NSIDC

Scientists aim to fuse Earth data to help classify, map sea ice

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 15:41:12 +0000

Scientists aim to fuse Earth data to help classify, map sea ice Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/17/2020 - 08:41

�� Boulder geographer leads colleagues from National Snow and Ice Data Center and �� Denver in effort to leverage artificial intelligence for harmonizing large earth observation datasets and mapping sea ice

Earth-orbiting satellites and other instruments collect huge amounts of data, each providing a different lens through which scientists can map the environment. Some instruments measure reflections of visible light or radar waves, while others measure elevation.

These diverse observations need to be harmonized and combined for studying the Earth’s surface. But the sheer size and differences in the data pose a challenge to this synchronization—one that researchers at the University of Colorado hope to tackle with the help of artificial intelligence (or AI).

Morteza Karimzadeh

The researchers’ project, called “Harmonized Earth,” is led by Morteza Karimzadeh, assistant professor of geography at �� Boulder, and his collaborators at the National Ice and Snow Data Center (NSIDC) and �� Denver’s Department of Computer Science.

Harmonized Earth recently won a three-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to create algorithms and cyber-infrastructure for harmonizing heterogeneous big-data products including satellite imagery and in situ, or on site, observations in a cloud computing environment.

The technologies developed by the Harmonized Earth project are expected to be useful to a variety of applications including for climate change research as sea ice is a key indicator. For this NSF-supported effort, however, the focus will be on creating high-resolution maps of sea ice extent and thickness, a challenging scientific task, according to the researchers, due to the elusive and constantly changing nature of sea ice.

With the increasing availability of high-resolution remote sensing products such as synthetic-aperture radar and lidar technology, there is a renewed desire for tackling this challenge, scientists note.

However, bridging data science and geoscience together is key in successfully harnessing these large heterogeneous data for sea-ice mapping, Karimzadeh said, adding:

“This project brings geospatial data scientists, geoscientists, and computer scientists to tackle this challenge using the state-of-the-art in machine learning and earth observations for seamless data fusion, machine learning and analysis.”

Karimzadeh noted that one challenge to using AI to fuse data for sea-ice mapping is that AI relies on data labels created by humans.

“Our goal is to create efficient infrastructure for minimal human effort in labeling these huge datasets across different types,” Karimzadeh said, adding: “The algorithms then ‘learn’ from these labels in an interactive manner.”

Walt Meier, senior research scientist at NSIDC and a member of the research team, concurred, adding that another area where Harmonizing Earth could provide benefit is the creation of ice charts for human activities in and near sea-ice regions. Now, that effort is largely done manually, “experts looking at images and interpreting where there is ice,” and because it is manual, it is difficult to analyze much data from synthetic-aperture radar, he said.

“Our methods will help automate much of this process, which will allow much more data to be analyzed for the ice charts and improve those charts,” Meier added.

NSIDC scientist Andrew Barrett commented that machine-learning methods such as deep neural networks could help scientists map larger areas at high resolution.

“Ice analysts can then focus on checking, correcting and packaging ice maps for users in a similar way to how meteorologists use output from numerical weather prediction models along with other sources of information to produce weather forecasts,” Barret said.

On a broader scale, Meier said, better interpretation of different kinds of data “will help us better understand how sea ice changes seasonally and over the years to give us better sense of how the ice cover is changing and improve models to understand how it will change in the future.”

Harmonized Earth will be integrated into NSF’s EarthCube software ecosystem for maximum adoption and ease of use, to make federally funded data more useful to researchers, including those who make sea-ice projections used by the shipping industry.

Our methods will help automate much of this process, which will allow much more data to be analyzed for the ice charts and improve those charts."

To that end, Karimzadeh noted that the project also aims to produce “computational notebooks” for students with little or no background in data-science methods in geoscience.

EarthCube is a growing community of scientists from the geosciences, as well as geoinformatics researchers and data scientists. It began as a joint effort between the NSF Directorate for Geosciences and the Division of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure and has attracted an evolving, dynamic virtual community of more than 2,500 contributors, including Earth, ocean, polar, planetary, atmospheric, geospace, computer and social scientists, educators and data and information professionals.

Through this community-driven development, many successful open-source projects have been made available to researchers and practitioners, and Harmonized Earth will add earth data fusion and sea ice mapping to the capabilities of EarthCube.

Harmonized Earth is a collaboration between Principal Investigator Karimzadeh, Andrew Barrett, Walt Meir and Siri Jodha Khalsa of NSIDC; and Farnoush Banaei-Kashani of �� Denver Computer Science.

The project, “Data Capabilities: Enabling Analysis of Heterogeneous, Multi-source Cryospheric Data,” is described in Award #2026962 and Award #2026865.

�� Boulder geographer leads colleagues from National Snow and Ice Data Center and �� Denver in effort to leverage artificial intelligence for harmonizing large earth observation datasets and mapping sea ice.

