Emily Glenn

Dr. Emily Glen is a Postdoctoral Researcher specializing in satellite remote sensing and machine learning, with a focus on supraglacial hydrology and ice-sheet processes. Her research aims to improve understanding of how meltwater influences the stability and future evolution of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets in a warming climate.

At Penn State, Dr. Glen’s research focuses on Antarctic supraglacial hydrology as part of a NASA-funded effort using satellite imagery and machine learning to improve observations of supraglacial lakes. She applies these approaches to quantify lake depth and volume, supporting improved parameterization of meltwater processes in climate and ice-sheet models and informing assessments of ice-shelf vulnerability. Dr. Glen also contributes to ISMIP7 ice-shelf collapse projections through firn densification model emulation, helping to improve representations of calving and hydrofracture in Antarctic ice-sheet models.

Before joining Penn State, Dr. Glen worked as a Senior Research Associate in Glaciology at Lancaster University, contributing to projects with the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM) and the European Space Agency (ESA). In this role, she used optical satellite imagery and machine learning approaches to map and quantify supraglacial meltwater features across the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Dr. Glen completed her PhD in Environmental Science at Lancaster University in 2025, where she developed new machine learning approaches to map supraglacial hydrology on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Prior to this, she completed an MSc (Res) in Polar and Alpine Change at the University of Sheffield in 2020 and a BSc (Hons) in Geography (First Class) at the University of Dundee in 2019.