Nikki Jun 14, 20212 min readWild and scenic: How the Yampa River flowsThe Yampa River is the heartbeat of the valley. Its cadence is almost invisibly slow: one resonating beat per year, reaching its apex in...
Nikki May 13, 20215 min readBears getting into trash cans: the data behind a mountain town rite of springIn the arms race between human-engineered bearproof dumpsters and hunger-driven bear ingenuity, it's hard to say who's winning. The first...
Nikki Apr 6, 20213 min readSnow Stripes: Rhythms of winter snowfall in Colorado's famed ski townsIt's not the snow itself that defines winter in a ski town. It's the way it changes the mood of entire town. How it sparkles in the eyes...
Nikki Mar 2, 20213 min readHow Steamboat stays connected: Mapping Facebook’s Social Connectedness IndexIt's March again. There is not much left to say about the COVID-19 pandemic that I can do a better job of saying than anyone else, so...
Nikki Feb 2, 20214 min readWhat 16 years of land cover data reveals about the changing landscape of Steamboat Springs"This place has changed a lot since I moved here." "It's not what it used to be." "You should have been here 10 years ago." "You should...
Nikki Dec 26, 20205 min readSmoke plume summer: Watching wildfires from space with Landsat 8 and Google Earth EngineWe marked the passage of the long, hot late summer days in Steamboat Springs by watching smoke plumes billowing on the eastern horizon. ...