Education

Ph.D Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, 1996

M.S. Earth Sciences, Indiana University, 1991

B.S. Earth Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1989

Selected Publications

• Smith, L.C., Chu, V.W., Yang, K., Gleason, C.J., Pitcher, L.H., Rennermalm, A.K., Legleiter, C.J., Behar, A.E., Overstreet, B.T., Moustafa, S.E., Tedesco, M., Forster, R.R., LeWinter, A.L., Finnegan, D.C., Sheng, Y., Balog, J. (2015), Efficient meltwater drainage through supraglacial streams and rivers on the southwest Greenland ice sheet, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (PNAS), 112(4), 1001-1006, FREELY AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD AT  http://www.pnas.org/content/112/4/1001.full.pdf+html
• Gleason, C.J., Smith, L.C., Lee, J. (2014) Retrieval of river discharge solely from satellite imagery and at-many-stations hydraulic geometry: Sensitivity to river form and optimization parameters.  Water Resources Research, 50(12), 9604-9619, doi: 10.1002/2014WR016109
• GLEASON, C.J., AND SMITH, L.C. (2014) Toward global mapping of river discharge using satellite images and at-many-stations hydraulic geometry. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci (PNAS), doi:10.1073/pnas.1317606111 OPEN-ACCESS FREELY AVAILABLE at http://www.pnas.org/content/111/13/4788.full
• LEGLEITER, C., TEDESCO, M., SMITH, L.C., BEHAR, A.E., AND OVERSTREET, B.T. (2014) Mapping the bathymetry of supraglacial lakes and streams on the Greenland ice sheet using field measurements and high-resolution satellite images. The Cryosphere 8, 215-228, doi:10.5194/tc-8-215-2014 (freely available from http://www.the-cryosphere.net/8/215/2014/tc-8-215-2014.html)
• DURAND, M., NEAL, J., RODRIGUEZ, E., ANDREADIS, K.M., SMITH, L.C., AND YOON, Y. (2014) Estimating reach-averaged discharge for the River Severn from measurements of river water surface elevation and slope. Journal of Hydrology 511, 92-104, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.12.050.
• Stephenson, S.R., Brigham, L.W., Smith, L.C. (2013). Marine accessibility along Russia’s Northern Sea Route. Polar Geography, DOI:10.1080/1088937X.2013.845859. Available http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RtagBC2AyA4P7sWxzYJ9/full#.Uou_aOJrhm8
• YANG, K. AND SMITH, L. C., Supraglacial Streams on the Greenland Ice Sheet Delineated From Combined Spectral-Shape Information in High-Resolution Satellite Imagery. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters 10(4), 801–805, doi:10.1109/LGRS.2012.2224316, 2013. (PDF)
• MERSEL, M.K., SMITH, L.C., ANDREADIS, K.M., DURAND, M.T., Estimation of river depth from remotely sensed hydraulic relationships. Water Resources Research 49, 3165-3179, DOI: 10.1002/wrcr.20176, 2013 (PDF)
• “New Trans-Arctic shipping routes navigable by midcentury” by Laurence C. Smith and Scott R. Stephenson, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS Plus), 2013, DOI 10.1073/pnas.1214212110 (PDF)
• ALSO FREELY AVAILABLE VIA PNAS OPEN ACCESS AT http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/02/27/1214212110.full.pdf+html
• STEPHENSON, S.R., SMITH, L.C., BRIGHAM L.W., AGNEW, J.A. (2013). Projected 21st-century changes to Arctic marine access. Climatic Change, DOI: 10.1007/s10584-012-0685-0 (PDF)
• RENNERMALM, A.K., SMITH, L.C., CHU V.W., FORSTER R.R., BOX J.E. AND HAGEDORN, B. Proglacial river stage, discharge, and temperature datasets from the Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua River northern tributary, Southwest Greenland, 2008–2011, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 4, 1-12, doi:10.5194/essd-4-1-2012, 2012 (PDF)
• Free access to above field data on river discharge (Rennermalm et al. 2012) available at http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.762818
• SMITH, L. C., BEILMAN, D.W., KREMENETKSI, K.V., MACDONALD, G.M, SHENG, Y., LAMMERS R.B., SHIKLOMANOV, A.I. AND E.D. LAPSHINA, Influence of permafrost on water storage in West Siberian peatlands revealed from a new database of soil properties, Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 23, 69-79, DOI: 10.1002/ppp.735, 2012. (PDF)
• Access to above field data on West Siberian peat soils, water content, vegetation, and thaw depth available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ppp.735/suppinfo
• CHU, V.W., SMITH, L.C. RENNERMALM, A.K., FORSTER, R.R., J.E. BOX, Hydrologic controls on coastal suspended sediment plumes around the Greenland Ice Sheet, The Cryosphere, 6, 1–19, 2012 (PDF)
