Nathan Kurtz received the B.S. degree in Physics from Iowa State University in 2004, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Atmospheric Physics from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in 2007 and 2009, respectively. His thesis focused on the development of sea ice thickness retrievals from the ICESat mission and his postdoctoral work continued the development of satellite and airborne retrievals of sea ice properties and improving model parameterizations. He became a civil servant scientist in the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in 2013 with work focusing primarily on sea ice thickness and snow depth retrievals from laser and radar altimetry systems. He was the Project Scientist for NASA’s Operation IceBridge airborne project from 2015-2018, leading numerous field campaigns to the Arctic and Antarctic and the production of sea ice thickness and snow depth observations from the campaign. He became the ICESat-2 Deputy Project Scientist in 2018 and is presently the lead for the mission sea ice surface height and freeboard products. Lastly, in 2021 he began serving as Chief for the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory.
Nathan T Kurtz
(Chief)
| Email: | nathan.t.kurtz@nasa.gov |
| Phone: | 301.614.5013 |
| Org Code: | 615 |
| Address: |
NASA/GSFC Mail Code 615 Greenbelt, MD 20771 |
| Employer: |
Missions & Projects
Brief Bio
Research Interests
Sea ice thickness studies from airborne and satellite sensors
Earth Science: Sea IceRemote sensing of the polar regions with an emphasis on the use laser altimetry and model data to study the impact of sea ice on the climate. Development and validation of algorithms and models for the retrieval of sea ice properties through the combined use of satellite, airborne, model, and in-situ data. I am specifically working on retrieval algorithms for Arctic and Antarctic sea ice thickness from laser altimetry measurements from ICESat, ICESat-2, IceBridge, and radar altimetry measurements from CryoSat-2 and IceBridge.
Positions/Employment
Research Associate
Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center (GEST/UMBC) - Greenbelt, MD
January 2010 - January 2012
Physical Scientist
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, MD
July 2013 - Present
Chief, Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center - Greenbelt, MD
October 2021 - Present
Education
Thesis: Application of satellite laser altimetry data to studies of sea ice properties and processes
M.S. Atmospheric Physics, University of Maryland Baltimore County, 2007.
B.S. Physics, Iowa State University, 2004.
Professional Societies
American Geophysical Union
2009 - Present
Publications
Refereed
2024. "Estimating differential penetration of green (532 nm) laser light over sea ice with NASA’s Airborne Topographic Mapper: observations and models." The Cryosphere [https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2625-2024] [Journal Article/Letter]
2023. "ICESat-2/ATLAS at 4 years: instrument performance and projected life." Advanced Photon Counting Techniques XVII 12512 [10.1117/12.2665113] [Proceedings]
2022. "ICESat-2 Mission: Contributions of a spaceborne lidar to ocean science." OCEANS 2022, Hampton Roads [10.1109/oceans47191.2022.9977260] [Proceedings]
2022. "Deriving Snow Depth From ICESat-2 Lidar Multiple Scattering Measurements." Frontiers in Remote Sensing 3 [10.3389/frsen.2022.855159] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "Turbulent Heat Flux, Downward Longwave Radiation and Large-Scale Atmospheric Circulation Associated with Wintertime Barents-Kara Sea Extreme Sea Ice Loss Events." Journal of Climate 1-55 [10.1175/jcli-d-21-0387.1] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "Overview of the MOSAiC expedition: Snow and sea ice." Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene 10 (1): [10.1525/elementa.2021.000046] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Impacts of snow data and processing methods on the interpretation of long-term changes in Baffin Bay sea ice thickness." The Cryosphere 15 4909–4927 [10.5194/tc-15-4909-2021] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Sea Surface Height Anomalies of the Arctic Ocean From ICESat‐2: A First Examination and Comparisons With CryoSat‐2." Geophysical Research Letters 48 (14): [10.1029/2021gl093155] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Assessing CryoSat‐2 Antarctic Snow Freeboard Retrievals Using Data From ICESat‐2." Earth and Space Science 8 (7): [10.1029/2021ea001728] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "ICESat‐2 Early Mission Synopsis and Observatory Performance." Earth and Space Science 8 (5): [10.1029/2020ea001555] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "The scientific legacy of NASA's Operation IceBridge." Reviews of Geophysics (59): e2020RG000712 [10.1029/2020rg000712] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Refining the sea surface identification approach for determining freeboards in the ICESat-2 sea ice products." The Cryosphere 15 821–833 [10.5194/tc-15-821-2021] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Assessment of ICESat‐2 sea