Curriculum Vitae
You can download the full CV as a PDF file here (last updated September 2026).
Research Profile
Earth scientist and machine-learning researcher who builds automated, scalable methods that turn large volumes of satellite data into reliable, openly available information. At Global Fishing Watch, I develop AI models that detect, classify, and identify vessels in optical and radar satellite imagery to support transparent monitoring of fishing and other human activity at sea. As a NASA FINESST Future Investigator at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, I created algorithms that automatically detect meltwater lakes and measure their depths in NASA ICESat-2 laser-altimetry photon data across the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.
Skills
Methods: Machine learning and computer vision for satellite imagery ∣ Sensor processing and data fusion (optical, SAR, lidar altimetry, AIS) ∣ Satellite remote sensing ∣ Large-scale geospatial data analysis ∣ Distributed high-throughput computing ∣ Training-data design and annotation management ∣ Statistical learning and econometrics ∣ Data visualization ∣ Scientific writing and communication
Computing: Python ∣ SQL (Google BigQuery, PostgreSQL/PostGIS) ∣ PyTorch ∣ scikit-learn ∣ Jupyter ∣ Git/GitHub ∣ bash ∣ Google Cloud Platform & AWS ∣ Google Earth Engine ∣ HTCondor ∣ Singularity/Docker ∣ Spark ∣ MATLAB ∣ R ∣ C ∣ Java ∣ JavaScript ∣ Stata ∣ Mathematica ∣ QGIS & ArcGIS ∣ \(\LaTeX\) ∣ AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Gemini CLI)
Languages: German (native) ∣ English (fluent) ∣ French (conversational) ∣ Portuguese (conversational)
Education
- Ph.D. in Earth Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, 2024
- M.Sc. in Earth Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, 2020
- M.Sc. in Engineering Physics (Complex Adaptive Systems), Chalmers University of Technology, 2018
- B.A. in Economics & Mathematics, Yale University, 2016
- International Summer School in Glaciology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, McCarthy, AK, 2022
Research & Professional Experience
- Jan 2025 - present: Data Scientist, Satellite Imagery & Data Fusion (Research & Innovation Team)
- Global Fishing Watch, remote (based in San Diego, CA, USA)
- Building machine-learning systems that detect vessels in optical (Sentinel-2, PlanetScope) and radar (Sentinel-1, NISAR) satellite imagery and determine their type, activity, and identity, in close collaboration with SkyTruth and the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2)
- Global Sentinel-2 vessel detections (released July 2025): rebuilt the database of environmental and contextual features (e.g., bathymetry, seabed type, ocean and weather conditions, distance to shore and port, AIS vessel density, socioeconomic indicators) that the vessel-classification models combine with image embeddings. The open dataset captures about three times more vessels than radar, including some under 10 m, across all coastal waters.
- PlanetScope vessel detections: helping develop vessel-classification models for detections in Planet’s 3 m imagery, which brings small coastal vessels (down to ~5 m) into view; managing image annotation for training data (labeling tools, training and managing an external labeling contractor) and building BigQuery feature pipelines across hundreds of millions of detections
- Dark vessels and new activity types: supporting work on retrieving the identities of large vessels that do not broadcast AIS; sand-dredging classification in Sentinel-2 and PlanetScope imagery with collaborators from UC Santa Barbara’s emLab
- Bottom trawling in Australia: co-led a project for the Minderoo Foundation mapping bottom trawling across Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone by combining AIS data with Sentinel-2 detections, including how much occurs inside versus outside Fisheries Restricted Areas
- Sep 2018 - Dec 2024: Graduate Researcher & NASA FINESST Future Investigator
- Scripps Polar Center, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Developed FLUID-SuRRF, a fully automated framework that detects meltwater lakes in ICESat-2 photon data and measures their depths (mean absolute error < 0.27 m). Scaled it with distributed high-throughput computing on the NSF-supported Open Science Pool to process 138 TB of data (~765 billion photons) from five melt seasons on both ice sheets, yielding 10,954 lake-depth segments up to 33 m deep.
- Trained a random-forest model on the Greenland ICESat-2 depths to estimate lake depth and volume from Sentinel-2 imagery; it reaches ~0.5 m depth accuracy against in situ sonar, cuts volume errors by over 60% compared with traditional radiative-transfer methods, and generalizes to Antarctica (manuscript in preparation)
- Wrote the open-source ICESat-2 depth-retrieval code for Fricker et al. (2021), since used by independent research groups; contributed analysis, code, and the widely republished water-volume graphic to Warner et al. (2021); compiled an inventory of through-ice-shelf lake drainages across Antarctica
- Designed and led a ski-based campaign to ground-validate ICESat-2 snow depths in the San Bernardino Mountains (2023); mentored three undergraduate research projects and was a teaching assistant for two courses
- Advisor: Helen A. Fricker
- Jan 2017 - Dec 2017: Contracted Student Researcher
- Fraunhofer-Chalmers Centre for Industrial Mathematics, Gothenburg, Sweden
- I analyzed GPS tracking data for a large truck producer to gain insights into their customers’ mobility patterns. This involved a global clustering of points where trucks stopped for extended periods of time, cross-referencing the resulting “hubs” with infrastructure data from open-source mapping platforms, and training a classifier to categorize unlabeled locations.