• STEPHENSON, S.R., SMITH, L.C. AND J.A. AGNEW, Divergent long-term trajectories of human access to the Arctic, Nature Climate Change 1,doi:10.1038/nclimate1120,156–160, 2011. (PDF)
• VELICHKO, AA., TIMIREVA, S.N., KREMENETKSI, K.V., MACDONALD, G.M AND L.C. SMITH, West Siberian Plain as a late glacial desert, Quaternary International 237, 45-53, doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.01.013, 2011. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., Agents of Change in the New North, Eurasian Geography and Economics 52(1), 30–55, DOI: 10.2747/1539-7216.52.1.30., 2011. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., 2010. THE WORLD IN 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization’s Northern Future. (New York: DUTTON / Penguin Group USA Inc.) 336 pp. (paperback Plume, 2011) U.K. edition THE NEW NORTH: The World in 2050 (London: Profile Books), March, 2011 (paperback Profile Books, 2012). Pending or published translations in German (Verlagsgruppe Random House), Italian (Giulio Einaudi Editore), Spanish (Random House Mondadori), Dutch (Het Spectrum, The Netherlands), Portuguese (Elsevier Editora Ltda., Brazil), Hebrew (Matar, Israel), Simplified Chinese (China Renmin University Press, China), Japanese (NHK Publishing), Traditional Chinese (China Times, Taiwan), Korean (East Asia Publishing), Finnish (Ursa Astronomical Association, Finland), Russian (AST Publishers), Arabic (Arab Scientific Publishers, Lebanon).
• BURGESS, E.W., FORSTER, R.R., BOX, J.E., MOSELEY-THOMPSON, E., BROMWICH, D.H., BALES, R.C. AND L.C. SMITH, A Spatially calibrated model of annual accumulation rate on the Greenland Ice Sheet (1958-2007), Journal of Geophysical Research 115, F02004, doi:10.1029/2009JF001293, 2010. (PDF)
• CHU, V.W., SMITH, L.C. RENNERMALM, A.K., FORSTER, R.R., BOX, J.E., AND N. REEH, Sediment plume response to surface melting and supraglacial lake drainages on the Greenland ice sheet, J. Glaciology 55(194), 1072-1082, 2009. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., AND T.M. PAVELSKY, Remote sensing of volumetric storage changes in lakes, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 34 (Special Issue on Remote Sensing of Rivers), 1353-1358, 2009. (PDF)
• PAVELSKY, T.M., AND L.C. SMITH, Remote sensing of suspended sediment concentration, flow velocity, and lake recharge in the Peace-Athabasca Delta, Canada, Water Resources Research, 45, W11417, doi:10.1029/2008WR007424, 2009. (PDF)
• RENNERMALM, A.K., SMITH, L.C. STROEVE, J.C., AND V.W. CHU, Does sea ice influence Greenland ice sheet surface-melt? Environmental Research Letters 4, 024011, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/4/2/024011, 2009. (PDF)
• LEWIS, S.M., AND L.C. SMITH, Hydrologic drainage from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Hydrological Processes 23, 2004-2011, doi:10.1002/hyp.7343, 2009. (PDF)
• BEILMAN, D.W., MACDONALD, G.M., SMITH, L. C., AND P.J. REIMER, Carbon accumulation in peatlands of West Siberia over the last 2000 years, Global Biogeochemical Cycles 23, GB1012, doi:10.1029/2007GB003112, 2009. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., AND T.M. PAVELSKY, Estimation of river discharge, propagation speed, and hydraulic geometry from space: Lena River, Siberia. Water Resources Research 44, W03427 doi:10.1029/2007WR006133, 2008. (PDF)
• SHENG, Y., SHAH C.A., AND L.C. SMITH, Automated image registration for hydrologic change detection in the lake-rich Arctic, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters 5(3), 414-418, 2008. (PDF)
• PAVELSKY, T.M., AND L.C. SMITH, Remote sensing of hydrologic recharge in the Peace-Athabasca Delta, Canada. Geophysical Research Letters 35, L08403, doi:10.1029/2008GL033268, 2008. (PDF)
• SHAH C.A., SHENG, Y., AND L.C. SMITH, Automated Image Registration Based on Pseudoinvariant Metrics of Dynamic Land-Surface Features, IEEE Trans. Geoscience and Remote Sensing 46(11), 3908-3916, 2008. (PDF)
• PAVELSKY, T.M., AND L.C. SMITH, RivWidth: A Software tool for the calculation of river widths from remotely sensed imagery. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters 5(1), 70-73, doi:10.1109/LGRS.2007.908305, 2008. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., PAVELSKY, T.M., MACDONALD, G.M., SHIKLOMANOV, A.I. AND R.B. LAMMERS, Rising minimum flows in northern Eurasian rivers: A growing influence of groundwater in the high-latitude water cycle. Journal of Geophysical Research 112, G04S47, doi:10.1029/2006JG000327, 2007. (PDF)
• WALTER, K. M., SMITH, L.C., AND F. S. CHAPIN III. Methane bubbling from northern lakes: Present and future contributions to the global methane budget, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 365, 1657-1676, doi:10.1098/rsta.2007.2036, 2007. (PDF)
