Keith works to integrate field based observations, remote sensing products and hydrology models to address questions and concerns related to environmental change and to further our understanding of land-atmosphere interactions and the hydrologic cycle. His recent research has included the impact of snow and soil frost on the surface water and energy balance in the upper Mississippi River basin, as well as an investigation of the applicability of aircraft- and satellite-based thermal remote sensing to monitoring stream temperatures. He is also studying the significance of seasonal soil frost in the United States and Canada and how that may change with regional climate, as well as trying to understand the relative importance of land use and land cover change, and climate change in controlling water supplies in the Great Lakes region.

Selected Publications

Sinha, T., and K. A. Cherkauer (accepted Journal of Hydrometerology), Time series analysis of soil freeze-thaw processes in Indiana.

Cherkauer, K. A., S. J. Burges, R. N. Handcock, J. E. Kay, S. K. Kampf, and A. R. Gillespie (2005), Assessing satellite-based and aircraft-based thermal infrared remote sensing for monitoring Pacific Northwest river temperature, Journal of the American Water Resources Association 41(5), 1149-1160.

Cherkauer, K. A., L. C. Bowling and D. P. Lettenmaier, 2003, Variable infiltration capacity (VIC) cold land process model updates, Journal of Global and Planetary Change, 38(1-2), 151-159.

Cherkauer, K. A. and D. P. Lettenmaier (2003), Simulation of spatial variability in snow and frozen soil, Journal of Geophysical Research 108(D22), 8858, doi:10.1029/2003JD003575.