ESR's Susan Howard and Julian Schanze, with volunteers Amelia Ebling and K. Schanze, stand by their exhibit poster

beak illustrating density differences in the ocean - warm fresh water (dyed red) floats, cold salty water (dyed blue) sinks

Susan Howard explaining the beaker experiment

Julian Schanze at the exhibit explain density

ESR was happy to join in the fun at Ridgecrest Elementary's STEAM night on Mar 26, 2026. ESR's @slhowardcryo.bsky.social and Julian Schanze led students through an exploration of density and demonstrated how it relates to the ocean. We are looking forward to our next event on Earth Day 🌎

UC San Diego-Led Satellite Mission Selected by NASA The Earth Dynamics Geodetic Explorer (EDGE) satellite is one of two next generation satellites selected by NASA to help better understand Earth and improve capabilities to foresee environmental events...

ESR celebrates the selection of EDGE, a swath-mapping laser altimetry NASA satellite which is slated for launch as early as 2030. EDGE is led by Helen Fricker at @scrippsocean.bsky.social, and ESR is a Project Partner contributing to algorithms and applications to ice sheets, sea ice, and oceans.

PhD student Katz worked with Matt Siegfried (Mines) & @lpadman.bsky.social (ESR) to analyze 11 years of data from Whillans Ice Plain near Ross Ice Shelf. The authors conclude that variability of ocean tides caused by changes in ice shelf thickness will modify rates of ice loss from the Ice Sheet.

Parts of the Antarctic Ice Sheet stick to the bed most of the time but lurch forward once or twice per day, synchronized to the daily ocean tides. A new study led by Zachary Katz, CO School of Mines, demonstrates that monthly and longer-term variability in tides affects the slip events.

For more information, also check out our Mount Baker Climate Laboratory GitHub (esr-mbcl.github.io/MBCL/) which serves as the central science collaboration site for this project.

We would like to thank our partners, Lakeside School and the San Diego Foundation, for contributing to this program financially and through in-kind effort. This project has truly been a Citizen Science collaboration!

The program, which has produced tangible scientific insights while inspiring dozens of students, demonstrates that actionable science isn’t limited to large institutions or costly infrastructure - it can grow from curiosity, collaboration, and commitment to shared data and open science.

The Mount Baker Project: Citizen Science In Action – Earth and Space Research The Mount Baker Project: Citizen Science In Action By Hana Hyde and ESR Staff How a high school mountaineering trip became a long-term climate research project. As science advances toward more open, t...

This month, ESR's spotlight is on The Mount Baker Project. This Citizen Science project started from a high school mountaineering trip and has become a long-term climate research project, under the direction of Michael Town. www.esr.org/spotlight/th...

Thank you to Northeastern University and all involved for a fantastic collaboration. We look forward to what comes next!

We are incredibly proud of the students for tackling complex, interdisciplinary problems. This partnership highlights the power of mentorship, applied data science, and collaboration between research organizations and universities.

Project 2: Ocean Current Forecasting using Machine Learning

This ML/AI project used regional meteorology and ocean current data to produce 1–3 day forecasts of ocean currents off the west coast of Washington.

Project 1: Integrated Machine Learning Modeling of Atmospheric Drivers for Understanding and Predicting Energy Transfer

This ML/AI project focused on predicting snow surface temperatures at Summit, Greenland using only local meteorology and cloud properties.

students in front of their science poster

NU students and ESR mentors beside their project poster.

We’re excited to celebrate the completion of the Earth and Space Research and Northeastern University partnership, showcased last week at the NU Expo. Through this collaboration, ESR scientists (Kathleen Dohan and Michael Town) mentored two student teams, on applied machine learning projects.

Earth and Space Research A Non-Profit Research Institute - Increasing societal understanding of the Earth system through scientific research and public education.

ESR Scientists, like Susan, are dedicated to mentoring and inspiring a new generation of scientists through their work in k-12 outreach and involvement in ESR’s education programs. When you give to ESR, you are investing in open science, youth mentorship, and vital climate research.

Susan Howard is Mapping the Poles to Model the Future – Earth and Space Research Susan Howard is Mapping the Poles to Model the Future By Hana Hyde and ESR Staff For nearly three decades, Susan Howard has been at the center of ESR’s polar research, building models, wrangling data,...

This Giving Tuesday, we are celebrating the people who make Earth and Space Research what it is.

Meet Susan Howard.