- Supervisor: Mats Jirstrand
- Jun 2017 - Aug 2017: Visiting Assistant in Research
- Yale Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, New Haven, CT, USA
- I worked on an interdisciplinary project applying econometric methods to global weather station data to robustly estimate Earth’s transient climate sensitivity from in-situ observational data (co-author of Storelvmo et al., 2018). I also used machine learning algorithms for spatio-temporal interpolation of weather station records based on global reanalysis data.
- Supervisors: Trude Storelvmo & Peter C. B. Phillips
- May 2015 - Aug 2015: COPAN Guest Researcher
- Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany
- I carried out statistical data analyses focusing on the ‘Great Acceleration’ time series and related data sets. I found that many of these time series exhibit statistically significant break points around the 1950s. This means that it is possible to define the Anthropocene as a geological epoch with a stratigraphic marker that coincides with the “bomb spike” while also being rooted in a robust statistical analysis that takes into account the socioeconomic drivers characterizing the Anthropocene.
- Supervisor: Jobst Heitzig
- May 2014 – Jul 2014: Client Management and Underwriting Intern
- Munich Re, Munich, Germany
- Risk modeling, XL treaty pricing, solvency analysis, business strategy for the Indian and Japanese markets
- Aug 2013 – May 2015: Social Media and Photography Intern
- Yale Office of Public Affairs & Communications, New Haven, CT, USA
- Photography, outreach strategy & official representation of Yale University on social media
Publications
Google Scholar (September 2026): 175 citations, h-index 4 ∣ profile
Arndt, P. S. (2024). Using High-Resolution Satellite Observations to Better Understand Surface Melt Processes on the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets. Ph.D. dissertation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego.
Arndt, P. S. and Fricker, H. A.: A framework for automated supraglacial lake detection and depth retrieval in ICESat-2 photon data across the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, The Cryosphere, 18, 5173–5206, 2024.
Warner, R. C., Fricker, H. A., Adusumilli, S., Arndt, P., Kingslake, J., & Spergel, J. J. (2021). Rapid formation of an ice doline on Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters, 48(14), e2020GL091095.
Fricker, H. A., Arndt, P., Brunt, K. M., Datta, R. T., Fair, Z., Jasinski, M. F., ... & Wouters, B. (2021). ICESat‐2 meltwater depth estimates: application to surface melt on amery ice shelf, East Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters, 48(8), e2020GL090550.
Storelvmo, T., Heede, U. K., Leirvik, T., Phillips, P. C., Arndt, P., & Wild, M. (2018). Lethargic response to aerosol emissions in current climate models. Geophysical Research Letters, 45(18), 9814-9823.
Arndt, P. (2018). Detection of Multi-Level Hierarchies in Multi-View Cancer Networks, with Applications to Glioblastoma Multiforme [Masters Thesis].