• FREY, K.E., MCCLELLAND, J.W., HOLMES, R.M. AND L.C. SMITH, Impacts of climate warming and permafrost thaw on the riverine transport of nitrogen and phosphorus to the Kara Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research 112, G04S58, doi:10.1029/2006JG000369, 2007.(PDF)
• SHIKLOMANOV, A.I., LAMMERS, R.B., RAWLINS, M., SMITH, L.C., AND T. PAVELSKY, Temporal and spatial variations in maximum river discharge from a new Russian dataset. Journal of Geophysical Research 112, G04S53, doi:10.1029/2006JG000352, 2007. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., SHENG, Y., AND G.M. MACDONALD, A first pan-Arctic assessment of the influence of glaciation, permafrost, topography and peatlands on northern lake distribution. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 18, 201-208, doi:10.1002/ppp.581, 2007. (PDF)
• MACDONALD, G.M., KREMENETSKI, K.V., SMITH, L.C., AND H.G. HIDALGO, Recent Eurasian river discharge to the Arctic Ocean in the context of longer-term dendrohydrological records, Journal of Geophysical Research 112, G04S50, doi:10.1029/2006JG000333, 2007.(PDF)
• FREY, K.E., AND L.C. SMITH, 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. (PDF)
• FREY, K.E., SIEGEL, D.I., AND L.C. SMITH, Geochemistry of West Siberian streams and their potential response to permafrost degradation, Water Resources Research 43, W03406, doi:1029/2006WR0049022006, 2007. (PDF)
• PAVELSKY, T.M., AND L.C. SMITH, Intercomparison of four global precipitation datasets and their correlation with increased Eurasian river discharge to the Arctic Ocean, Journal of Geophysical Research,111(D21112), doi:10.1029/2006JD007230, 2006. (PDF)
• MACDONALD, G. M., BEILMAN, D.W., KREMENETSKI, K. V., SHENG, Y., SMITH, L. C., AND A.A. VELICHKO, Rapid early development of circumarctic peatlands and atmospheric CH4 and CO2 variations, Science 314, 285-288, 2006. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., SHENG, Y., MAGILLIGAN, F.J., SMITH, N.D., GOMEZ, B., MERTES, L.A.K., KRABILL, W.B. AND J.B. GARVIN, Geomorphic impact and rapid subsequent recovery from the 1996 Skeiðarársandur jökulhlaup, Iceland, assessed with multi-year airborne lidar, Geomorphology 75, 65-75, 2006. (PDF)
• SAMPSON, K.M., AND L.C. SMITH, Relative ages of Pleistocene moraines discerned from pebble counts: Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. Physical Geography 27(3), 223-235, 2006. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., SHENG, Y., MACDONALD, G.M. AND L. DHINZMAN, Disappearing Arctic lakes, Science, 308, 1429, 2005.) (PDF)
• Supporting Online Material (SOM) for 2005 Science paper (PDF)
• FREY, K.E., AND L.C. SMITH, Amplified carbon release from vast West Siberian peatlands by 2100, Geophysical Research Letters, 32, L09401, doi:10.1029/2004GL022025, 2005. (PDF)
• ALSDORF, D.E., T. DUNNE, L.A.K. MERTES, J.M. MELACK, SMITH, L.C. AND L.L. HESS, Diffusion modeling of recessional flow on central Amazonian floodplains, Geophysical Research Letters, 32(21), Art. No. L21405, 2005 (PDF)
• BJERKLIE, D.M., MOLLER, D., SMITH, L.C AND S.L. DINGMAN, Estimating discharge in rivers using remotely sensed hydraulic information, Journal of Hydrology 309(1-4), 191-209, 2005. (PDF)
• SMITH, L. C., MACDONALD, G. M., VELICHKO, A. A., BEILMAN, D.W., BORISOVA, O. K., , FREY, K. E. , KREMENETSKI, K. V., AND Y. SHENG, Siberian peatlands a net carbon sink and global methane source since the early Holocene, Science 303, 353-356, 2004.(PDF)
• Supporting Online Material (SOM) for 2004 Science paper (BASAL PEAT RADIOCARBON DATES) (PDF)
• PAVELSKY, T.M. AND L.C. SMITH, Spatial and temporal patterns in Arctic river ice breakup observed with MODIS and AVHRR time series, Remote Sensing of Environment 99(3),328-338, 2004 (PDF)
• SHENG, Y., SMITH, L. C., MACDONALD, KREMENETSKI, K. V., FREY, K. E. G. M., VELICHKO, A. A., LEE, M., BEILMAN, D.W., AND P. DUBININ, A High-resolution GIS-based inventory of the West Siberian peat carbon pool, Global Biogeochemical Cycles 18, GB3004, doi:1029/2003GB002190, 2004. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., SHENG, Y., FORSTER, R.R., STEFFEN, K., FREY, K.E., AND D.E. ALSDORF, Melting of small Arctic ice caps observed from ERS scatterometer time series, Geophysical Research Letters 30(20), Article no. 2034, doi:10.1029/2003GL017641, 2003. (PDF)
• FREY, K.E., AND SMITH, L.C., Recent temperature and precipitation increases in West Siberia and their association with the Arctic Oscillation, Polar Research 22(2), 287-300, 2003. (PDF)
