Ghislain Picard
Current position
Full Professor at IGE - OSUG - UGA
Contact Details
Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement54, rue Molière
38402 - Saint Martin d'Hères
France
Tel: +33 4 76 82 42 45
Email: ghislain.picard@univ-grenoble-alpes.fr
Github: ghislainp
Twitter: gsnowph
Research topics
My research interest is on snow in the polar regions. Not only how much snow accumulates on the surface of the ice-sheets is interesting, but also how the snow physical properties are evolving. The reason is because snow at the surface is continuously changing, either due to melt, metamorphisms or wind transport on short time scale (hour to season) or due to climate change on longer scales (years). These changes affect the surface energy budget, resulting in atmospheric warming or cooling, and after a more or less complex series of ping-ponged back and forth in the climate system, this affects the snowpack back. Often, a small initial perturbation in the snow can be amplified and leads to large climatic impacts, far away from the polar regions. This is why snow is important in the climate system, and why there is still a lot to be discovered.
In my research, I'm using remote sensing observations, in the microwave, optical and thermal ranges. I have developed several radiative transfer models to better exploit the satellite observations and to refine the surface radiative budget estimation. With Laurent Arnaud, we develop innovative instruments to measure the physical properties of the snow. Several 'snow' stations have been deployed across East Antarctica to monitor snow surface evolution.
News
- The Greenland ice sheet melt status is accessible in near-real-time
- An achievement: a new definition of the microwave grain size, published in AGU Advance, doi:10.1029/2021AV000630
- Jul 2021 - Jul 2022: Visiting scientist at GEUS in the Glaciology and Climate departement, Denmark.
- Nov 2020: Interested by the ongoing melt season in Antarctica ? Daily update of the melt in Antarctica are now computed in routine.
- Sep 2020: AQT Publication (in French) about the "missing link", or the +30 yr quest to link snow microstructure to microwave scattering.
Ongoing and past projects
- ESA St3TART: Reference measurements for the validation of the Sentinel 3 altimeter
- ANR ALPAGA, 2021 -2025, Alpine Microalgae
- ANR MiMESis-3D, 2020 - 2024 : Metamorphism and Properties of Snow from 3D Images : Microscale Experimentation and Simulation for a better Understanding of Involved Mechanisms
ANR EAIIST, 2017 - 2020 (J. Savarino): East Antarctic International Ice Sheet Traverse- ESA LIAM, 2020 - 2021
- ESA 4D Antarctica, 2019 - 2022
- ESA S3 SNOW, 2017 - 2018
ANR ASUMA, 2015 - 2018 (V. Favier): Amélioration de la précision de l'estimation de bilan de masse de surface en Antarctique.- Acceleration of Permafrost Thaw By Snow-Vegetation Interactions, BNP Paribas Fundation, 2015 - 2017 (F. Dominé)
- ESA Microsnow, 2015 - 2016
- ESA CRYOSMOS, 2015 - 2016
- CNES projects: SMOS, Antar-TS and GreenEdge
- ANR MONISNOW 2011-2016 (G. Picard): Monitoring Snow in a changing climate
- PNTS 2010-2012 (G. Picard): Detection of snowfall events using microwave observations
- LEFE/QUASPPER 2010-2012 (S. Morin): Quantitative assessment and modeling of snow physical properties
PICS 2008-2011 (G. Picard) : Programme International de Collaboration Scientifique with CARTEL, University of Sherbrooke, Canada- LEFE/CHARMANT 2008-2011 (G. Krinner): Regional change of the surface mass balance in Antarctica
- ANR/VANISH 2007-2011 (M. Fily): Vulnerability of the Antarctic ice sheet and its atmosphere
- PNTS 2006-2008 (G. Picard): Coupling between a snow evolution model and a microwave emission model in Antarctica
Students and post-doc
Post-doc:- P. Zeiger (2023-)
- F. Larue (2018-2020)
- M. Lamare (2017-2019)
- O. Passalacqua (2018)
- M. Leduc-Leballeur (2012-2017)
- M. Poizat (2021-)
- S. Arioli (supervised with S. Gascoin, 2021-)
- A. Robledano (supervised with M. Dumont, 2020-)
- C. Vargel (supervised A. Royer (U. Sherbrooke) and G. Picard, 2017-2021)
- F. Tuzet (supervised with M. Dumont, 2016-2020)
- F. Adodo (supervised wtih F. Rémy (LEGOS), 2015-2018)
- M. Belke (supervised with F. Dominé (Takuvik, Québec) and G. Picard, 2015-2019)
- G. Vérin (supervised withM. Babin (Takuvik, Québec), 2014-2018)
- H. Fréville (supervised with E. Brun (CNRM-GAME), 2012-2015)
- Q. Libois (2011-2014)
- F. Dupont (supervised with M. Fily (LGGE) & A. Royer (U. Sherbrooke, Quebec), 2010-2013)
- N. Champollion (supervised with M. Fily (LGGE), 2009-2012)
- L. Brucker (supervised with M. Fily (LGGE), 2006-2009)
- M. Poizat (2020)
- S. Arioli (2019)
- A. Robledano (2019): Spatial variations of snow surface temperature in mountainous areas: modelling and validation with remote sensing
- I. Ollivier (2018): Radiative balance over a rough snow surface - observations and modelling at meter and mountain range scales
- R. Caneill (2017): Analysis of Elevation Maps Measured by Laser Scannering at Dome C, Antarctica. Investigation of Snow Accumulation Processes
- A. Lemoine (2017): Modeling microwave observations from snow properties in Antarctica
- N. Champollion (2009): Measuring snow specific surface area
- B. Montpetit (2008): Toward a finer resolution snow melt product (French)
- I. Gravaud (2008): Detection of precipitation events by passive microwave remote sensing in Antarctica(French)
- F. Cyr (2007): Modeled and observed snow melt (French)