Cryosphere

Within the group, we aim to have social events approximately every month, where we get to bond and learn more about each other! An example of this? The inagural Cryosphere Disc Golf Championship in August 2025 on the disc golf course at DTU. Photo credit: Renée M. Fredensborg Hansen (DTU Space)

Crevasses seen from the air during the Antarctic RINGS mapping on the margins of the ice sheet, which Andreas Stokholm (DTU Space) took part in along with researchers from the Gravity Research Group. — An important part of the work we do in the Cryosphere Group concerns validation of satellite data! This includes taking part in airborne campaigns flying over the ice sheets carrying instruments simulating that of the satellites. Photo credit: Andreas Stokholm (DTU Space)

Arctic gridded radar freeboard estimates from (a) DTU-MPP, (b) AWI, and (c) JPL processors. (d)–(f) show the point estimates of radar freeboard and the spatial coverage of the three products—DTU-MPP, AWI, and JPL, respectively—in the coastal domain north of Greenland and Ellesmere Island. Red dashed lines represent the boundaries of the CS2 SARIn acquisition mask. — We utilise a variety of spaceborne instruments to derive different aspects of the sea ice cover such as how fast it drifts, how wide it extends, the type of ice it is (young, new, first-year or older ice), the concentration of ice within a given area or the thickness of the ice and its snow cover. Photo credit: Di Bella et al. (2021)

Kirk Scanlan (DTU Space) in a 2m snowpit at the GEUS Humboldt Automatic Weather Station in Greenland. — Beside the airborne measuments, we also collect ground-based observations over the ice sheet which includes digging snow pits to evaluate the snow and firn conditions of the ice sheet! Such snow pits are also conducted during the field work that students partake in as part of our 3-week spring course in Greenland. Photo credit: Kirk M. Scanlan (DTU Space)/Nanna Karlsson (GEUS)

Icebergs, sea ice, and morraine captured during the Antarctic RINGS airborne camping aimed at mapping the margins of the Antarctic ice sheet. — We also do airborne campaigns over sea ice! The group has contributed to various validation campaigns, e.g., the CryoSat Validation Experiment (CryoVEx), supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), where coordinated land ice and sea ice campaigns have been conducted around Greenland and Antarctica to provide validation data to support satellite observations. Photo credit: Andreas Stokholm (DTU Space)

Surface elevation changes over Flade Isblink ice cap from swath-processed CryoSat-2 data. — Over the ice sheets, we also utilise satellite observations to investigate the conditions of the ice sheets such as the hydrology (sub- or supra-glacial lakes), near-surface density observations, or elevation changes observed form space. Photo credit: Natalia H. Andersen (DTU Space).

Another social event for the books! A cosy BBQ with a dip in the Danish fjords.

Ice station during the GoNorth 2023 expedition. — In addition to airborne campaigns and fieldwork on the ice sheets, we also partake in field campaigns on the drifting sea ice! Here, we drill sea ice cores and take thickness measurements of the ice and snow cover, as well as measure density and salinity on board the icebreakers from the cored ice. Photo credit: Daniel Albert (SINTEF/GoNorth)

We work with a variety of satellite, airborne and ground-based data of the cryosphere of the Earth. Interested in learning more about our research, projects we contribute to or student projects that we have supervised? Find more below.

Research focus

Take a look at the different projects we manage and/or contribute to

Student Activities

Dive into B.Sc., M.Sc., and PhD projects from our group

Our research is published in various publications, and the data we produce are available online. You can find a list of our most recent work below.

Below, the most recent publications from our research group as of September 2025 are highlighted.

Here, we highlight some of our publications from 2023 until September of 2025. (Co-)authors from our research group are highlighted.

2025

Scanlan, K. M., Rutishauser, A., & Simonsen, S. B. (2025). Greenland Ice Sheet surface roughness from Ku- and Ka-band radar altimetry surface echo strengths. The Cryosphere, 1221–1239. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-1221-2025

Bowling, J. S., McMillan, M., Leeson, A. A., Livingstone, S. J., Sole, A. J., Ng, F. S. L., Karlsson, N. B., Nienow, P., Boxall, K., Noël, B., van den Broeke, M. R., Slater, T., Maddalena, J., Sandberg Sørensen, L., Simonsen, S. B., Mouginot, J., Millan, R., Melling, L., Taylor, L., & Humbert, A. (2025). Outburst of a subglacial flood from the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Nature Geoscience, 18(8), 740-746. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-02501746-9

Aublanc, J., Renou, J., Piras, F., Nielsen, K., Rose, S. K., Simonsen, S. B., Fleury, S., Hendricks, S., Taburet, N., D'Apice, G., Chamayou, A., Féménias,P., Catapano, F., & Restano, M. (2025). Sentinel-3 Altimetry Thematic Products for Hydrology, Sea Ice and Land Ice. Scientific Data, 12, 714. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04956-3