• FREY, K.E., SMITH, L.C., AND D.E. ALSDORF, 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(24), 5283-5315, 2003 (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., Emerging applications of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) in geomorphology and hydrology. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 92(3), 385-398, 2002. (PDF)
• MAGILLIGAN, F.J., GOMEZ, B., MERTES, L.A.K., SMITH, L.C., SMITH, N.D., FINNEGAN, D., AND J.B. GARVIN, Geomorphic effectiveness, sandur development and the pattern of landscape response during jökulhlaups: Skeiðarársandur, southeastern Iceland, Geomorphology, 44(1-2), 95-113, 2002. (PDF)
• HALL-ATKINSON, C., AND L.C. SMITH, Delineation of delta ecozones using interferometric SAR phase coherence: Mackenzie River Delta, N.W.T., Canada, Remote Sensing of Environment, 78, 229-238, 2001. (PDF)
• ALSDORF, D.E., SMITH, L.C., AND J.M. MELACK, Amazon water level changes measured with interferometric SIR-C radar, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 39(2), 423-431, 2001. (PDF)
• HALL, D.K., WILLIAMS, R.S., BARTON, J.S., SIGURDSSON, O., SMITH, L.C., AND J.B. GARVIN, Evaluation of remote-sensing techniques to measure decadal-scale changes of Höfsjokull Ice Cap, Iceland, Journal of Glaciology, 46(154), 375-388, 2001. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., MACDONALD, G.M., FREY, K.E., VELICHKO, A., KREMENETSKI, K, BORISOVA, O., DUBININ, P., AND R.R. FORSTER, U.S.-Russian venture probes Siberian peatlands’ sensitivity to climate, Feature article, Eos, 81(43), 497, 503-504, 2000.
• SMITH, L.C., ALSDORF, D.E., MAGILLIGAN, F.J., GOMEZ, B., MERTES, L.A.K., SMITH, N.D., AND J.B. GARVIN, Estimation of erosion, deposition, and net volumetric change caused by the 1996 Skeiðarársandur jökulhlaup, Iceland, from SAR interferometry, Water Resources Research, 36(6), 1583-1594, 2000. (PDF)
• ALSDORF, D.E., MELACK, J.M., DUNNE, T., MERTES, L.A.K., HESS, L.L., AND L.C. SMITH, Interferometric radar measurements of water level change on the Amazon flood plain, Nature, 404, 174-177, 2000. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., Time-trends in Russian Arctic river ice formation and breakup: 1917-1994, Physical Geography, 21(1), 46-56, 2000. (PDF)
• GOMEZ, B., SMITH L.C., MAGILLIGAN, F. J., AND L.A.K. MERTES, Glacier outburst floods and outwash plain development: Skeiðarársandur, Iceland, Terra Nova, 12, 126-131, 2000. (PDF)
• ALSDORF, D.E. AND L.C. SMITH, Interferometric SAR observations of ice topography and velocity changes related to the 1996 Gjalp subglacial eruption, Iceland, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 20(15-16), 3031-3050, 1999. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., AND D.E. ALSDORF, A control on sediment and organic carbon delivery to the Arctic Ocean revealed with space-borne synthetic aperture radar: Ob’ River, Siberia, Geology, 26(5), 395-398, 1998. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., TURCOTTE, D.L., AND B.L. ISACKS, Streamflow characterization and feature detection using a discrete wavelet transform, Hydrological Processes, 12, 233-249, 1998. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., Satellite remote sensing of river inundation area, stage, and discharge: A review, Hydrological Processes, 11, 1427-1439, 1997 (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., FORSTER, R.R., ISACKS, B.L., AND D.K. HALL, Seasonal climatic forcings on alpine glaciers revealed with orbital synthetic aperture radar, Journal of Glaciology, 43, 480-488, 1997. (PDF)
• FORSTER, R.R., SMITH, L.C., AND B.L.ISACKS, Effects of weather events on X-SAR returns from icefields: A case study of the Hielo Patogonico Sur, Annals of Glaciology, 24, 367-374, 1997. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., ISACKS, B.L., BLOOM, A.L., AND A.B. MURRAY, Estimation of discharge from three braided rivers using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite imagery: Potential application to ungaged basins, Water Resources Research, 32(7), 2021-2034, 1996.(PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., ISACKS, B.L., FORSTER, R.R., BLOOM, A.L., AND I. PREUSS, Estimation of discharge from braided glacial rivers using ERS-1 SAR: First results, Water Resources Research, 31(5), 1325-1329, 1995. (PDF)
• SMITH, L.C., AND G.A. OLYPHANT, Within-storm variations in runoff and sediment export from a rapidly eroding coal-refuse deposit, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 19, 369-375, 1994. (PDF)