ice surface classification with Sentinel‐2 imagery: implications for freeboard and new estimates of lead and floe geometry." Earth and Space Science [10.1029/2020ea001491] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Comparisons of Satellite and Airborne Altimetry With Ground‐Based Data From the Interior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet." Geophysical Research Letters 48 (2): [10.1029/2020gl090572] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Detection of Melt Ponds on Arctic Summer Sea Ice From ICESat‐2." Geophysical Research Letters 47 (23): [10.1029/2020gl090644] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Temporal and spatial variability in surface roughness and accumulation rate around 88° S from repeat airborne geophysical surveys." The Cryosphere 14 (10): 3287-3308 [10.5194/tc-14-3287-2020] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Analyzing the impact of CryoSat-2 ice thickness initialization on seasonal Arctic Sea Ice prediction." Annals of Glaciology 1-8 [10.1017/aog.2020.15] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Decay of the snow cover over Arctic sea ice from ICESat‐2 acquisitions during summer melt in 2019." Geophysical Research Letters 47 [10.1029/2020gl088209] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Winter Arctic sea ice thickness from ICESat-2 freeboards." Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 125 e2019JC015764 [10.1029/2019jc015764] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Arctic snow depth and sea ice thickness from ICESat‐2 and CryoSat‐2 freeboards: A first examination." Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 125 e2019JC016008 [10.1029/2019jc016008] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Temporal and spatial variability in surface roughness and accumulation rate around 88°S from repeat airborne geophysical surveys." The Cryosphere Discussions 2020 1--25 [10.5194/tc-2020-51] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "ICESat-2 mission overview and early performance." Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites XXIII [10.1117/12.2534938] [Proceedings]
2019. "ICESat‐2 surface height and sea‐ice freeboard assessed with ATM lidar acquisitions from Operation IceBridge." Geophysical Research Letters 2019GL084976 [10.1029/2019gl084976] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "New Earth Orbiter Provides a Sharper Look at a Changing Planet." Eos 100 [10.1029/2019eo133233] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "The Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite – 2 mission: A global geolocated photon product derived from the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System." Remote Sensing of Environment 233 111325 [10.1016/j.rse.2019.111325] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Surface height and sea ice freeboard of the Arctic Ocean from ICESat‐2: Characteristics and early results." Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 2019JC015486 [10.1029/2019jc015486] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Characterizing the System Impulse Response Function From Photon-Counting LiDAR Data." IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 57 (9): 6542 - 6551 [10.1109/tgrs.2019.2907230] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Iceberg topography and volume classification using TanDEM-X interferometry." The Cryosphere 13 (7): 1861-1875 [10.5194/tc-13-1861-2019] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Retrieval of snow freeboard of Antarctic sea ice using waveform fitting of CryoSat-2 returns." The Cryosphere 13 (3): 861-878 [10.5194/tc-13-861-2019] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Warm Arctic, increased winter sea-ice growth?." Geophysical Research Letters [10.1029/2018gl079223] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Comparing Coincident Elevation and Freeboard From IceBridge and Five Different CryoSat-2 Retrackers." IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 57 (2): 1219-1229 [10.1109/tgrs.2018.2865257] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Utilizing CryoSat-2 sea ice thickness to initialize a coupled ice-ocean modeling system." Advances in Space Research 62 (6): 1265-1280 [10.1016/j.asr.2017.12.030] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Remote Sensing of Antarctic Sea Ice with Coordinated Aircraft and Satellite Data Acquisitions." Proceedings of 38th 2018 IGARSS (International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium) [Proceedings]
2018. "Estimation of sea-ice thickness and volume in the Sea of Okhotsk based on ICESat data." Annals of Glaciology 1-11 [10.1017/aog.2018.8] [Journal Article/Letter]
2017. "Inter-comparison of snow depth retrievals over Arctic sea ice fromradar data acquired by Operation IceBridge." The Cryosphere 2571-2593 [10.5194/tc-2017-103] [Journal Article/Letter]
2017. "Atmospheric form drag coefficients over Arctic sea ice using remotely sensed ice topography data, spring 2009-2015." Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 122 [10.1002/2017jf004209] [Journal Article/Letter]
