2026 Thomas H. Painter: Environmental Sciences Researcher – H-Index, Publications & Awards

Discipline name	D-Index	World Ranking	Current World Ranking	National Ranking	Current National Ranking	Publications	Citations
Environmental Sciences	71	1552	1474	659	605	223	22679

Thomas H. Painter publication distribution in Environmental Sciences in 2026

The chart shows the distribution of publications by all Research.com ranked scientists in the field of Environmental Sciences in 2026. The highlighted bar marks where Thomas H. Painter sits on this spectrum.

41 publications 687+

This scientist: 223 publications — 71st percentile

71% of scientists in this discipline score the same or lower.

The last bar groups every scientist with 687 publications or more.

Thomas H. Painter D-index placement in Environmental Sciences in 2026

The chart shows the D-index (discipline H-index) distribution of Environmental Sciences scientists ranked by Research.com in 2026. The highlighted bar marks where Thomas H. Painter sits on this spectrum.

30 D-Index 125+

This scientist: 71 D-Index — 84th percentile

84% of scientists in this discipline score the same or lower.

The last bar groups every scientist with 125 D-Index or more.

Research.com Recognitions

2019 - Fellow of American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Overview

Thomas H. Painter is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles in the United States. Their research focuses on various aspects of Earth and Planetary Sciences, with a particular emphasis on Environmental Science.

The primary fields of study include:

Earth and Planetary Sciences
Environmental Science

Subfields of research consist of:

Atmospheric Science
Global and Planetary Change
Water Science and Technology
Geography, Planning and Development
Environmental Engineering

Main topics covered by Painter's work are:

Cryospheric studies and observations
Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies
Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
Climate change and permafrost
Atmospheric aerosols and clouds
Precipitation Measurement and Analysis

Recent publications authored or co-authored by Painter include:

NASA's surface biology and geology designated observable: A perspective on surface imaging algorithms, 2021, Remote Sensing of Environment
Dust dominates high-altitude snow darkening and melt over high-mountain Asia, 2020, Nature Climate Change
Accelerated Snow Melt in the Russian Caucasus Mountains After the Saharan Dust Outbreak in March 2018, 2020, Journal of Geophysical Research Earth Surface
Multi-sensor fusion using random forests for daily fractional snow cover at 30 m, 2021, Remote Sensing of Environment
Quantifying uncertainty for remote spectroscopy of surface composition, 2020, Remote Sensing of Environment

Painter frequently collaborates with the following co-authors:

K. J. Bormann
Nimrod Carmon
David R. Thompson
Karl Rittger
Edward H. Bair

Publications by Painter are often found in these venues:

Remote Sensing of Environment
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Hydrological Processes
Frontiers in Earth Science
SSRN Electronic Journal

Painter was recognized as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in 2019.

Best Publications

Importance and vulnerability of the world's water towers

W W Immerzeel;A F Lutz;M Andrade;M Andrade;A Bahl

1785
Citations
Reflectance quantities in optical remote sensing - definitions and case studies

G Schaepman-Strub;G Schaepman-Strub;Michael E Schaepman;T H Painter;S Dangel

1439
Citations
Climatic, edaphic, and biotic controls over storage and turnover of carbon in soils

David S. Schimel;B. H. Braswell;Elisabeth A. Holland;Rebecca McKeown

1365
Citations
Mountain hydrology of the western United States

Roger C. Bales;Noah P. Molotch;Noah P. Molotch;Thomas H. Painter;Michael D. Dettinger

838
Citations
Retrieval of subpixel snow covered area, grain size, and albedo from MODIS

Thomas H. Painter;Karl Rittger;Ceretha McKenzie;Peter Slaughter

705
Citations
Lidar measurement of snow depth: a review

Jeffrey S. Deems;Thomas H. Painter;David C. Finnegan

666
Citations
The Airborne Snow Observatory: Fusion of scanning lidar, imaging spectrometer, and physically-based modeling for mapping snow water equivalent and snow albedo

Thomas H. Painter;Daniel F. Berisford;Joseph W. Boardman;Kathryn J. Bormann

649
Citations
Springtime warming and reduced snow cover from carbonaceous particles

M. G. Flanner;C. S. Zender;P. G. Hess;P. G. Hess;N. M. Mahowald;N. M. Mahowald

609
Citations
Increasing Eolian Dust Deposition in the Western United States Linked to Human Activity

J. C. Neff;A. P. Ballantyne;G. L. Farmer;N. M. Mahowald;N. M. Mahowald

582
Citations
Geomorphic and geologic controls of geohazards induced by Nepal’s 2015 Gorkha earthquake

J. S. Kargel;G. J. Leonard;D. H. Shugar;U. K. Haritashya

572
Citations
Impact of disturbed desert soils on duration of mountain snow cover

Thomas H. Painter;Thomas H. Painter;Andrew P. Barrett;Christopher C. Landry;Jason C. Neff

562
Citations
MODIS-based Mosaic of Antarctica (MOA) data sets: Continent-wide surface morphology and snow grain size

T.A. Scambos;T.M. Haran;M.A. Fahnestock;T.H. Painter

560
Citations
Assessment of methods for mapping snow cover from MODIS

Karl Rittger;Thomas H. Painter;Jeff Dozier

475
Citations
Retrieval of subpixel snow-covered area and grain size from imaging spectrometer data

Thomas H. Painter;Jeff Dozier;Dar A. Roberts;Robert E. Davis

446
Citations
Response of Colorado River runoff to dust radiative forcing in snow

Thomas H. Painter;Jeffrey S. Deems;Jayne Belnap;Alan F. Hamlet

438
Citations
MULTISPECTRAL AND HYPERSPECTRAL REMOTE SENSING OF ALPINE SNOW PROPERTIES

Jeff Dozier;Thomas H. Painter

431
Citations
Radiative forcing by light-absorbing particles in snow

S. McKenzie Skiles;Mark Flanner;Joseph M. Cook;Marie Dumont

411
Citations
Estimating snow-cover trends from space

Kat J. Bormann;Ross D. Brown;Chris Derksen;Thomas H. Painter

401
Citations
Earth system science related imaging spectroscopy — an assessment

Michael E. Schaepman;Michael E. Schaepman;Susan L. Ustin;Antonio J. Plaza;Thomas H. Painter

395
Citations
The ecology of dust

Jason P Field;Jayne Belnap;David D Breshears;Jason C Neff

380
Citations

Frequent Co-Authors

Jeff Dozier University of California, Santa Barbara

Noah P. Molotch University of Colorado Boulder

Gregory S. Okin University of California, Los Angeles

Mark Flanner University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

Robert O. Green California Institute of Technology

Natalie M. Mahowald Cornell University

David S. Schimel Jet Propulsion Lab

Timothy G. F. Kittel University of Colorado Boulder

Michael E. Schaepman University of Zurich

Jayne Belnap United States Geological Survey

External Links

Personal website of Thomas H. Painter

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