MCKENZIE SKILES

Dr. McKenzie Skiles is the Director of the Snow Hydrology Resarch-to-Operations Laboratory (Snow HydRO Lab). Her research methods combine numerical modeling with multi-scale observations to understand how much water is held as snow in the mountains and how snow is changing over time. Her expertise spans in situ snow observation and monitoring, snow energy balance modeling, and optical remote sensing of snow and ice.  One of her main research trajectories is investigating the impacts of mineral dust and other light absorbing particles on snow in the Western US, where changing snowmelt patterns have important implications for water security.