Patrick M. Alexander

Patrick Alexander is an Associate Research Scientist in the Marine Geology and Geophysics division at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. He is a cryospheric scientist focusing on interactions between ice and climate. He incorporates remote sensing and in situ measurements with global climate models and regional climate models to study ice-climate interactions, particularly interactions between climate and polar ice sheets, with the goal of understanding the future impact of climate change on sea level rise. Prior to his current position, Patrick was a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Lamont and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. He earned his undergraduate and master's degrees in environmental engineering from Columbia University, and his doctorate from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. A complete list of his publications can be found on Google Scholar.

Fields of Interest

Ice sheet surface mass balance, snow and ice albedo, snow and firn densification, ice sheet-climate interactions, sea ice-climate interactions, snow fieldwork, climate modeling

Education

Ph.D. Earth and Environmental Science, Graduate Center at CUNY (2015)

M.S. Environmental Engineering, Columbia University (2010)

B.S. Environmental Engineering, Columbia University (2009)

Wang, S., Alexander, P., Wu, Q., Tedesco, M., and Shu, S. (2021) Characterization of ice shelf fracture features using ICESat-2 – A case study over the Amery ice shelf, Remote Sensing of Environment, 255, 11266, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2020.112266

Goelzer, H., Nowicki, S., Payne, A., Larour, E., Seroussi, H., Lipscomb, W. H., Gregory, J., Abe-Ouchi, A., Shepherd, A., Simon, E., Agosta, C., Alexander, P. et al. (2020) The future sea level contribution of the Greenland ice sheet: a multi-model ensemble study of ISMIP6, The Cryosphere, 14, 3071-3096, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3071-2020.

Wang, S., Tedesco, M., Alexander, P., Xu, M., and Fettweis, X. (2020) Quantifying spatiotemporal variability of glacier algal blooms and the impact on surface albedo in southwest Greenland, The Cryosphere, 14, 2687-2713, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-2687-2020.

Nowicki, S., Payne, A. J., Goelzer, H., Seroussi, H., Lipscomb, W., Abe-Ouchi, A., Agosta, C., Alexander, P., et al. (2020) Experimental protocol for sea level projections from ISMIP6 standalone ice sheet models, The Cryosphere, 14, 2331-2368, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2019-322.

Nusbaumer, J. N., Alexander, P. M., LeGrande, A. N., and Tedesco, M. (2019) Spatial shift of moisture sources over Greenland related to enhanced Arctic warming, Geophysical Research Letters, 46, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084633.

Alexander, P. M., M. Tedesco, L. Koenig, and X. Fettweis. (2019) Evaluating a regional climate model simulation of Greenland ice sheet snow and firn density for improved surface mass balance estimates, Geophysical Research Letters, 46, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084101.

Alexander, P. M., A. N. LeGrande, E. Fischer, M. Tedesco, X. Fettweis, M. Kelley, S. Nowicki, and G. A. Schmidt (2019) Simulated Greenland Surface Mass Balance in the GISS ModelE2 GCM: Role of the ice sheet surface, Journal of Geophysical Research, 124, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JF004772.

Montgomery, L., L. Koenig, and P. Alexander (2018) The SUMup dataset: compiled measurements of surface mass balance components over ice sheets and sea ice with analysis over Greenland, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1959-1985, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1959-2018.

Wang, S., M. Tedesco, M. Xu, and P. M. Alexander (2018) Mapping ice algal blooms in southwest Greenland from space, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 11,779-11,788, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL080455.

Navari, M., S. A. Margulis, M. Tedesco, X. Fettweis, and P. M. Alexander (2018) Improving Greenland surface mass balance estimates through the assimilation of MODIS albedo: A case study along the K-Transect, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL078448.

Navari, M., S. A. Margulis, S. M. Bateni, M. Tedesco, X. Fettweis, and P. Alexander (2016) Feasibility of improving a priori regional climate model estimates of Greenland ice sheet surface mass loss through assimilation of measured ice surface temperatures, The Cryosphere, 10, 103-120, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-103-2016.

Tedesco, M., S. Doherty, X. Fettweis, P. Alexander, J. Jeyaratnam, and J. Stroeve (2016) The darkening of the Greenland ice sheet: trends, drivers, and projections (1981-2100), The Cryosphere, 10, 477-496, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-477-2016.

Alexander, P.M., M. Tedesco, X. Fettweis, R. S. W. van de Wal, C. J. P. P. Smeets, and M. R. van den Broeke (2014) Assessing spatio-temporal variability and trends in modeled and measured Greenland Ice Sheet albedo (2000-2013), The Cryosphere, 8, 2293-2312, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-8-2293-2014.

Tedesco, M., P. Alexander, J. E. Box, J. Cappelen, N. T. Knudsen, T. Mote, K. Steffen, R. S. W. van de Wal, J. Wahr, and B. Wouters (2013) “Greenland Ice Sheet” in: [State of the Climate in 2012, eds. J. Blunden and S. Arndt, Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., 94, S1-S258]

Tedesco, M., I. Willis, M. Hoffman, A. Banwell, P. Alexander and N. Arnold (2013) Ice dynamic response to two modes of supraglacial lake drainage on the Greenland Ice Sheet, Environ Res. Lett., 034007, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/3/034007.

Tedesco, M., X. Fettweis, T. Mote, J. Wahr, P. Alexander, J. E. Box, and B. Wouters (2013) Evidence and analysis of 2012 Greenland records from spaceborne observations, a regional climate model and reanalysis data, The Cryosphere, 7, 615-630, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-615-2013.

Alexander, P. and G. Gong (2011) Modeled surface air temperature response to snow depth variability, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D14105, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD014908.

Loose, B., M. Stute, P. Alexander, and W. M. Smethie. (2009) Design and deployment of a portable membrane equilibrator for sampling of acqueous dissolved gases, Water Resources Research, 45, W00D34, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008WR006969.