Ted Scambos, PhD

Dr. Ted Scambos is a Senior Research Scientist at the Earth Science and Observation Center, a part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He has specialized in using satellite data of the polar ice caps to map these regions in new ways, and study the effects of climate change in Antarctica. Among his research interests are climate change impacts on the polar regions, Antarctic history, geochemistry and planetary science. He has studied the collapse of ice shelf areas and glacier acceleration in the Antarctic Peninsula, ice streams of the Ross Ice Shelf, and wind-snow interactions on the East Antarctic Plateau. A recent study used satellite thermal data to identify the coldest locations in Antarctica, and the processes that set their minimum winter temperatures. A major focus of his work now is developing instrumentation to try to better monitor and understand Antarctic climate and ocean circulation in areas of major change. He holds a Masters degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Colorado at Boulder (1991). His interest in satellite data began when he used Landsat imagery for his Ph.D. thesis. Prior to coming to NSIDC, he worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center studying Antarctica using satellite data. Dr. Scambos served as Lead Scientist at NSDIC for 14 years. He has been on twenty-one expeditions to Antarctica, in every region of the continent and the sea ice that surrounds it. Recent work has taken him from unique large dune features in the center of East Antarctica (“megadunes”), to icebergs off the shore of the Antarctic Peninsula. He was part of an international scientific team that crossed Antarctica by tractor traverse in 2008-2009. He is the author or co-author of more than 150 scientific articles on his research, with funding from NASA, NSF, and USGS. He lives with his wife Kari in Lafayette, Colorado, and has two adult sons, Alex and Ben.