indrani

Profile

Indrani Das

Lamont Associate Research Professor

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

Marine Geology and Geophysics

108A Oceanography

61 Route 9W - PO Box 1000

Palisades

NY

10965-8000

US

Phone: 

(845) 365-8334

Fax: 

(845) 365-8156

indrani@ldeo.columbia.edu

CV: 

IndraniDas_CV.pdf

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Fields of interest: 

Mass balance of Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets, and mountain glaciers deep ice processes, ice-ocean interaction, basal melt of ice shelves, grounding line processes, Climate change and sea level rise. Airborne laser altimetry and ice penetrating radar, satellite remote sensing, surface energy and mass balance models, ice surface hydrology, dust and aerosols.

I have a Glaciology and Atmospheric Sciences background with expertise in satellite and airborne remote sensing. The main area of my research include mass balance of ice sheets and ice shelves. I study physical processes that impact the mass balance and stability of ice sheets and ice shelves, ice-atmosphere and ice-ocean interactions using a combination of satellite remote sensing, airborne radar and laser altimeter, ground based measurements, and modeling.

I did my Ph.D in Atmospheric Physics from Indian Space Research Organization in 2007 where I worked on radiative transfer algorithms to retrieve marine aerosols from satellite data. After briefly working on estimating snow depth in the Himalayas, in 2007 I came as a postdoc to University of Alaska Fairbanks to work on mass balance of Alaskan glaciers using airborne laser altimetry.

In 2010, I came to Lamont-Doherty Earth observatory to work on surface processes impacting surface mass balance of Antarctica. I am now an Associate Research Professor and my work has evolved to include both surface and basal processes of ice sheets and ice shelves. I also work on paleo observations of accumulation rates and climate history of Greenland ice sheet.

My active projects include NERC-NSF funded ITGC project PROPHET for which I am the institutional PI. I use airborne radar to study ocean water intrusion in the grounding line of Thwaites. I compare observed bed slippery conditions with ice sheet modeled drag and friction.

I serve as a committee member on the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM). I am also a council member of the International Glaciological Society (IGS) and on the Organizing Committee of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Meeting.

Education

List of degrees from highest to lowest:

Ph.D (Physics)

Indian Space Research Organization (affiliation: Gujarat University, India)

2007

image gallery: 

Lamont Projects:

Polar Geophysics Group

ROSETTA: Decoding ice, ocean and tectonic mysteries of the Ross Ice Shelf

Elena Kosh, Barnard College, Columbia University

Research Blogs:

Arctic Thaw: Measuring Change

Referenced in the Following News Items:

U.S., UK Scientists Join to Study Possible Collapse of Massive Antarctic Glacier

Study Sees Powerful Winds Carving Away Antarctic Snow

Selected Publications:

Multidecadal Basal Melt Rates and Structure of the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica, Using Airborne Ice Penetrating Radar Das, Indrani; Padman, Laurie; Bell, Robin; Fricker, Helen; Tinto, Kirsty; Hulbe, Christina; Siddoway, Christine; Dhakal, Tejendra; Frearson, Nicholas; Mosbeux, Cyrille; Cordero, Isabel; Siegfried, Matthew ; Journal of Geophysical Research- Earth Surface Volume: 125 (2020)

Extreme wind-ice interaction over Recovery Ice Stream, East Antarctica Das, I; Scambos, T; Koenig, L; van den Broeke, M. R; Lenaerts, J; Geophysical Research Letters, 42(19), 8064-8071 (2015)

21st century increase in glacier mass loss in the Wrangell Mountains, Alaska, USA, from airborne laser altimetry and satellite stereo imagery Das, I; Hock, R; Berthier, E; Lingle, C; Journal of Glaciology, 60 (220), 283-293 (2014)

Influence of persistent wind scour on the surface mass balance of Antarctica Das, I; Bell, R; Scambos, T; Wolovick, M; Creyts, T; Studinger, M; Frearson, N; Nicolas, J; Lenaerts, J; van den Broeke, M. R; Nature Geoscience, 6, 367-371 (2013)