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NASA, NOAA, others are nation's ‘crown jewels,’ scientist says

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Sep 2019 19:44:42 +0000

NASA, NOAA, others are nation's ‘crown jewels,’ scientist says Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/12/2019 - 13:44

Clint Talbott

Mark Serreze talks about being named a Distinguished Professor, how he got interested in the cryosphere, and why you should care about snow and ice

Mark Serreze wants the next generation of students to know that snow and ice are not only cool but also important. He is one of seven faculty members in the University of Colorado system to be named a Distinguished Professor this year.

Mark Serreze. (At the top of the page, he is shown in the field in Alaska.)

Today, the �� Board of Regents bestowed this honor on Serreze and three other members of the �� Boulder faculty: Carole Newlands of classics, Min Han of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, and David Korevaar of music.

Serreze earned his doctorate at �� Boulder 30 years ago; today, he is a leading authority on arctic climate.

He is a faculty member of the Department of Geography and director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, which, under his leadership, continues to be the world’s leading source for data and information about our planet’s snow and ice.

One of the most published scientists in his field, Serreze’s work has significantly improved our understanding of the Arctic’s role in global climate.

His books include the award-winning textbook The Arctic Climate System and last year’s Brave New Arctic: The Untold Story of the Melting North, which has received critical acclaim for its impact on audiences beyond academia.

He recently fielded five questions about his research and life, and these are his answers:

As you know, the title “distinguished professor” is an honor that recognizes distinguished scholarship, excellent teaching and outstanding teaching and service; what reaction do you have to receiving this honor?

I always strive to be the best that I can be in research, teaching and service to the University of Colorado and I bleed black and gold. But to receive recognition as a distinguished professor is very unexpected.

I look at those who have preceded me and they seem so much more deserving. Simply put, I am humbled.

If you were to briefly tell an audience of high-school students why they should study the cryosphere, what would you say?

Snow and ice are cool! The cryosphere acts as the natural refrigerator of our planet, and in many parts of the world, the water that slakes our thirst and that we use for agriculture and other purposes comes from snow and ice.

Where would winter sports be without snow and ice? But it also presents hazards, ranging from avalanches to slippery roads to even ice cream headaches.

The world needs more people who know about the many facets of the cryosphere.

NSIDC is perhaps best known for tracking the Arctic sea-ice minimums each year; what would you like the general public to know about the center besides this?

The public needs to know that NSIDC has a mission: "To be the authoritative data management and science center for cryospheric data and research. We advance understanding of Earth's frozen regions and the changes taking place to inform decision making in service to humanity and Earth."

We are proud of what we do, because what we do is very important. And we are proud to pursue our mission as part of the University of Colorado.

The National Academy of Sciences has expressed concern that several factors are limiting the ability of labs like yours to attract enough talented graduate students and post-docs; is this also a concern of yours, and, if so, do you have any observations about the topic?

Our country needs to invest heavily in science. We need more science at all levels of education, from K-12 and beyond, especially in areas such as mathematics, physics, biology and chemistry.

Students who want pursue careers in science must be supported. We must provide our educators the resources that they need, and recognize, financially and in other ways, the huge responsibilities that they carry.

Students who want pursue careers in science must be supported. We must provide our educators the resources that they need, and recognize, financially and in other ways, the huge responsibilities that they carry."

Agencies like the National Science Foundation, NASA, NOAA and the National Institutes of Health that support basic research need to be viewed as crown jewels of our nation and given the full support that they need to lead us into the future.

When did you know that you would devote your career to the study of snow and ice?

While I had inklings as a child while growing up in Maine where winters were very real (I have some horror stories about things like daredevil sledding and riding ice floes down the Kennebunk River), I think that the real decision point was back in 1982, when I first visited the Arctic as a young graduate student.

It was a magical day when I stepped off that ski-equipped Twin Otter at the top of an ice cap into a world of pristine white. I knew that I had found my calling.

See more about Mark Serreze's appointment at the NSIDC site.

Mark Serreze talks about being named a Distinguished Professor, how he got interested in the cryosphere, and why you should care about snow and ice.

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2016 Ties 2007 for Second Lowest Arctic Sea Ice Minimum

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 18:45:40 +0000

2016 Ties 2007 for Second Lowest Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 09/16/2016 - 12:45

The Arctic’s ice cover appears to have reached its minimum extent on September 10, 2016, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, part of CIRES and �� Boulder.

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NSIDC

Scientists aim to fuse Earth data to help classify, map sea ice

�� Boulder geographer leads colleagues from National Snow and Ice Data Center and �� Denver in effort to leverage artificial intelligence for harmonizing large earth observation datasets and mapping sea ice

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�� Boulder geographer leads colleagues from National Snow and Ice Data Center and �� Denver in effort to leverage artificial intelligence for harmonizing large earth observation datasets and mapping sea ice