Professor Karen Frey joined the faculty in the Graduate School of Geography in Fall 2007. Karen earned an M.A. in 2000 and a Ph.D. in 2005 from the Department of Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to coming to Clark University, she was an assistant research scientist in the Department of Physical Sciences at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Geology at The College of William and Mary from 2006-2007. Her research interests involve the combined use of field measurements, satellite remote sensing, and GIS to study large-scale linkages between land, atmosphere, ocean, and ice in high-latitude arctic environments. Her most recent work focuses on impacts of permafrost thaw on river biogeochemistry and impacts of sea ice variability on biological productivity in shelf environments.
Current Research
Impacts of Sea Ice Variability and Polynya Formation on Biological Productivity in the Northern Bering Sea (National Science Foundation).
The Polaris Project: Rising Stars in the Arctic (National Science Foundation, International Polar Year). Please see The Polaris Project or Woods Hole Research Center for more information.
Impacts of climate warming and permafrost thaw on carbon cycling in northern peatlands.
Land-ocean linkages and impacts of climate warming and permafrost thaw on the discharge and biogeochemistry of rivers entering the Arctic Ocean.
Student Research Opportunities
Undergraduate Research: A field research experience for Clark University undergraduate students will take place during Summer 2008, 2009, and 2010 in the Siberian Arctic (Cherskij, Russia). Please see The Polaris Project or Woods Hole Research Center for more information.
Graduate Research: We are currently seeking graduate students to join the cohort of Earth System Science faculty in the Graduate School of Geography. I am looking for graduate students interested in utilizing GIS and remotely sensed data to study impacts of climate change in the Arctic. Please email me at
for more information.
Courses Offered
GEOG 119/GES 119: Arctic System Science GEOG 190/GEOG 390/GES 190/ID 190/IDCE 310: Raster GIS GEOG 263: The Climate System and Global Environmental Change GEOG 378: Seminar, Controversies in Earth System Science
Selected Publications
Frey, K.E. & McClelland, J.W. Impacts of permafrost degradation on arctic river biogeochemistry. Hydrological Processes 23, 169-182 (2009). Download pdf copy
Frey, K.E., McClelland, J.W., Homes, R.M. & Smith, L.C. Impacts of climate warming and permafrost thaw on the riverine transport of nitrogen and phosphorus to the Kara Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences 112, G04S58, doi:10.1029/2006JG000369 (2007). Download pdf copy - Nature Research Highlight, November 2007
Coakley, B., Edmonds, H.N., Frey, K.E., Gascard, J.C., Grebmeier, J.M., Kassens, H., Thiede, J., Wegner, C. Past, Present, and Future: A Science Program for the Arctic Ocean Linking Ancient and Contemporary Observations of Change Through Modeling. Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union 88, 287 (2007). Download pdf copy
Frey, K.E. & Smith, L.C. How well do we know northern land cover? Comparison of four global vegetation and wetland products with a new ground-truth database for West Siberia. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 21, GB1016, doi: 10.1029/2006GB002706 (2007). Download pdf copy
Frey, K.E., Siegel, D.I. & Smith, L.C. Geochemistry of West Siberian streams and their potential response to permafrost degradation. Water Resources Research 43, W03406, doi: 1029/2006WR0049022006 (2007). Download pdf copy
Grebmeier, J.M., Overland, J.E., Moore, S.E., Farley, E.V., Carmack, E.C., Cooper, L.W., Frey, K.E., Helle, J.H., McLaughlin, F.A. & McNutt, L. A major ecosystem shift in the northern Bering Sea. Science 311, 1461-1464 (2006). Download pdf copy
Sheng, Y., Smith, L.C., MacDonald, G.M., Kremenetski, K.V., Frey, K.E., Velichko, A.A., Lee, M., Beilman, D.W. & Dubinin, P. A high resolution GIS-based inventory of the West Siberian peat carbon pool. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 18, GB3004, doi: 10.1029/2003GB002190 (2004). Download pdf copy
Smith, L.C., MacDonald, G.M., Velichko, A.A., Beilman, D.W., Borisova, O.K., Frey, K.E., Kremenetski, K.V. & Sheng, Y. Siberian peatlands a net carbon sink and methane source since the early Holocene. Science 303, 353-356 (2004). Download pdf copy
Frey, K.E. & Smith, L.C. Recent temperature and precipitation increases in West Siberia and their association with he Arctic Oscillation. Polar Research 22, 287-300 (2003). Download pdf copy
Frey, K.E., Smith, L.C. & Alsdorf, D.E. Controls on Eurasian coastal sea ice formation, melt onset and decay from ERS scatterometry: Regional contrasts and effects of river influx. International Journal of Remote Sensing 24, 5283-5315 (2003). Download pdf copy
Smith, L.C., Sheng, Y., Forster, R.R., Steffen, K., Frey, K.E. & Alsdorf, D.E. Melting of small Arctic ice caps observed from ERS scatterometer time series. Geophysical Research Letters 30, 2034, doi: 10.1029/2003GL017641 (2003). Download pdf copy
Kremenetski, K.V., Velichko, A.A., Borisova, O.K., MacDonald, G.M., Smith, L.C., Frey, K.E. & Orlova, L.A. Peatlands of the Western Siberian lowlands: Current knowledge on zonation, carbon content and Late Quaternary history. Quaternary Science Reviews 22, 703-723 (2003). Download pdf copy
Sheng, Y., Smith, L.C., Frey, K.E. & Alsdorf, D.E. A high temporal resolution data set of ERS scatterometer radar backscatter for research in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Polar Record 38, 115-120 (2002). Download pdf copy
Smith, L.D., MacDonald, G.M., Frey, K.E., Velichko, A., Kremenetski, K., Borisova, O., Dubinin, P. & Forster, R.R. U.S.-Russian venture probes Siberian peatlands' sensitivity to climate. Feature article: Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union 81, 497, 503-504 (2000).