Wolfenbarger, N. S., Blankenship, D. D., Young, D. A., Scanlan, K. M., Chivers, C. J., Findlay, D., Steinbrügge, G. B., Chan, K., Grima, C., Soderlund, K. M., & Schroeder, D. M. (2025). Radar Characterization of Salt Layers in Europa’s Ice Shell as a Window Into Critical Ice‐Ocean Exchange Processes. Geophysical Research Letters, 52(1), e2024GL109144. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109144

Scanlan, K. M., Rutishauser, A., Hansen, N., & Simonsen, S. B. (2025). Novel insight into the spatiotemporal distribution of Greenland ice sheet surface densities from eleven years of satellite radar altimetry. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 17156. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-02403-2

Roth, L., Leonard, E., Miller, K., Hedman, M., Quick, L. C., Becker, T. M., Brooks, S., Cochrane, C., Davies, A. G., Ernst, C. M., Grima, C., Hansen, C. J., Howett, C., Hsu, S., Jia, X., Luspay-Kuti, A., Kivelson, M., Klenner, F., McEwen, A., ... Scanlan, K. M., … the Europa Clipper Plume Focus Group. (2025). Plume Activity on Europa: Current Knowledge and Search Strategy for Europa Clipper. The Planetary Science Journal, 6(8), 182. https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/adea6a

2024

Nagler, T., Wuite, J., Rott, H., Scheiblauer, S., Puggaard, A., & Prieto, D. F. (2024). Monitoring Ice Sheet Melt and Refreeze Using Active Microwave Measurements. In IGARSS 2024 - 2024 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (pp. 49-52). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS53475.2024.10640970

Blankenship, D. D., Moussessian, A., Chapin, E., Young, D. A., Wesley Patterson, G., Plaut, J. J., Freedman, A. P., Schroeder, D. M., Grima, C., Steinbrügge, G., Soderlund, K. M., Ray, T., Richter, T. G., Jones-Wilson, L., Wolfenbarger, N. S., Scanlan, K. M., Gerekos, C., Chan, K., Seker, I., … Urban, T. J. (2024). Radar for Europa Assessment and Sounding: Ocean to Near-Surface (REASON). Space Science Reviews, 220(5), 51. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-024-01072-3

Fredensborg Hansen, R. M., Skourup, H., Rinne, E., Høyland, K. V., Landy, J. C., Merkouriadi, I., & Forsberg, R. (2024). Arctic Freeboard and Snow Depth From Near-Coincident CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 (CRYO2ICE) Observations: A First Examination of Winter Sea Ice During 2020–2022. Earth and Space Science, 11(4), Article e2023EA003313. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023EA003313

Melling, L., Leeson, A., McMillan, M., Maddalena, J., Bowling, J., Glen, E., Sandberg Sørensen, L., Winstrup, M., & Arildsen, R. L. (2024). Evaluation of satellite methods for estimating supraglacial lake depth in southwest Greenland. The Cryosphere, 18(2), 543–558. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-543-2024

Becker, T. M., Zolotov, M. Y., Gudipati, M. S., Soderblom, J. M., McGrath, M. A., Henderson, B. L., Hedman, M. M., Choukroun, M., Clark, R. N., Chivers, C., Wolfenbarger, N. S., Glein, C. R., Castillo-Rogez, J. C., Mousis, O., Scanlan, K. M., Diniega, S., Seelos, F. P., Goode, W., Postberg, F., … the Europa Clipper Composition Working Group. (2024). Exploring the Composition of Europa with the Upcoming Europa Clipper Mission. Space Science Reviews, 220(5), 49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-024-01069-y

Pliss, A., Fredensborg Hansen, R. M., Høyland, K. V., Katlein, C., Gjesdal Veggeland, O., & Panchi, N. (2024). Geometry, morphology and physical properties of ice ridges during the transition period from first-year to second-year in the GoNorth Expedition 2023. In T. Kolerski (Ed.), Proceedings of the 27th IAHR International Symposium on Ice (Gdansk, 2024) International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR).

Sandberg Sørensen, L., Bahbah, R., Simonsen, S. B., Havelund Andersen, N., Bowling, J., Gourmelen, N., Horton, A., Karlsson, N. B., Leeson, A., Maddalena, J., McMillan, M., Solgaard, A., & Wessel, B. (2024). Improved monitoring of subglacial lake activity in Greenland. Cryosphere, 18(2), 505-523. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-505-2024

Daubar, I. J., Hayes, A. G., Collins, G. C., Craft, K. L., Rathbun, J. A., Spencer, J. R., Wyrick, D. Y., Bland, M. T., Davies, A. G., Ernst, C. M., Howell, S. M., Leonard, E. J., McEwen, A. S., Moore, J. M., Phillips, C. B., Prockter, L. M., Quick, L. C., Scully, J. E. C., Soderblom, J. M., ... Scanlan, K. M. … Pappalardo, R. (2024). Planned Geological Investigations of the Europa Clipper Mission. Space Science Reviews, 220(1), 18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-023-01036-z

