Elizabeth Ultee
(Associate Research Scientist)
| Email: | elizabeth.ultee@nasa.gov |
| Org Code: | |
| Address: |
NASA/GSFC Mail Code 615 Greenbelt, MD 20771 |
| Employer: | MORGAN STATE UNIV. |
Selected Publications
Refereed
2026. "CMIP6 climate model spread outweighs glacier model spread in 21st-century drought buffering projections.", The Cryosphere, 20 (2): 1339-1361 [10.5194/tc-20-1339-2026] [Journal Article/Letter]
2025. "The Greenland Ice Sheet Large Ensemble (GrISLENS): simulating the future of Greenland under climate variability.", The Cryosphere, 19 (9): 3749-3783 [10.5194/tc-19-3749-2025] [Journal Article/Letter]
2025. "Irreversible glacier change and trough water for centuries after overshooting 1.5 °C.", Nature Climate Change, 15 (6): 634-641 [10.1038/s41558-025-02318-w] [Journal Article/Letter]
2025. "Inter-model differences in 21st century glacier runoff for the world's major river basins.", The Cryosphere, 19 (4): 1491-1511 [10.5194/tc-19-1491-2025] [Journal Article/Letter]
2024. "Unravelling the sources of uncertainty in glacier runoff projections in the Patagonian Andes (40–56° S).", The Cryosphere, 18 (11): 5383-5406 [10.5194/tc-18-5383-2024] [Journal Article/Letter]
2024. "Short- and long-term variability of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets.", Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 5 (3): 193-210 [10.1038/s43017-023-00509-7] [Journal Article/Letter]
2024. "A stochastic parameterization of ice sheet surface mass balance for the Stochastic Ice-Sheet and Sea-Level System Model (StISSM v1.0).", Geoscientific Model Development, 17 (3): 1041-1057 [10.5194/gmd-17-1041-2024] [Journal Article/Letter]
2023. "Exploring the impact of a frontal ablation parameterization on projected 21st-century mass change for Northern Hemisphere glaciers.", Journal of Glaciology, 69 (277): 1317-1332 [10.1017/jog.2023.19] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "The Stochastic Ice-Sheet and Sea-Level System Model v1.0 (StISSM v1.0).", Geoscientific Model Development, 15 (22): 8269-8293 [10.5194/gmd-15-8269-2022] [Journal Article/Letter]
2022. "Glacial runoff buffers droughts through the 21st century.", Earth System Dynamics, 13 (2): 935-959 [10.5194/esd-13-935-2022] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "SERMeQ Model Produces a Realistic Upper Bound on Calving Retreat for 155 Greenland Outlet Glaciers.", Geophysical Research Letters, 47 (21): e2020GL090213 [10.1029/2020gl090213] [Journal Article/Letter]
2020. "Tensile strength of glacial ice deduced from observations of the 2015 eastern Skaftá cauldron collapse, Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland.", Journal of Glaciology, 66 (260): 1024-1033 [10.1017/jog.2020.65] [Journal Article/Letter]
2019. "A Thin Film Viscoplastic Theory for Calving Glaciers: Toward a Bound on the Calving Rate of Glaciers.", Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 124 (8): 2036-2055 [10.1029/2019jf005160] [Journal Article/Letter]
2017. "A Plastic Network Approach to Model Calving Glacier Advance and Retreat.", Frontiers in Earth Science, 5 [10.3389/feart.2017.00024] [Journal Article/Letter]
2016. "The future is Nye: an extension of the perfect plastic approximation to tidewater glaciers.", Journal of Glaciology, 62 (236): 1143-1152 [10.1017/jog.2016.108] [Journal Article/Letter]
Non-Refereed
2025. "How does glacier flow vary by season?.", Science, 390 (6776): 886-886 [10.1126/science.aec7025] [Journal Article/Letter]
Teaching Experience
- 2026: WHOI-NASA Summer School in Sea-Level Science -- Fundamentals of glacier dynamics (PhD student and postdoc level)
- 2021-2024: Assistant Professor at Middlebury College, teaching
- Natural Hazards (introductory undergraduate)
- Climate Dynamics (second-year undergraduate, including scientific programming in Python)
- Glaciology (upper-level undergraduate, including numerical modelling in Python)
- Advanced Climate Seminar (upper-level undergraduate)
- Senior Research Thesis
- 2019: Clubes de Ciencia Perú -- Glaciología y recursos hídricos (early career students aged 18-25)
Education
PhD in Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences from the University of Michigan (2018)
B.Sc.Hons. Specialist in Mathematical Physics from Queen's University, Canada (2013)
Special Experience
Glacier field experience in Greenland (2021-2026) and North Cascade National Park (2023).
Wilderness First Responder (SOLO certified through 2029).
Trained in crevasse rescue and glacier travel.