Arctic ice taken by Hara Talasila

Center for Remote Sensing and Integrated Systems

The Center for Remote Sensing and Integrated Systems (CReSIS) captures and manages large quantities of data collected through airborne radars, antennas, and sounders.

About CReSIS

View of Crew Commander Henry Hartsfield Jr. loading film into the IMAX camera during the 41-D mission. The camera is floating in front of the middeck lockers. Above it is a sticker of the University of Kansas mascott, the Jayhawk. Credit: NASA

Research at CReSIS

CReSIS researchers engage in sustained, intense, collaborative work to achieve progress in problems of global significance. Our research groups bring undergraduate and graduate students into exciting work across a variety of disciplines with scientists from across the globe.

Our research

Closing Gaps in Data

CReSIS researchers "have received almost $1 million from the National Science Foundation’s Major Research Instrumentation program to design and build an adaptable radar system for long-range unmanned aerial systems."
Possible coverage maps for two-day missions with the Vanilla UAS across the (a) Antarctic (b) Arctic. The Antarctic missions assume a maximum range of 1,600 kilometers to the science target and a gridded survey of 1,400 kilometers of the target. Arctic missions simple assume and out-and-back mission. Credit: Arnold, et al.

Data

89
successfully funded grants
28
deployments to arctic locations since 2005
1.2 petabytes
of raw scientific data hosted (that's over a million gigabytes)
Aqsa Patel in a plane cockpit

Scientific Experience in Extreme Situations

Aqsa Patel, senior scientist at Philips Healthcare, started her career as a graduate student and postdoc at CReSIS. "Concepts [from] my radar days [that were] challenging at that time became easy to me, and I can apply it in my current practice."
Aqsa Patel works with another researcher on a radar on a plane

Mentorship at the Ends of the Earth

"It was an excellent mentorship situation [working for] NASA and NSF programs. Deploying these radars every six months to a to a remote place where there's not spare parts, [you] learn early on that you need to build and design durable [things that] don't break down in harsh environments."
-Aqsa Patel

Learn more about studying or working at CReSIS

New Name, Same CReSIS

Read a letter from CReSIS director Carl Leuschen about our new name and what it means for our future as a research center.
The engine of an airplane below a sign reading Thule Air Base: The Top of the World

Looking for education resources?

Check out our temporary archive of past lesson plans and games.
CReSIS education
A student is instructed in using the MCCORDS radar
CReSIS scientists heading into a NASA facility

People

CReSIS has a robust team of students, researchers, engineers, and other staff members working to better understand the changing dynamics of glacial regions, and transfer that knowledge to the larger scientific community.
Two researchers in Greenland operating heavy machinery with a Jayhawk decal
Icy landscape

Get in Touch with CReSIS

Reach out to CReSIS for information about admission, collaboration, and anything else!

Contact Us

Check out the Latest Data!

See CReSIS data products reaching back over a decade - updated regularly!
Echogram from MCORDS radar from Antarctica.