Equipment, Software & Tools
The RS Lab’s research infrastructure — from polar field instruments to
open-source algorithms developed by our team.
Field & Lab Equipment
Physical instruments used for data collection in the field and in the lab,
spanning polar fieldwork across Greenland, Antarctica, and Alaska.
2 Topcon HiPer VR GPS Stations
Versatile and rugged GPS stations featuring advanced GNSS technology for precise measurements in challenging environments. The system utilizes Universal Tracking Channels™️ to efficiently identify and use every available satellite signal.
Ice Velocity · Geodesy
Telescope (CATE 2024 Setup)
A specialized telescope setup equipped with a FLIR Blackfly polarization camera and a Long Perng refractor (80mm aperture). The system is fully instrumented with solar filters, mounts, and trackers for high-speed observations during the 2024 total solar eclipse.
Solar Observations
Total Stations
High-precision ground control survey instruments.
Surveying
GPR
Ground-penetrating radar system for subsurface measurements.
Subsurface · Remote Sensing
Software Licenses
Commercial software used for image analysis, photogrammetry, and geospatial data processing.
ENVI by NV5 Geospatial
Software for processing and analyzing remote sensing imagery.
shape
Agisoft Metashape
Photogrammetric processing software for generating Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) from aerial imagery.
Surfer by Golden Software
Powerful contouring, gridding, and 3D surface mapping software.
Grapher by Golden Software
2D and 3D graphing software for scientific visualization.
Seequent (Oasis montaj / Geosoft)
Geoscience software for 3D modeling, targeting, and visualization of subsurface data.
Developed Tools & Code
Open-source algorithms, frameworks, and platforms created by RS Lab members
and made available to the research community.
SERAC
Surface Elevation Reconstruction And Change
A methodology for detecting ice sheet surface elevation changes from repeat laser altimetry data.
Schenk, T & Csatho, B, 2012. A new methodology for detecting ice sheet surface elevation
changes from laser altimetry data. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens, 50(9).
DOI:10.1109/TGRS.2011.2182357
ALPS
Altimetry Land ice Processing System
A unified framework for modeling time series of land ice changes from multi-mission laser altimetry data.
Shekhar, P, Csatho, B, Schenk, T, Roberts, C, Patra, AK, 2020. ALPS: A Unified Framework for Modeling
Time Series of Land Ice Changes. IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens.
DOI:10.1109/TGRS.2020.3027190
Automated Trimline Mapping
ML-based ice margin classification
A tool for automated mapping of ice margins and trimlines from satellite imagery.
Moulins DEM Correction
DEM artifact removal near glacial moulins
A processing workflow based on SERAC that checks the accuracy of DEMs by comparison with laser altimetry time series, and corrects them to improve agreement with altimetry.
GHub — Glaciology Hub
Community cyberinfrastructure for ice sheet science
A science gateway hosting datasets, workflows, and tools to unify ice sheet observations and modeling, provide uncertainty quantification, and improve estimates of future sea level rise.
Tulenko et al. (including Csatho, BM), 2025. Brief communication: Enabling open cryosphere
research with Ghub. The Cryosphere, 19(10), 4327–4333.
DOI:10.5194/tc-19-4327-2025
Cyberinfrastructure
The RS Lab maintains its own servers and leverages robust cyberinfrastructure to host, process, and distribute massive remote sensing datasets.
Lab Servers & Globus Endpoint
We maintain dedicated internal compute and storage servers. Large datasets and publications are efficiently shared and accessible through the Globus network.