When Thomas Teisberg began deciphering Earth’s ice sheets, he didn’t expect to find himself nestled in a metaphorical pyramid. With a background in electrical engineering and experience in drone perception systems, he’d been building the tools that collect data used to understand melting ice sheets. But over time, he began to see this work as the bottom layer of a pyramid of activity. He started to become more interested in the layers above — not just the layers of ice — but also the models, projections, uncertainty, and real-world decisions that rest on that foundational data.

Now, as a Resident at the Astera Institute, Thomas is working to close the loop between ice sheet data collection and modeling, with the end goal of enabling better decision-making around sea-level rise. We sat down with him to hear more about how he’s approaching this massive systems problem, why improving uncertainty matters, and the opportunities he sees to catalyze change for the future.

Read the full interview on our Substack: https://asterainstitute.substack.com/p/breaking-the-ice