Kelly Brunt

Kelly Brunt is an American glaciologist researching Antarctic ice sheets. She is recognized for her work with the ICESat-2 satellite launched by NASA. Holding three degrees in Geology, she focuses on the rapidly changing ice sheets and flows in Antarctica. She has over 25 years of experience as a glaciologist and has traveled to Antarctica for field work over 15 times since the start of her career.

Early life and education Raised in Connecticut, she recalls memories of skiing with family as a child, and how she fell in love with snow. After completing her early education, Brunt left Connecticut in 1989 to pursue a bachelor's degree from Syracuse University in Geology. She graduated in 1993, then received master's degree from the University of Montana in Geology as well, graduating in 1997. She went back to school year later, and in 2008 she graduated with a PhD in geophysics, with concentration in glaciology from the University of Chicago. Her post doctoral fellowship work at Scripps Institution of Oceanography furthered her glacial research, as she studied Antarctic ice edges gathered by the original ICESat satellite. She also coaches kids in alpine skiing programs in her free time. The satellite launch was planned for 2017 but wasn't successfully launched until the third quarter of 2018. The satellite will be active and in an extended mission until September 2026. Brunt's role on the team is validating data collected by the satellite. She works comparing satellite data to on-the-ground or ground based data, collected by researchers like herself. on temporary assignment where she remained for three years. She operated within the Arctic System Sciences program and the Antarctic Glaciology Program.

In 2024, her position became permanent at The National Science Foundation. However, six months later in 2025, Brunt was relieved from her post due to the federal government's downsizing under the Trump administration, which cut many facets of scientific research, particularly polar research. Brunt continues to work at Goddard Space Flight Center. thumb Image of a PistonBully pulling Kelly Brunt's camp behind it.

Selected works

Markus, T., Neumann, T., Martino, A., Abdalati, W., Brunt, K., Csatho, B., Farrell, S., Fricker, H., Gardner, A., Harding, D., Jasinski, M., Kwok, R., Magruder, L., Lubin, D., Luthcke, S., Morison, J., Nelson, R., Neuenschwander, A., Palm, S., & Popescu, S. (2017). The Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2): Science requirements, concept, and implementation. Remote Sensing of Environment, 190, 260–273. Smith, B., Fricker, H. A., Gardner, A. S., Medley, B., Nilsson, J., Paolo, F. S., Holschuh, N., Adusumilli, S., Brunt, K., Csatho, B., Harbeck, K., Markus, T., Neumann, T., Siegfried, M. R., & Zwally, H. J. (2020). Pervasive ice sheet mass loss reflects competing ocean and atmosphere processes. Science, 368 (6496), 1239–1242. Neumann, T., Martino, A. J., Markus, T., Bae, S., Bock, M., Brenner, A. C., Brunt, K. M., Cavanaugh, J. M., Fernandes, S. T., Hancock, D. J., Harbeck, K., Lee, J. E., Kurtz, N., Luers, P. J., Luthcke, S. B., Magruder, L. A., Pennington, T. A., Ramos-Izquierdo, L., Rebold, T. W., & Skoog, J. (2019). The Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite – 2 mission: A global geolocated photon product derived from the Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System. Remote Sensing of Environment, 233, 111325–111325. Bindschadler, R., Choi, H., Wichlacz, A., Bingham, R., Bohlander, J., Brunt, K. M., Hugh, Drews, R., Fricker, H. A., Hall, M., Richard, Kohler, J., Padman, L., Rack, W., Gerit Rotschky, Stefano Urbini, Vornberger, P., & Young, N. S. (2011). Getting around Antarctica: new high-resolution mappings of the grounded and freely-floating boundaries of the Antarctic ice sheet created for the International Polar Year. 5(3), 569–588.