2017. "Skillful spring forecasts of September Arctic sea ice extent using passive microwave sea ice observations." Earth's Future 5 254–263 [10.1002/2016EF000495] [Journal Article/Letter]
2016. "Characterizing Arctic sea ice topography using high-resolution IceBridge data." The Cryosphere 10 (3): 1161-1179 [10.5194/tc-10-1161-2016] [Journal Article/Letter]
2015. "Evaluation of Operation IceBridge quick-look snow depth estimates on sea ice." Geophysical Research Letters 42 (21): 9302-9310 [10.1002/2015gl066389] [Journal Article/Letter]
2015. "Evaluation of CryoSat-2 derived sea-ice freeboard over fast ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica." Journal of Glaciology 61 (226): 285-300 [10.3189/2015jog14j157] [Journal Article/Letter]
2014. "Assessment of radar-derived snow depth over Arctic sea ice." Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 119 (12): 8578-8602 [10.1002/2014jc010284] [Journal Article/Letter]
2014. "Arctic sea ice freeboard retrieval with waveform characteristics for NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) and Land, Vegetation, and Ice Sensor (LVIS)." IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 53 (3): 1403-1410 [10.1109/TGRS.2014.2339737] [Journal Article/Letter]
2014. "Interdecadal changes in snow depth on Arctic sea ice." J. Geophys. Res. Oceans 119 (8): 5395–5406 [10.1002/2014JC009985] [Journal Article/Letter]
2014. "An improved CryoSat-2 sea ice freeboard retrieval algorithm through the use of waveform fitting." The Cryosphere 8 (4): 1217-1237 [10.5194/tc-8-1217-2014] [Journal Article/Letter]
2014. "Impact of Variable Atmospheric and Oceanic Form Drag on Simulations of Arctic Sea Ice." J. Phys. Oceanog. 44 (5): 1329-1353 [10.1175/JPO-D-13-0215.1] [Journal Article/Letter]
2014. "Modeled Trends in Antarctic Sea Ice Thickness." J. Climate 27 (10): 3784-3801 [10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00301.1] [Journal Article/Letter]
2013. "IceBridge Airborne Survey Data Support Arctic Sea Ice Predictions." Eos Trans. AGU 94 (4): 41 [10.1002/2013EO040001] [Journal Article/Letter]
2013. "Improving Surface Mass Balance Over Ice Sheets and Snow Depth on Sea Ice." Eos Trans. AGU 94 (10): 100 [10.1002/2013EO100006] [Journal Article/Letter]
2013. "A Sea-Ice Lead Detection Algorithm for Use With High-Resolution Airborne Visible Imagery." IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing 51 (1): 38-56 [10.1109/TGRS.2012.2202666] [Journal Article/Letter]
2013. "Sea ice thickness, freeboard, and snow depth products from Operation IceBridge airborne data." The Cryosphere 7 (4): 1035–1056 [10.5194/tc-7-1035-2013] [Journal Article/Letter]
2013. "CryoSat-2 estimates of Arctic sea ice thickness and volume." Geophysical Research Letters 40 (4): 732-737 [10.1002/grl.50193] [Journal Article/Letter]
2012. "Satellite observations of Antarctic sea ice thickness and volume." J. Geophys. Res. 117 (C8): C08025 [10.1029/2012JC008141] [Journal Article/Letter]
2012. "A First Assessment of IceBridge Snow and Ice Thickness Data Over Arctic Sea Ice." IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing 50 (6): 2098-2111 [10.1109/TGRS.2011.2170843] [Journal Article/Letter]
2012. "Seasonal forecasts of Arctic sea ice initialized with observations of ice thickness." Geophysical Research Letters 39 (21): L21502 [10.1029/2012GL053576] [Journal Article/Letter]
2011. "Freeboard, snow depth, and sea ice roughness in East Antarctica from in-situ and multiple satellite data." Annals of Glaciology 52 (57): [Journal Article/Letter]
2011. "Observations of recent Arctic sea ice volume loss and its impact on ocean-atmosphere energy exchange and ice production." J. Geophys. Res. 116 (C4): C04015 [10.1029/2010JC006235] [Journal Article/Letter]
2011. "Large-scale surveys of snow depth on Arctic sea ice from Operation IceBridge." Geophysical Research Letters 38 (20): L20505 [10.1029/2011GL049216] [Journal Article/Letter]
2009. "Estimation of sea ice thickness distributions through the combination of snow depth and satellite laser altimetry data." J Geophys Res 114 (C10): C10007 [10.1029/2009JC005292] [Journal Article/Letter]
2008. "Comparison of ICESat Data With Airborne Laser Altimeter Measurements Over Arctic Sea Ice." IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing 46 (7): 1913-1924 [10.1109/TGRS.2008.916639] [Journal Article/Letter]
Non-Refereed
2020. "Arctic Radiation-Cloud-Aerosol-Surface Interaction Experiment (ARCSIX): Concept Paper for NASA Aircraft Investigation." NASA Earth Science Project Office [Full Text] [Report]
2020. "Arctic Radiation-Cloud-Aerosol-Surface Interaction Experiment (ARCSIX): Concept Paper for NASA Aircraft Investigation." NASA Earth Science Project Office [Full Text] [Report]
2017. "Improving our understanding of Antarctic sea ice with NASA's Operation IceBridge and the upcoming ICESat-2 mission." US CLIVAR Variations 15 (3): [Journal Article/Letter]
2016. "Antarctic sea-ice freeboard and estimated thickness from NASA's ICESAT and ICEBRIDGE observations." 2016 IEEE INTERNATIONAL GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING SYMPOSIUM (IGARSS), Beijing, China, 10-15 July 2016 7682-7685 [10.1109/IGARSS.2016.7731003] [Proceedings]