Winstrup, M., Ranndal, H., Hillerup Larsen, S., Simonsen, S. B., Mankoff, K. D., Fausto, R. S., & Sandberg Sørensen, L. (2024). PRODEM: an annual series of summer DEMs (2019 through 2022) of the marginal areas of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Earth System Science Data, 16(11), 5405–5428. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5405-2024

Karlsson, N. B., Schroeder, D. M., Sørensen, L. S., Chu, W., Dall, J., Andersen, N. H., Dobson, R., Mackie, E. J., Köhn, S. J., Steinmetz, J. E., Tarzona, A. S., Teisberg, T. O., & Skou, N. (2024). A newly digitized icepenetrating radar data set acquired over the Greenland ice sheet in 1971–1979. Earth System Science Data, 16(7), 3333-3344. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3333-2024

Fredensborg Hansen, R. M., Høyland, K. V., Duncan, K., Farrell, S. L., Rinne, E., Forsberg, R., & Skourup, H. (2024). Sea ice pressure ridge statistics of the Barents Sea and Fram Strait from ICESat-2 laser altimetry observations during 2018-2022. In T. Kolerski (Ed.), Proceedings of the 27th IAHR International Symposium on Ice (Gdansk, 2024) International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR).

Rutishauser, A., Scanlan, K. M., Vandecrux, B., Karlsson, N. B., Jullien, N., Ahlstrøm, A. P., Fausto, R. S., & How, P. (2024). Mapping the vertical heterogeneity of Greenland’s firn from 2011–2019 using airborne radar and laser altimetry. The Cryosphere, 18(5), 2455–2472. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2455-2024

2023

Scanlan, K. M., Rutishauser, A., & Simonsen, S. B. (2023). Observing the Near‐Surface Properties of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Geophysical Research Letters, 50(8), e2022GL101702. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL101702

Christoffersen, L., Bauer-Gottwein, P., Sørensen, L. S., & Nielsen, K. (2023). ICE2WSS; An R package for estimating river water surface slopes from ICESat-2. Environmental Modelling and Software, 168, Article 105789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2023.105789

Andersen, O. B., Rose, S. K., Abulaitijiang, A., Zhang, S., & Fleury, S. (2023). The DTU21 Global Mean Sea Surface and First Evaluation. Earth System Science Data 15, 4065–4075. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4065-2023

Otosaka, I. N., Shepherd, A., Ivins, E. R., Schlegel, N. J., Amory, C., Van Den Broeke, M. R., Horwath, M., Joughin, I., King, M. D., Krinner, G., Nowicki, S., Payne, A. J., Rignot, E., Scambos, T., Simon, K. M., Smith, B. E., Sørensen, L. S., Velicogna, I., Whitehouse, P. L., ... Wouters, B. (2023). Mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets from 1992 to 2020. Earth System Science Data, 15(4), 1597-1616. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1597-2023

Ricker, R., Fons, S., Jutila, A., Hutter, N., Duncan, K., Farrell, S. L., Kurtz, N. T., & Fredensborg Hansen, R. M. (2023). Linking scales of sea ice surface topography: evaluation of ICESat-2 measurements with coincident helicopter laser scanning during MOSAiC. The Cryosphere, 17(3), 1411-1429. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1411-2023

Roberts, J. H., McKinnon, W. B., Elder, C. M., Tobie, G., Biersteker, J. B., Young, D., Park, R. S., Steinbrügge, G., Nimmo, F., Howell, S. M., Castillo-Rogez, J. C., Cable, M. L., Abrahams, J. N., Bland, M. T., Chivers, C., Cochrane, C. J., Dombard, A. J., Ernst, C., Genova, A., ... Scanlan, K., … The Interior Thematic Working Group. (2023). Exploring the Interior of Europa with the Europa Clipper. Space Science Reviews, 219(6), 46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-023-00990-y

Karlsson, N. B., Mankoff, K. D., Solgaard, A. M., Larsen, S. H., How, P. R., Fausto, R. S., & Sørensen, L. S. (2023). A data set of monthly freshwater fluxes from the Greenland ice sheet’s marine-terminating glaciers on a glacier–basin scale 2010–2020. GEUS Bulletin, 53, Article 8338. https://doi.org/10.34194/geusb.v53.8338

Andersen, O. B., Rose, S. K., & Hart-Davis, M. G. (2023). Polar Ocean Tides - revisited using Cryosat-2. Remote Sensing, 15 (18), 4479. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15184479

Da Silva, E., Woolliams, E. R., Picot, N., Poisson, J. C., Skourup, H., Moholdt, G., Fleury, S., Behnia, S., Favier, V., Arnaud, L., Aublanc, J., Fouqueau, V., Taburet, N., Renou, J., Yesou, H., Tarpanelli, A., Camici, S., Fredensborg Hansen, R. M., Nielsen, K., ... Féménias, P. (2023). Towards Operational Fiducial Reference Measurement (FRM) Data for the Calibration and Validation of the Sentinel-3 Surface Topography Mission over Inland Waters, Sea Ice, and Land Ice. Remote Sensing, 15(19), Article 4826. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15194826

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Contact

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