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instaar.bsky.social
INSTAAR 🏳️‍🌈
@instaar.bsky.social
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Institute of Arctic & Alpine Research - Earth & environmental science at CU Boulder. Research & education on the past, present, & future of Earth systems in service of a just & thriving world https://www.colorado.edu/instaar/
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instaar.bsky.social
Update: New venue for this INSTAAR 75th anniversary seminar

🏔️ Life at the bottom of the world: A research journey to the Antarctic Dry Valleys
Diane McKnight
Thur Feb 5th 5-7pm MT
CU Boulder East Campus (JSCBB A115) & Zoom

FREE event but registration required calendar.colorado.edu/event/diane-...
Advertisement for Diane's McKnight's presentation on Feb 5th, 2026. In the photo, Diane McKnight stands on sediment accumulated on the Cotton Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica, 2011 (Chris Jaros).
January 23, 2026 at 9:48 PM
instaar.bsky.social
🏔️ Life at the bottom of the world: A research journey to the Antarctic Dry Valleys
Diane McKnight
Thurs Feb 5th 5-7pm MST
CU Boulder East Campus (AERO 114) & Zoom

All are welcome to this FREE INSTAAR 75th anniversary seminar but please register in advance calendar.colorado.edu/event/diane-...
Advertisement for Diane's McKnight's presentation on Feb 5th, 2026. In the photo, Diane McKnight stands on sediment accumulated on the Cotton Glacier in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica, 2011 (Chris Jaros).
January 21, 2026 at 4:59 PM
instaar.bsky.social
🔥 INSTAARites in Boulder are hunkered down today for “extremely critical” fire weather conditions. Fortunately, no ignitions so far. Wish us luck!

🌬️ Peak wind gust 104 mph (NCAR Mesa Lab)
🌡️ Air temp ~65F
🌵 Humidity only ~9%
#COWX
Graph of average wind speed and peak gust for the NSF NCAR Mesa Lab above Boulder Colorado on 2025-12-19. See https://archive.eol.ucar.edu/cgi-bin/weather.cgi?site=ml&period=5-minute&units=english
December 19, 2025 at 8:33 PM
instaar.bsky.social
🧑🏽🔬 This week, 100s of @colorado.edu scientists -incl many INSTAARs- are participating in the #AGU25 Earth & space science conference. INSTAARs are helping w the CU exhibit booth too. Thanks y'all!

See schedule of remaining talks & posters of CU participants www.colorado.edu/news/formedi...
Exhibit booth for CU Boulder at the AGU2025 annual meeting in New Orleans (Photo: CU Boulder). Exhibit booth for CU Boulder at the AGU2025 annual meeting in New Orleans (Photo: CU Boulder).
December 17, 2025 at 8:04 PM
instaar.bsky.social
🌎 Are you an early career researcher keen on Earth surface processes? Want to learn about numerical modeling & software development?

Apply by 24 January for the *free* CSDMS ESPIn immersive training experience Aug 3-7, 2026 in Boulder Colorado ⬇️
csdms.colorado.edu/wiki/ESPIn2026
A group of attendees work together at the 2024 CSDMS Earth Surface Processes Summer Institute (ESPIn) a groups of attendees huddle together at the 2024 CSDMS Earth Surface Processes Summer Institute (ESPIn) The 2024 cohort for the CSDMS Earth Surface Processes Summer Institute (ESPIn) poses for a group photo in the SEEC building's west courtyard.
December 15, 2025 at 9:45 PM
instaar.bsky.social
📢 3 INSTAAR talks today
8 Dec, 12-1 pm
SEEC S228 & Zoom

🌿 Semi-arid rangeland conservation
Hunter Geist-Sanchez

⛰️ Rock glacier evolution
Juliana Ruef

🦠 Upwelling community collapse
Harry Allbrook

See full titles & abstracts: calendar.colorado.edu/event/instaa...
December 8, 2025 at 1:09 PM
instaar.bsky.social
👋🏾 ¡Hola a todos! 👋🏾 Join the Spanish Language Lunch table this Thursday, Nov 20th at 12pm in the SEEC Café. We'll have lots of fun while practicing our vocabulary & listening skills. All welcome. Host: Leanne Lestak
calendar.colorado.edu/event/spanis...
Humorous advertisement for the Spanish Language Lunch Table in the SEEC Cafe at CU Boulder. The heads of the two co-hosts are crudely photoshopped onto to silly cartoon bodies. The table meets the last Thursday of each month, 12pm.
November 18, 2025 at 6:41 PM
instaar.bsky.social
🌊 "A research to operations success story: Helping to build NOAA's new hydrologic modeling framework"