Research Grants & Fellowships
- Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST), NASA Earth Science Division, research award (USD 135,000 ∣ 2020-24, grant 80NSSC20K1666). Project: “Exploitation of ICESat-2’s Unique Capabilities and Machine Learning for Improved Understanding of Mass Balance Processes Across all Antarctic Ice Shelves” (Future Investigator; PI: H. A. Fricker)
- Wyer Family Endowed Fellowship, for PhD stipend supplement (2020-23)
- Katzin Fellowship, for PhD program tuition supplement (2020-23)
- Scripps Fellowship, for outstanding incoming graduate students (2018-19)
- Richter Fellowship, for climate research in Germany (2015)
- e-fellows.net Scholarship, awarded for academic merit (2015)
- Larry Coben Fellowship, for academic work and volunteer teaching in Brazil (2013)
Honors & Travel Awards
- Early-Career Researcher Travel Grant, WAIS Workshop, Cloquet, MN (2023)
- Selected speaker, Graduate Student Spotlight, NASA ICESat-2 Science Symposium & Science Team Meeting, Austin, TX (2022)
- Early-Career Researcher Travel Grant, WAIS Workshop, Estes Park, CO (2022)
- WSL Early-Career Researcher Travel Grant, The Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, Davos, Switzerland (2022)
- Scripps Departmental Travel Grant, AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2021)
- Early-Career Researcher Travel Grant, WAIS Workshop, Sterling, VA (2021)
- Antarctica Service Medal, U.S. Department of Defense (2019)
- Scholar-Athlete Award, National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastics Clubs (2019)
- Academic Excellence Award, UC San Diego Club Sports (2019)
Open Data Products & Software
- Arndt, P. S. & Fricker, H. A. (2024). Source code for FLUID-SuRRF, automated supraglacial lake detection and depth retrieval in ICESat-2 photon data (incl. a Singularity container for distributed high-throughput computing). Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.10905941
- Arndt, P. S. & Fricker, H. A. (2024). Data for “A framework for automated supraglacial lake detection and depth retrieval in ICESat-2 photon data across the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets”. Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.10901737
- Arndt, P. (2024). Data and code for figure reproduction for the same paper (FLUIDSuRRF-figures). Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.10901826
- Arndt, P. (2025). ICESat2Sentinel2 (v0.1.0): open-source code for pairing ICESat-2 data with Sentinel-2 imagery. Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.14722234
- Arndt, P., Warner, R., Fricker, H. A., Adusumilli, S., Kingslake, J., & Spergel, J. (2021). Data and code for “Rapid Formation of an Ice Doline on Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica.” Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4747428
- Arndt, P. (2020). Code for ICESat-2 melt-lake depth retrieval comparisons on Amery Ice Shelf, for Fricker et al. (2021) (ameryMeltLakesICESat2, v1.0.0). Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.4299237
- Arndt, P. pondpicking: interactive Jupyter tool for ICESat-2 lake-depth retrieval, used in Lutz et al. (2024, The Cryosphere). GitHub
- Arndt, P. & Roberts, C. (2026). Interactive Visualization with OpenAltimetry and Google Earth Engine. Chapter in ICESat-2 Cookbook (v1.0.0), Project Pythia. doi:10.5281/zenodo.21298648
- ICESat-2 Hackweek 2022 and 2023 websites and tutorials (co-author), eScience Institute, University of Washington. doi:10.5281/zenodo.6462479; doi:10.5281/zenodo.10519966
- Contributor (team product): Global Fishing Watch Sentinel-2 vessel detections, a global, openly available dataset (GFW map, data portal, and monthly Zenodo releases), 2025-present
Talks
June 15, 2026
Poster (co-author; presented by D. Kroodsma) at 11th Our Ocean Conference (OOC11), Academia and Research Pre-Conference Symposium, Mombasa, Kenya
September 23, 2024
Oral Conference Presentation at ESA & NASA Cryo2ice Symposium 2024 (Session 3: Ice Sheets and Ice Shelves – Hydrology & Dynamics), Harpa, Reykjavík, Iceland
September 16, 2024
Public Doctoral Dissertation Defense at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
October 02, 2023
Oral Lightning Talk and Poster Presentation at NASA ICESat-2 Science Team Meeting, La Jolla, CA, USA
September 28, 2023
Oral Conference Presentation at 2023 West Antarctic Ice Sheet Initiative Workshop, Cloquet, MN, USA
August 09, 2023
Interactive Coding Tutorial at University of Washington eScience ICESat-2 Cloud Computing Hackweek, Seattle, WA, USA
June 20, 2023
Poster Presentation and Panel Discussion at Scripps Fellowship Luncheon, La Jolla, CA, USA
June 01, 2023
Oral Lightning Talk at Scripps Polar Center Town Hall, La Jolla, CA, USA
December 14, 2022
Poster Presentation at 2022 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting (abstract C35C-0895), Chicago, IL, USA
October 27, 2022
Graduate Student Spotlight Talk at NASA ICESat-2 Science Symposium and Science Team Meeting, Austin, TX, USA
September 29, 2022
Oral Conference Presentation at 2022 West Antarctic Ice Sheet Initiative Workshop, Estes Park, CO, USA
June 23, 2022
Oral Presentation at International Summer School in Glaciology Public Presentations, McCarthy, AK, USA
March 23, 2022
Interactive Online Tutorial at University of Washington eScience ICESat-2 Hackweek, Seattle, WA, USA
December 16, 2021
Poster Presentation at 2021 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting (abstract C45F-1072), New Orleans, LA, USA
December 15, 2021
Invited Union Session Talk (co-author; presented by A. S. Gardner) at 2021 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting (abstract U32A-05), New Orleans, LA, USA
September 22, 2021
Oral Conference Presentation at 2021 West Antarctic Ice Sheet Initiative Workshop, Sterling, VA, USA
April 19, 2021
Display (co-author; presented by R. Warner) at vEGU21: EGU General Assembly 2021 (EGU21-14157), virtual
February 04, 2021
Virtual Lightning Talk at Scripps Polar Center Virtual Research Town Hall, virtual on Zoom
December 15, 2020
Invited Oral (co-author; presented by H. A. Fricker) at 2020 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting (abstract C058-01), virtual
September 24, 2020
Virtual Conference Talk at 2020 West Antarctic Ice Sheet Initiative Workshop, virtual on Zoom
Coverage of Warner et al. (2021) unless noted; many of these articles feature my graphic of the lost water volume.