Grants & Awards

AGU Fellow (2015)

AAAS John Wesley Powell Speaker (2012)
Walter P. Kistler Book Award (2011)
John D. Rockefeller Bellagio Residency (2007)
Guggenheim Fellow (2006-07)
Discover Magazine Top 100 (2006)
AGU Frontier Lecturer (2005)
NASA New Investigator (2000)
AGU Outstanding Student Paper Award (1995)
NASA ESS/GSRP Fellow (1994-1996)
GSA Fahnestock Award (1994)
Most Outstanding Grad Student, Cornell (1993)

Graduate Students

I have had the privilege of mentoring a most extraordinary group of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, namely:

Ms. Cynthia Hall-Atkinson (M.A., now at College of Charlston)

Dr. Karen E. Frey (M.A.,Ph.D., now Associate Professor at Clark University, Department of Geography)

Dr. Yongwei Sheng (postdoctoral researcher, now Professor at UCLA, Department of Geography)

Dr. Tamlin M. Pavelsky (M.A.,Ph.D., now Associate Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, Department of Geological Sciences)

Dr. Asa K. Rennermalm (postdoctoral researcher, now Associate Professor at Rutgers University, Department of Geography)

Dr. Scott R. Stephenson (M.A., Ph.D., now at the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica)

Mr. Matthew K. Mersel (M.A., now working at CRREL)

Dr. Vena W. Chu (M.A., Ph.D., now Assistant Professor at UC Santa Barbara, Department of Geography)

Dr. Colin J. Gleason (Ph.D., now Assistant Professor at UMass-Amherst, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering)

Dr. Kang Yang (postdoctoral scholar, now Associate Professor at Nanjing University, School of Geographical and Oceanographic Sciences)

Dr. Mia M. Bennett (now Assistant Professor, Hong Kong University)

Mr. Lincoln H. Pitcher (M.A., now earning Ph.D. at UCLA)

Mr. Matthew Cooper (now earning Ph.D. at UCLA)

Ms. Jessica Fayne (now earning Ph.D. at UCLA)

Ms. Sarah W. Cooley (now earning Ph.D. at Brown University)

Dr. John C. Ryan (now Voss Postdoctoral scholar, Brown University)

Mr. Ethan Kyzivat (now earning Ph.D. at Brown University)

Ms. Katia Lezine (now earning Ph.D. at Brown University)