Research

Our research aims to understand the ongoing changes of the polar oceans by synthesizing information from remote sensing observations for a richer picture. We utilize high-resolution remote sensing measurements to study ocean and sea ice properties and processes at both large and small scales. Bespoke algorithms are required for processing new observations and ingenuity is necessary for synthesizing datasets in an ever-changing landscape of remote sensing instruments. As the Arctic warms and the sea ice continues to disintegrate and become less reliable and stable for in situ measurements, remote sensing will become increasingly important for monitoring the polar regions, a vital sign of the planet.

Ongoing Work

See the products page for our group data products and code.

Publications

2025

Sea Ice Concentration Estimates from ICESat-2 Linear Ice Fraction. Part 2: Gridded Data Comparison and Bias Estimation

Christopher Horvat, Ellen M. Buckley, Madelyn Stewart

Copernicus GmbH  ·  14 Jan 2025  ·  doi:10.5194/egusphere-2024-3864

2024

Sea Ice Concentration Estimates from ICESat-2 Linear Ice Fraction. Part 1: Multi-sensor Comparison of Sea Ice Concentration Products

Ellen M. Buckley, Christopher Horvat, Pittayuth Yoosiri

Copernicus GmbH  ·  17 Dec 2024  ·  doi:10.5194/egusphere-2024-3861

Seasonal evolution of the sea ice floe size distribution in the Beaufort Sea from 2 decades of MODIS data

Ellen M. Buckley, Leela Cañuelas, Mary-Louise Timmermans, Monica M. Wilhelmus

The Cryosphere  ·  06 Nov 2024  ·  doi:10.5194/tc-18-5031-2024

Seasonal Evolution of the Sea Ice Floe Size Distribution from Two Decades of MODIS Data

Ellen Margaret Buckley, Leela Cañuelas, Mary-Louise Timmermans, Monica Martinez Wilhelmus

Copernicus GmbH  ·  19 Jan 2024  ·  doi:10.5194/egusphere-2024-89

2023

Linear Ice Fraction: Sea Ice Concentration Estimates from the ICESat-2 Laser Altimeter

Christopher Horvat, Ellen Buckley, Madelyn Stewart, Poom Yoosiri, Monica M. Wilhelmus

Copernicus GmbH  ·  24 Oct 2023  ·  doi:10.5194/egusphere-2023-2312

Observing the evolution of summer melt on multiyear sea ice with ICESat-2 and Sentinel-2

Ellen M. Buckley, Sinéad L. Farrell, Ute C. Herzfeld, Melinda A. Webster, Thomas Trantow, Oliwia N. Baney, Kyle A. Duncan, Huilin Han, Matthew Lawson

The Cryosphere  ·  31 Aug 2023  ·  doi:10.5194/tc-17-3695-2023

Observing the Evolution of Summer Melt on Multiyear Sea Ice with ICESat-2 and Sentinel-2

Ellen Margaret Buckley, Sinéad Louise Farrell, Ute C. Herzfeld, Melinda A. Webster, Thomas Trantow, Oliwia N. Baney, Kyle A. Duncan, Huilin Han, Matthew Lawson

Copernicus GmbH  ·  13 Feb 2023  ·  doi:10.5194/egusphere-2023-189

Automated Detection and Depth Determination of Melt Ponds on Sea Ice in ICESat-2 ATLAS Data—The Density-Dimension Algorithm for Bifurcating Sea-Ice Reflectors (DDA-Bifurcate-Seaice)

Ute Christina Herzfeld, Thomas M. Trantow, Huilin Han, Ellen Buckley, Sinéad Louise Farrell, Matthew Lawson

IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing  ·  01 Jan 2023  ·  doi:10.1109/tgrs.2023.3268073

2022

Automated Detection and Depth Determination of Melt Ponds on Sea Ice in ICESat-2 ATLAS Data — The Density-Dimension Algorithm for Bifurcating Sea-Ice Reflectors (DDA-bifurcate-seaice)

