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The Colorado Cryosphere Remote Sensing and Aquatic Biogeochemistry (CryoBioGeo-Sensing) research group employs novel multi-faceted approaches to investigate surface darkening of the global crysophere. Â The cryosphere is Earth's mirror. Â Snow is the most reflective surface on Earth. Â However, the presence of light absorbing particles like black carbon , dust, and snow algae, increase energy absorption by snow and ice, which dissipates as heat, causing snow and ice to melt faster. Â Each of these light absorbing constituents plays a role in the ice-albedo positive feedback loop. Â However, their impacts vary in space and time. From field sites to satellites (with uncrewed aerial systems in between) we use cutting-edge field, laboratory, and optical remote sensing techniques to investigate questions like the spatial and temporal distribution of snow algae in Antarctica, the darkening of the bare-ice region of the Greenland Ice Sheet, and changes in snow and ice melt in high mountain regions such as the North Cascades, Rockies, Andes, and Himalayas.Â