Join us for Scott Peckham's Monday noon talk at INSTAAR:
• Free event
• Nov 17th 12pm
• SEEC rm S228 & on Zoom
More info: calendar.colorado.edu/event/instaa...
Scott Peckham
November 14, 2025 at 10:08 PM
instaar.bsky.social
☕ Hey grad students, stop by SEEC to connect with fellow students over coffee!
Thurs Nov 13th. 8:30-10am, C120 CD South
Free coffee and pastries will be provided while supplies last. Hosted by the CU Boulder Graduate School. RSVP at the link: calendar.colorado.edu/event/east-c...
Photo of a cup of coffee with overlying text: East Campus Coffee for Grad Students, Nov 13 2025 at 8:30 - 10 am. SEEC C120 CD Auditorium, South Atrium.
November 11, 2025 at 5:50 PM
instaar.bsky.social
🏆 Congrats to postdoc Etienne Rouby for winning a Best Young Researcher Award from the International Society for Ecological Modelling. He was chosen for a novel 2024 modelling study that he led. See more at www.isemworld.org/2025/06/13/t...
Etienne Rouby
November 10, 2025 at 10:15 PM
instaar.bsky.social
See an update on the West’s snowpack and an explanation of how Milankovitch cycles shape the Earth’s climate from journalist @mitchtobin.bsky.social (co-director of WaterDesk.org at CU Boulder) at www.snow.news/p/early-seas...
Color-coded map of snowpack in the American West on November 5, 2025. Source: Natural Resources Conservation Service.
November 7, 2025 at 9:32 PM
instaar.bsky.social
🚨 New pika paper!
Chris Ray (INSTAAR & EBIO) & Jasmine Vidrio (EBIO) describe a decline in juvenile captures at Niwot Ridge, Colorado. It's the first observational evidence backing up projected pika population losses due to climate change in the region.
doi.org/10.1080/1523...
Figure 1 from the Ray & Vidrio 2025 AAAR paper. American pika juvenile (a) and adult (b) in Rocky Mountain National Park. Photos by Dick Orleans (a) and Neal Zaun (b). For more info, see the paper at https://doi.org/10.1080/15230430.2025.2570526
November 6, 2025 at 8:00 PM
instaar.bsky.social
🧊 ICYMI permafrost paper
A new study by Kevin Rozmiarek et al. found that volatile organic compounds can signal early methane production deep below Arctic soils, offering a new way to spot emerging climate hotspots before they peak. Read their paper at doi.org/10.3389/fmic...
Big Trail Lake near Fairbanks, Alaska is pictured in this photo from September of 2019 by USGS. The lake is one of Alaska’s newest lakes and one of the largest methane emission hotspots in the Arctic.
November 4, 2025 at 9:40 PM
instaar.bsky.social
🌎 Earth science poster symposium 2025
Open to all CU Boulder students & postdocs doing geoscience
• Hosted by Geological Sciences
• Sat Nov 15th 9:00-1:30, Benson Bldg
• Register & submit abstract by Nov 10th
• GSA & AGU posters are OK
www.colorado.edu/geologicalsc...
Benson Earth Sciences Building, CU Boulder
November 4, 2025 at 9:04 PM
instaar.bsky.social
📢 3 INSTAAR talks start soon
3 Nov, 12-1 pm
SEEC S228 & Zoom

🌊 Freshening in Davis Strait (Canada/Greenland)
Jed Lenetsky

🦠 Freshwater diatoms & tardigrades in Antarctica
Natalie Aranda

🧊 Under-ice oxygen in mountain lakes
Katie Gannon

calendar.colorado.edu/event/instaar-seminar-nov-3rd-2025
November 3, 2025 at 6:05 PM
instaar.bsky.social
Cassandra Brooks and Zephyr Sylvester are in Australia, where they just presented to the CCAMLR, the international body that governs conservation in Antarctica.

