Enderlin’s research interests focus on understanding the response of the cryosphere to changes in climate using mostly satellite data of polar and alpine regions. For example, Enderlin was awarded a NASA grant to collaborate with the U.S. Geological Survey and researchers across Idaho to develop new techniques to estimate mountain snow depths using NASA’s ICESat-2 laser altimeter and snow-covered area on glaciers using Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellite images.
The team found that ICESat-2 can capture mountain range-scale patterns in snow depth and that traditional approaches to map snow on glaciers may be biased based on the time of the year that was considered.
“As a scientist, you hope that your work is impactful and people will often look at how many other scientists cite your work as a measure of your impact,” Enderlin said. “The fact that a panel of NASA experts outside of my field of research recognized that my research has been important is absolutely amazing and really makes me feel like I’ve advanced our understanding of how seasonal snow and glaciers are changing in a warming climate.