Ute Herzfeld, Thomas Trantow, Huilin Han, Ellen Buckley, Sinead Farrell, Matthew Lawson

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)  ·  10 Oct 2022  ·  doi:10.36227/techrxiv.21300153

Automated Detection and Depth Determination of Melt Ponds on Sea Ice in ICESat-2 ATLAS Data — The Density-Dimension Algorithm for Bifurcating Sea-Ice Reflectors (DDA-bifurcate-seaice)

Ute Herzfeld, Thomas Trantow, Huilin Han, Ellen Buckley, Sinead Farrell, Matthew Lawson

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)  ·  10 Oct 2022  ·  doi:10.36227/techrxiv.21300153.v1

2021

Evolution of Melt Pond Fraction and Depth on Multiyear Ice in 2020 from High Resolution Satellite Observations

Ellen Buckley, Sinéad Farrell, Oliwia Baney, Kyle Duncan, Ute Herzfeld, Thomas Trantow, Matthew Lawson

Wiley  ·  14 Dec 2021  ·  doi:10.1002/essoar.10509479.2

Evolution of Melt Pond Fraction and Depth on Multiyear Ice in 2020 from High Resolution Satellite Observations

Ellen Buckley, Sinéad Farrell, Oliwia Baney, Kyle Duncan, Ute Herzfeld, Thomas Trantow, Matthew Lawson

Wiley  ·  14 Dec 2021  ·  doi:10.1002/essoar.10509479.1

ICESat-2 observations of melt ponds on Arctic sea ice

Ellen Buckley, Sinéad Farrell, Kyle Duncan, Ute Herzfeld

Wiley  ·  26 Oct 2021  ·  doi:10.1002/essoar.10508493.1

The Scientific Legacy of NASA’s Operation IceBridge

Joseph A. MacGregor, Linette N. Boisvert, Brooke Medley, Alek A. Petty, Jeremy P. Harbeck, …, Martin Truffer, Thomas P. Wagner, John E. Woods, Duncan A. Young, James K. Yungel

Reviews of Geophysics  ·  01 Jun 2021  ·  doi:10.1029/2020rg000712

2020

Classification of Sea Ice Summer Melt Features in High‐Resolution IceBridge Imagery

Ellen M. Buckley, Sinéad L. Farrell, Kyle Duncan, Laurence N. Connor, John M. Kuhn, RoseAnne T. Dominguez

Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans  ·  04 Dec 2020  ·  doi:10.1029/2019JC015738

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Data

Manuscript Source

open-science collaboration

Mapping Sea Ice Surface Topography in High Fidelity With ICESat‐2

S. L. Farrell, K. Duncan, E. M. Buckley, J. Richter‐Menge, R. Li

Geophysical Research Letters  ·  02 Nov 2020  ·  doi:10.1029/2020GL090708

Mapping Sea Ice Surface Topography in High Fidelity with ICESat-2

Sinéad Farrell, Kyle Duncan, Ellen Buckley, Jacqueline Richter-Menge, Ruohan Li

Wiley  ·  24 Sep 2020  ·  doi:10.1002/essoar.10504391.1

Constructing knowledge graphs and their biomedical applications

David N. Nicholson, Casey S. Greene

Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal  ·  01 Jan 2020  ·  doi:10.1016/j.csbj.2020.05.017

2019

Classification of Arctic Sea Ice Surface Types During the Melt Season in High-Resolution IceBridge Imagery

Ellen Buckley, Sinéad Farrell, Kyle Duncan, Laurence Connor, John Kuhn, RoseAnne Dominguez

Wiley  ·  13 Feb 2019  ·  doi:10.1002/essoar.10500735.1

2018

Sci-Hub provides access to nearly all scholarly literature

Daniel S Himmelstein, Ariel Rodriguez Romero, Jacob G Levernier, Thomas Anthony Munro, Stephen Reid McLaughlin, Bastian Greshake Tzovaras, Casey S Greene

eLife  ·  01 Mar 2018  ·  doi:10.7554/eLife.32822