and GIS techniques to develop a detailed regional reconstruction of the altitude of snowline at present and at the time glaciers reached their maximum extent for the central Andes. This research integrated extensive geomorphic analysis using Landsat Thematic Mapper Imagery with previously published studies. Our published results (Klein, Seltzer and Isacks, 1999 and Klein and Isacks, 1998) demonstrated a snowline depression of at least 1200 m in the eastern Andes. Snowline modeling indicated that this depression is consistent with a cooling of 5° to 9° C. The extensive glacier expansion observed in the western Andes probably requires additional precipitation in addition to colder temperatures.
In a paper I am currently finishing, I am using passive microwave remote sensing
data to study the extent of seasonal inundation of the large shallow lakes and
salars (salt flats) that cover a large portion of the Bolivia Altiplano during
the late 1980's and into the 1990's. At several times in the past lake levels
rose substantially causing these separate lakes and salars to coalesce into
large paleolakes. While several explanations have hypothesized, the exact mechanism
for paleolake development remains unknown. I hope examination of modern dynamics
can lead to a better understanding of the responsible mechanisms.
Environmental Monitoring in Antarctica
Finally, I am currently a Co-Principal Investigator on a 3-year NSF program whose
objective is to establish an environmental monitoring program at McMurdo Station,
Antarctica. The project's goal is to develop an understanding of the station's
local environment and observe changes within the context of the human activities
that occur at the station. This project is the next step in developing a long-term
strategy for monitoring the impact of science and support operations in Antarctica.
The project has instituted a stratified random sampling strategy to document regional
and local patterns in relevant system attributes using geostatistical methods.
Concurrently, historical information and aerial photography are being combined
in a GIS to establish long-term temporal trends in the area. Information on the
scope of the project and information about our past and current fieldwork can
be found at http://www.gerg.tamu.edu/GERG/ant_res/index.htm