Field Experience
- Field Team and Project Lead
- Independent Research with the UC San Diego Alpine Club ∣ April 2023, San Bernardino National Forest, CA, USA
- Ski-Based ICESat-2 Ground-Validation Campaign for Snow Depth Measurements on San Gorgonio Mountain
- Field Assistant
- University of Alaska Fairbanks & National Science Foundation ∣ May 2022 - Jun 2022, McCarthy, AK, USA
- Anticipating Rates of Deglaciation in Alaska: Controls on The Mass Loss and Morphology of The Debris Covered Terminus of Kennicott Glacier, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park (NSF Award ID 1917536)
- Field Researcher (Grantee)
- United States Antarctic Program & National Science Foundation ∣ Oct 2019 - Dec 2019, McMurdo Station / Siple Dome, Antarctica
- Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA) project, Geophysics Team (event number C-533): two-month deep-field deployment living in tents on the ice, including recovery of GPS instruments by small aircraft
- Glacier Field Course
- Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Commission for Geodesy & Glaciology ∣ Jul 2010, Vernagtferner Glacier, Ötztal Alps, Austria
Teaching & Mentorship
- Peer reviewer, The Cryosphere, 2021; public community comments in The Cryosphere’s open peer-review discussions of later manuscripts
- Organizer and tutorial lead, ICESat-2 Hackweeks, University of Washington eScience Institute, 2022 & 2023
- Board Member of the Allied Climbers of San Diego, 2024-present
- Founding member and instruction/outreach with the UC San Diego Alpine Club, 2022-present
- Chalmers Environmental Unit Sustainability Ambassador, 2017-18
- Student Representative, MSc Complex Adaptive Systems Program at Chalmers University of Technology and Gothenburg University, 2017-18
- Artistic Gymnastics Coach (kids and adults) and Judge with Göteborgs Turnförening, 2016-18
- Co-Founder of the Yale Gymnastics Club, President (2013-15) and Coach (2013-16)
- German Society at Yale University, President (2014-15), Events Coordinator (2013-16)
- Co-founder of the Yale Photography Society, President (2012-13)
- Provided free or heavily discounted photoshoots for small community organizations while doing paid freelance projects and work for Yale University (2013-16)
- Artistic Gymnastics Coach (kids) and Judge with Turn- und Sportverein Fürstenfeldbruck (2007-11)
Certifications and Licenses
- Wilderness First Responder, Wilderness Medical Associates (2022-28)
- Single Pitch Instructor, American Mountain Guides Association (2024-27)
- PADI Open Water Diver
- Driver’s Licenses: California and Germany
Coursework
Algebraic Topology and Knot Theory ∣ Artificial Neural Networks ∣ Big Data and Statistical Learning ∣ Climate Dynamics and Climate Change ∣ Combinatorics and Graph Theory ∣ Computational Biology ∣ Computational Physics ∣ Conservation Biology ∣ Data Science for Engineers and Scientists ∣ Dynamic Meteorology ∣ Dynamical Systems ∣ Earth Surface Processes ∣ Econometrics ∣ Environmental Risk Assessment ∣ Ethical and Professional Science ∣ Fluid Mechanics ∣ General Equilibrium Theory ∣ Geophysical Fluid Dynamics ∣ Global Environmental Governance ∣ Global Tectonics ∣ Ice Sheet-Ocean Interactions ∣ Ice and the Climate System ∣ Independent Research in Earth Science ∣ Information Theory ∣ International Summer School in Glaciology ∣ Leadership for Sustainability Transitions ∣ Linear Algebra and Differential Calculus of Several Variables ∣ Linear Algebra and Matrix Theory ∣ Macroeconomics ∣ Marine Chemistry ∣ Master’s Thesis in Mathematics ∣ Mathematical Game Theory ∣ Microeconomics ∣ Natural Disasters ∣ Observational Methods in Physical Oceanography ∣ Organic Chemistry (Structure and Reactivity) ∣ Paleoclimatology ∣ Physical Oceanographic Data Analysis ∣ Physical Oceanography ∣ Probability Theory and Statistics ∣ Real Analysis ∣ Satellite Remote Sensing ∣ Science Writing ∣ Seismology ∣ Simulation of Complex Systems ∣ Stochastic Optimization Algorithms ∣ Systems Biology ∣ Thermodynamics of the Atmosphere ∣ Vector Analysis and Differential Geometry ∣ World Finance
