Current Research Interests and Projects

• Ice on the Moon
• The surface and climate of Mars
• Ice on asteroids (especially Ceres and Trojans)
• Permafrost and ice caves in Hawaii
• Physics of planetary processes
• Computational methods

Code

• General: https://github.com/nschorgh/
• GitHub Repository: Mars Subsurface Ice Model (MSIM): Thermal and Ice Evolution Models for Mars; direct link to MSIM_Methods.pdf
• GitHub Repository: Planetary Code Collection: Thermal, Ice Evolution, and Exosphere Models for Planetary Surfaces
• Supplementary material for my book on scientific computing: https://github.com/nschorgh/CompSciBook

Data: The Moon

• "Replication Data for: Sublimation pressures of common volatiles at low temperature and maps of supervolatile cold traps on the Moon", Harvard Dataverse, V3
• "Lunar polar maps derived from Diviner temperatures organized by subsolar and ecliptic longitude", Harvard Dataverse, V3
• Extent of past PSRs in the north and south polar regions of the Moon, Zenodo, V4

Data: Ceres

• "Replication Data for: History of Ceres's Cold Traps Based on Refined Shape Models", Harvard Dataverse, V1
• History of Ceres's Cold Traps Based on Refined Shape Models - north polar PSR maps
• Ceres SPC Shape and Regional Models Bundle V1.0., NASA Planetary Data System

Data: Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa

• Hawaii High-Altitude Permafrost Project: https://zenodo.org/communities/hawaii/ (2017 and onward)

Conference Presentations

• Recent recorded conference and workshop presentations (hosted on YouTube), starting in 2020
• A few presentations (slide decks) (hosted on SlideShare)

Research in the News

• The Moon's ice archive that was never written, by Emily Costello. Nature News & Views, June 19, 2026. [external link]
• Junge Eisvorkommen auf dem Mond, von Norbert Schörghofer, Sterne und Weltraum, Juli 2024.
• Ice trapped in craters on Ceres is surprisingy young, by Kerry Hensley, AAS Nova, April 24, 2024 [external link],
• There may be less water ice on the moon than we thought, by Paul S. Anderson, EarthSky, September 21, 2023 [external link]
• Study highlights the young age of permanently shadowed lunar areas, Phys.org, September 13, 2023 [external link]
• The young age of lunar permanently shadowed areas, PSI Press Release, September 13, 2023 [external link]
• Rare tropical permafrost near Mauna Kea’s summit diminishing, researchers find, HawaiiNewsNow, May 20, 2023 [external link]
• Hawaii Has Permafrost, and Scientists Are Racing to Study It before It’s Gone, by Chelsea Harvey, E&E News/Scientific American, May 15, 2023 [external link]
• Not just water, there could be frozen carbon dioxide on the Moon too, by Andy Tomaswick, Universe Today, December 2021 [external link]
• Pockets of frozen CO2 on the moon could fuel future space travel, by Leto Sapunar, Popular Science, November 2021 [external link]
• Carbon dioxide cold traps on the Moon are confirmed for the first time, by Liza Lester, AGU News, November 2021 [external link]
• NASA confirms there is water on the moon that astronauts could use, by Loren Grush, New Scientist, October 2020 [external link]
• Salt water may periodically form on the surface of Mars, PSI Press Release, February 2020 [external]
• Modeling ice in asteroids, by Josh Schertz, The Space Resource Newsletter, March 2019 [external link]
• How long can celestial bodies retain ice? EOS Research Spotlight, February 2019 [external link]
• Why a palm-fringed Pacific island harbours pools of ice, Nature Research Highlight, December 2018 [external link]
• The last permafrost in Hawaii, Office of Maunakea Management News, October 2017 [external link]
• Hunt for water at Ceres goes underground, by Stephen Clark, Spaceflight Now, December 2016 [external link]
• Dwarf planet Ceres appears to be covered with hidden ice, by Fiona Macdonald, Science Alert, December 2016 [external link]
• Where is the ice on Ceres? New NASA Dawn Findings, by Elizabeth Landau, JPL News, December 2016 [external link]
• The dwarf planet Ceres has a dark secret, by Maddie Stone, Gizmodo, December 2016 [external link]
• Mars-like ice rediscovered in Hawaii volcano, but might not last, by Alice Klein, New Scientist, September 2016 [external link]
• Dawn maps Ceres craters where ice can accumulate, by Elizabeth Zubritsky (Goddard), JPL News, July 2016 [external link]
• Permanent shadows on Ceres, NASA Goddard, July 2016 [YouTube]
• There's a massive, icy underworld hiding inside one of Hawaii's volcanoes, by Chris D'Angelo, HuffPost Science, January 2016 [external link]
• The melting ice caves of Mauna Loa, by Nick Lee, Hawaii Public Radio, January 2016 [external link]
• New study shows 'massive ice loss' in Mauna Loa ice cave. HawaiiNewsNow, December 2015 [external link]
• History of Mauna Kea snow and ice (public talk), November 2014 [YouTube].
• Looking for permafrost in Hawaii, blog by Brian Shiro, June 2013 [external link]
• Last Martian Ice Age still waning, blog by rburnham, August 2012 [external link]
• Slope streaks not becoming more common; survive for decades, blog by rburnham, March 2012 [external link]
• Mars als weißer Planet, by Guido Meyer, Deutschlandfunk (in German), September 2007 [external link]
• Prickly City Comic Strip. Washington Post and Seattle Times, 24 September 2007 [external file]
• Jeff Hecht. The ebb and flow of Martian ice. New Scientist Magazine, page 23, September 2007
• Mars, like Earth, has cyclical Ice Ages study says, by Brian Handwerk, National Geographic News, September 2007 [external link]
• Cambio climático: la evolución del clima en Marte (in Spanish), September 2007 [external link]
• Mars has had many, many ice ages, by Nicholos Wethington, UniverseToday, September 2007 [external link]
• Oliver Morton. Mars revisited. National Geographic Magazine, pages 2-31, January 2004
• Robert Burnham. A new type of martian landslide. Astronomy Magazine, page 30, November 2003

Special-Purpose Bibliographies