Rachel Louise Tilling
(Associate Research Scientist)
| Email: | rachel.l.tilling@nasa.gov |
| Org Code: | |
| Address: |
NASA/GSFC Mail Code 615 Greenbelt, MD 20771 |
| Employer: | UNIV OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK |
Brief Bio
Rachel is a member of the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Her research uses remote sensing data to monitor changes in the global sea ice cover, with a focus on satellite altimetry. Rachel's research has taken her on expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic with NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and British Antarctic Survey (BAS), to conduct ground-based and airborne measurements for satellite validation.
Research Interests
Satellite radar and laser altimetry; sea ice; field validation of satellite data
Positions/Employment
Associate Research Scientist
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/University of Maryland - Greenbelt, MD, USA
2023 - Present
Assistant Research Scientist
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/University of Maryland - Greenbelt, MD, USA
2019 - 2023
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, University of Leeds - Leeds, UK
2016 - 2019
Education
2016 PhD Polar Remote Sensing
University College London, London, UK
2012 MSc Oceanography
University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
2011 BSc Physics
University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Publications
Refereed
2026. "A recent stabilization in the lengthening of the Arctic sea ice melt season into a highly variable regime.", Nature Communications Earth and Environment, [https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03534-8] [Journal Article/Letter]
2026. "Lead and Floe Detection From CryoSat‐2 Radar and ICESat‐2 Laser Altimetry.", Earth and Space Science, 13 (2): e2025EA004399 [10.1029/2025ea004399] [Journal Article/Letter]
2025. "Airborne Lidar to Verify ICESat‐2 Arctic Summer Sea Ice Heights and Melt Pond Depths: Calibration and Validation Campaign, Greenland 2022.", Earth and Space Science, 12 (10): e2024EA004100 [10.1029/2024ea004100] [Journal Article/Letter]
2025. "Software to Enable Ocean Discoveries: A Case Study With ICESat‐2 and Argo.", Geoscience Data Journal, 12 (3): [10.1002/gdj3.291] [Journal Article/Letter]
2024. "Estimating differential penetration of green (532 nm) laser light over sea ice with NASA’s Airborne Topographic Mapper: observations and models.", The Cryosphere, [https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2625-2024] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Assessing CryoSat‐2 Antarctic Snow Freeboard Retrievals Using Data From ICESat‐2.", Earth and Space Science, 8 (7): [10.1029/2021ea001728] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Assessment of ICESat‐2 sea ice surface classification with Sentinel‐2 imagery: implications for freeboard and new estimates of lead and floe geometry.", Earth and Space Science, [10.1029/2020ea001491] [Journal Article/Letter]
2021. "Inter-comparison of snow depth over sea ice from multiple methods.", The Cryosphere, 15 345–367 [10.5194/tc-2020-65] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Detection of Melt Ponds on Arctic Summer Sea Ice From ICESat‐2.", Geophysical Research Letters, 47 (23): [10.1029/2020gl090644] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Estimating the sea ice floe size distribution using satellite altimetry: theory, climatology, and model comparison.", The Cryosphere, 13 (11): 2869-2885 [10.5194/tc-13-2869-2019] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Assessing the Impact of Lead and Floe Sampling on Arctic Sea Ice Thickness Estimates from Envisat and CryoSat‐2.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 124 (11): 7473-7485 [10.1029/2019jc015232] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "Extending the Arctic sea ice freeboard and sea level record with the Sentinel-3 radar altimeters.", Advances in Space Research, [10.1016/j.asr.2019.10.011] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "New insight from CryoSat-2 sea ice thickness for sea ice modelling.", The Cryosphere, 13 (1): 125-139 [10.5194/tc-13-125-2019] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Utilizing CryoSat-2 sea ice thickness to initialize a coupled ice-ocean modeling system.", Advances in Space Research, 62 (6): 1265-1280 [10.1016/j.asr.2017.12.030] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Recent multivariate changes in the North Atlantic climate system, with a focus on 2005-2016.", International Journal of Climatology, 38 (14): 5050-5076 [10.1002/joc.5815] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "Estimating Arctic sea ice thickness and volume using CryoSat-2 radar altimeter data.", Advances in Space Research, 62 (6): 1203-1225 [10.1016/j.asr.2017.10.051] [Journal Article/Letter]
2018. "A Farewell to Ice.", Underwater Technology, 35 (1): 31-32 [10.3723/ut.35.031] [Journal Article/Letter]
2017. "Radar observations of Arctic ice.", Arcticness: Power and Voice from the North, 27--39 [Article in Book]
2016. "Near-real-time Arctic sea ice thickness and volume from CryoSat-2.", The Cryosphere, 10 (5): 2003-2012 [10.5194/tc-10-2003-2016] [Journal Article/Letter]
2015. "Increased Arctic sea ice volume after anomalously low melting in 2013.", Nature Geoscience, 8 (8): 643-646 [10.1038/ngeo2489] [Journal Article/Letter]
Non-Refereed
2020. "Arctic Radiation-Cloud-Aerosol-Surface Interaction Experiment (ARCSIX): Concept Paper for NASA Aircraft Investigation.", NASA Earth Science Project Office, [Full Text] [Report]
2020. "Arctic Radiation-Cloud-Aerosol-Surface Interaction Experiment (ARCSIX): Concept Paper for NASA Aircraft Investigation.", NASA Earth Science Project Office, [Full Text] [Report]