Susan is just one of the dedicated researchers, educators, and mentors at ESR whose work depends on community support.

Learn more at ESR, and make a Giving Tuesday contribution!

ESR’s new logo was designed by Amelia Ebling www.linkedin.com/in/amelia-eb....

The redesign was developed in partnership with All Seattle Web Design (allseattlewebdesign.com) and led in-house by @slhowardcryo.bsky.social. This was a true team effort, and we extend special thanks to our strategic advisor Vamsi Sistla www.linkedin.com/in/vsistla/, who helped set us on this path.

Earth and Space Research Institute Earth and Space Research institute - to increase societal understanding of the Earth system through scientific research and public education.

Earth and Space Research (ESR) has a new look! Yesterday, we launched our redesigned website, including our new logo!

The new site highlights ESR’s long-standing commitment to open data access, while also introducing Spotlights on people and research topics.

See what’s new at ESR: www.esr.org!

Beaker from density experiment showing cold salty water at bottom (dyed blue) and warm fresh water at top (dyed red)

Aquarium showing a child's hands testing whether an object will sink or float

Photo of Jesse Anderson, Susan Howard, and Taryn Black

STEAM fair flyer

We had another great evening teaching kids about density and the oceans at Edmond Heights K-12 STEAM fair last night. For this event, ESR's @slhowardcryo.bsky.social and Jesse Anderson were joined by UMD glaciologist Taryn Black to present our hands-on exhibit.

It was a great day filled with a lot of hands-on learning. We are looking forward to our next event which is next week at Edmond Heights K-12 STEAM fair!

ESR's density and the ocean exhibit

Density tower made of stacked liquids in glass cylinder.

Kids are testing the density of different water types using pipettes and beakers

thank you card from SVEC students

ESR scientists were thrilled to spend Earth Day teaching students and parents about the importance of the oceans at the Sky Valley Education Center's Earth Day event on April 22. Susan Howard and Jesse Anderson explained the concept of density and discussed our work as physical oceanographers.

We had quite a crowd! It was a busy night full of fun science for kids and adults. Please reach out to Susan Howard @slhowardcryo.bsky.social if you would like us at your next Seattle area STEM event.

A picture of Susan Howard, Jesse Anderson, adn Kathleen Dohan standing in front of their STEM exhibit.

image of experiment: warm fresh water (red) floating on top of cold salty water (blue) in a beaker

Jesse Anderson standing at a table helping kids with an experiment

Kathleen Dohan explaining how a density tower works.

ESR was happy to once again participate in Echo Lake Elementary School’s Annual STEM Night on Wednesday, Feb 12th. Susan Howard @slhowardcryo.bsky.social, Jesse Anderson, and Kathleen Dohan presented several hands-on learning activities to teach kids about "Density and the Ocean.

measurements through new high-resolution satellite missions and targeted fieldwork. Progress will require increased investments in polar research, training of the next generation of researchers, and global collaborations.

The authors summarize the complexity of critical portions of the ice sheet, and ice loss processes, as a roadmap to direct future studies. To fully understand this component of the Earth’s climate system, substantial progress is needed in modeling, and

The ice sheet is the largest freshwater reservoir on Earth but has been losing mass at its edges, contributing to rising sea levels and freshening oceans. The sea ice around Antarctica has also dramatically declined over the past decade.

Led by Scripps Oceanography glaciologist Helen Amanda Fricker, with ESR’s Laurie Padman as a co-author, the paper emphasizes the importance of Antarctica as a vital component of Earth’s climate system.

Picture of Antarctic Ice Sheet as seen from plane. Photo by Susan Howard, ESR

A new paper about the Antarctic Ice Sheet in a special issue of @science.org reviews critical knowledge gaps in our understanding of how Antarctica responds to variations in global climate.

Antarctica in 2025: Drivers of deep uncertainty in projected ice loss
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

image showing ESR's logo and celebratory images to celebrate ESR's 30 year anniversary

ESR just celebrated its 30 year anniversary! We have been home to some great scientists, with leading roles in satellite missions, fieldwork, and journal editorships. We celebrate our many contributions to science through our collaborations, papers, data product development, and mentoring.

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ESR research scientist Michael Town is off to Troll Station with the Norwegian Polar Institute to install equipment for the Integrated Cloud Observatory (part of the part of the Troll Observing Network).

Follow their progress, and learn more at: troll-observing-network.github.io/integrated-c...