Research

I work as a radar scientist on the Subsurface Water Ice Mapping (SWIM) on Mars project. In this collaborative effort we are synthesizing evidence from many different remote sensing instruments and techniques to comprehensively map ice deposits in the Martian mid-latitudes. The data products we produce from this project are meant to be a reference for scientists and a resource for planning potential manned missions to Mars.

I’ve used data from the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument onboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to analyze the interior of candidate debris-covered glaciers to quantify their ice content. This is an important value to constrain as we evaluate these features for their value as resources for future manned missions to Mars, as well as elucidate what they tell us about Martian climate history. I also combine this data with Digital Terrain Models produced from Stereo High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) data to analyze the properties of the glacial surface debris layer.

On Earth I’ve been on many field excursions and employed multiple geophysical methods to study the internal structure of ice-cored rock glaciers. These features are of high interest as a climate record, a key component in alpine and polar hydrological systems, and as analogs to debris-covered glaciers on Mars.