Mission
To document and communicate the changing state of the world’s glaciers through repeat photography, geospatial data, and open scientific collaboration, creating an accessible archive for researchers, educators, and the public.
Vision
A global, open archive of glacier imagery, data, and accessible educational content that enables scientists, citizen observers, and communities to better understand how glacier change affects ecosystems, economies, and societies.
Project Goals
- Document landscape change
- Publish accessible expert discussion
- Share our field experience
- Build an AI-enabled public archive
About the Authors
Meet the team behind the lens and the data.
Dan Meier
Project Co-Lead
Dan Meier is a dual United States–Swiss citizen who grew up spending his summers hiking throughout Switzerland. During those early trips he developed a deep appreciation for the alpine landscape and the glaciers that shape it. Over the years, however, he began to notice that many of the places he loved looked different each time he returned. Glaciers he remembered from childhood, including the Morteratsch Glacier and the Wildstrubel Glacier, appeared smaller with every visit.
Those observations became the inspiration for the Glacier Archive Project.
Dan began this project in order to study glaciers more closely and document their changes through repeat photography. The project also explores how modern tools, including large-scale data analysis and artificial intelligence, can help document and communicate glacier change more effectively.
Beyond the physical landscape, the project also examines the broader societal implications of glacier retreat. Glaciers play an important role in water supply, energy systems, infrastructure, tourism, and other sectors that rely on alpine environments.
Dan holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Maryland, where he studied environmental policy and related topics across the United States, Latin America, and Europe. While at the University of Maryland, he founded the University of Maryland Journal of Public Policy and served as its first Editor-in-Chief, publishing the journal’s inaugural edition in 2017.
In his free time, Dan continues to spend time in the mountains hiking, skiing, and rock climbing.
Ginny Harmon
Project Co-Lead
Ginny grew up in New Hampshire with a deep love for the outdoors. After spending the past 6.5 years living in Washington, DC, she has come to realize how much she once took that access to nature for granted.
Ginny joined Dan on the Glacier Archive Project during a sabbatical from her professional career in consulting. Through the project, she is helping document and communicate glacier change, and contributing to a broader effort to connect the visible shifts in alpine landscapes to the wider impacts they can have beyond the mountains.
Ginny holds master's degrees in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and in International Affairs from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.
In her free time, Ginny can often be found outside skiing, hiking, or trail running.