The duo shared early results identifying ecological hotspots in the Antarctic Ocean. 🌊 🦭 🧊
October 30, 2025 at 3:03 PM
instaar.bsky.social
🧪Science + 🎨Art Collider
Wed Nov 5th 3-5pm
Dairy Arts Center, Boulder

Join us for an informal gathering of scientists & artists to share ideas and make connections calendar.colorado.edu/event/scienc...
The Dairy Arts Center in Boulder Colorado
October 28, 2025 at 8:41 PM
instaar.bsky.social
🌱 "Adaptation and specialization in changing environments"

Join us for Nancy Emery's Monday noon talk at INSTAAR:
• Free event
• Oct 20th 12pm
• SEEC rm S228 & on Zoom
More info: calendar.colorado.edu/event/instaa...
Nancy Emery
October 17, 2025 at 9:11 PM
instaar.bsky.social
🏔️ Why do mountain visitors often see one side of a valley forested and the other side nearly bare?
👍🏽 Check out the nice illustrations by Eric Parrish of the Dynamic Water Critical Zone Group, in collaboration with Ojas Sarup, UCSB grad student: criticalzone.org/dynamic_water
Five-panel cartoon explaining why mountain visitors often see one side of a valley forested and the other side nearly bare. It's the critical zone in action and it's a cycle: plants help the soil hold water, and that water helps grow more plants. Illustration by Eric Parrish of the Dynamic Water Critical Zone Group, Boulder CO. The story features Ojas Sarup, a grad student at UC Santa Barbara.
October 15, 2025 at 4:38 PM
instaar.bsky.social
"Sediment in flux"
Talk by Irina Overeem (INSTAAR & GEOL)
• Wed Oct 15, 12:20 - 1:20 pm
• Benson 380 & Zoom (contact Geol. Sciences for passcode)

Understanding sediment fluxes in Greenland & Alaska via modeling, field & remote sampling, + machine learning calendar.colorado.edu/event/copy-o...
Irina Overeem
October 15, 2025 at 12:18 AM
instaar.bsky.social
❄️ "Recent developments in remote sensing of snow water equivalent using synthetic aperture radar" 🛰️

Join us for Ross Palomaki's Monday noon talk at INSTAAR:
• Free event
• Oct 6th 12pm
• SEEC rm S228 & on Zoom
More info: calendar.colorado.edu/event/instaa...
Ross Palomaki
October 3, 2025 at 8:55 PM
instaar.bsky.social
79th Rocky Mountain Hydrologic Research Center Meeting
🗓️ Friday Nov. 7th 2025
📍 CU Boulder
🌊 Submit any hydro-related research
🧑🏽‍🎓 Students encouraged
💲 Cost is $15 to $40
🔜 Abstracts due 31 Oct
rmhrc.org/annual-meeti...
View downstream of the North St. Vrain Creek on the property of the Rocky Mountain Hydraulic Laboratory.
October 1, 2025 at 8:48 PM
instaar.bsky.social
Are you a grad student? Learn how to turn complex research into clear, engaging stories with Dr. Samuel “Sammy” Ramsey on Thursday Oct 2nd 10:30am. The CU Boulder Graduate School is hosting his presentation.

Register through this link: calendar.colorado.edu/event/scicom...
Advertisement for Dr. Sammy Ramsey's presentation on SciComm 101: how to give a great talk. Thursday Oct 2nd 2-25 10:30 am in the CU Boulder Center for Community (C4c), Flatirons Room, N301. Sammy is pictured in a beekeeper coat with bees covering both of his hands.
September 29, 2025 at 9:25 PM
instaar.bsky.social
🙏🏽 Thank you Edgart Flores Rafael! We're sorry to see you head off to 🇨🇱 but appreciate all your efforts, incl. your awesome postdoc research & for co-leading the Spanish Language Lunch Table with Leanne Lestak!

All are welcome to future lunch table meetings: calendar.colorado.edu/event/spanis...
Edgart Flores Rafael and Leanne Lestak strike a funny pose next to a sign for the Spanish Language Lunch Table, a monthly meeting that they have led together.
September 29, 2025 at 9:10 PM
instaar.bsky.social
👏🏽 Congrats to Linda Holubar Sanabria! She received Boulder County's Land Conservation Award for preserving the 493-acre Spruce Gulch property with conservation easements, forever ensuring its protection bouldercounty.gov/open-space/m...
Spruce Gulch Reserve info: www.colorado.edu/instaar/rese...
View from atop a steep grassy hillslope in the Colorado foothills looking eastward past more hills and cliffs and onto the plains. Above is a bright blue sky with puffy white clouds. Photo taken from the Spruce Gulch Wildlife and Research Reserve outside Boulder, Colorado. Credit: Linda Holubar Sanabria.
September 26, 2025 at 3:15 PM