Julienne Stroeve has spent much of her career studying one of the planet’s most rapidly changing regions — the Arctic. As a Canada 150 Research Excellence Chairholder at the U of M, she leads research that combines satellite observations and fieldwork to better understand how snow and sea ice are transforming in a warming climate.
“I study Arctic climate change, mostly focused on using satellite data to document changes in the snow and ice cover,” Stroeve explained. “I’m interested in what the cascading impacts of losing the summer sea ice will have both within and beyond the Arctic region, with a focus on climate, marine ecosystems and human systems.”
Her work is part of a growing global effort to monitor the Arctic’s shifting conditions. These changes influence not only northern communities and ecosystems but also global weather and ocean patterns. As the Arctic continues to warm nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet, scientists like Stroeve are racing to understand what an ice-free summer ocean could mean for the climate system.
Stroeve’s path to Arctic research began with a single university class. “I took a class from a professor who did research there and I was blown away by the beauty of the area seen in his photographs,” she said. “At the time, it seemed quite exotic to study this remote region of the world.”
Now, decades later, her work spans both poles. Recently, Stroeve has been developing systems to improve how satellites measure snow depth and sea ice thickness — two critical indicators of Arctic health. “We developed an in situ–based system that we’ve taken to the Arctic and Antarctic,” she said, referring to equipment designed to collect and analyze data directly on site rather than relying solely on satellite measurements. “It’s been revealing that traditional assumptions do not hold, and that we need to rethink how we use satellite data for the most accurate representations of ice and snow thickness.”
These findings could reshape how climate scientists interpret satellite information. Radar altimeters are used to measure the height of sea ice and snow cover and depend on assumptions about how radar waves interact with different layers of snow. Stroeve’s research showed these assumptions often oversimplify complex natural processes, potentially leading to errors in large-scale ice thickness estimates.
Her work also plays a role in improving climate models that scientists use to project future environmental change. Part of her work has been “seeing how well climate models can resolve the observed changes,” she said. “[It’s] led both to an increased understanding of the links between sea ice loss and greenhouse gases, but also [to estimates] of when we may expect to see the first ice-free summers in the Arctic Ocean.”
Looking ahead, Stroeve and her team “are working on securing funding to [develop] novel buoy systems in the Arctic that [can] directly deploy from aircraft,” she said. Such systems would make it possible to collect real-time information, even in areas that are difficult to reach by ship.
Beyond the scientific implications, Stroeve hopes her work helps raise awareness of the Arctic’s importance. “Ideally, we want to understand the implications of continued sea ice loss, but mostly I would like the world to care about the Arctic and realize how important it is to keep the ice there,” she said.
Stroeve’s research has already influenced international modeling centers. Her 2007 paper, “Arctic sea ice decline: Faster than forecast,” revealed that observed sea ice loss in the Arctic was occurring much more rapidly than projected by existing climate models. The study prompted many modeling groups to revisit and refine their methods to better capture the pace and complexity of observed changes in sea ice, according to Stroeve.