My research projects focus on combining remotely-sensed and in situ observations and numerical ice flow modeling to develop a better understanding of the environmental triggering mechanisms and internal controls of marine-terminating glacier behavior (i.e., glacier dynamics). I am particularly interested in glacier-ocean interactions, namely submarine melting and iceberg calving, and how changes in these interactions influence the rate of mass loss from the fast-flowing glaciers that drain the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. I completed my Ph.D. research under the supervision of Dr. Ian Howat (Glacier Dynamics Group, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center) in 2013. Since then, I have been working at the University of Maine Climate Change Institute. Information on my research interests can be found under the Research tab. I am also actively involved in a number of outreach activities.  New undergraduate research assistant: Time-lapse photos of glaciers and glacial fjords, like those featured in
the movie "Chasing Ice", provide the opportunity to observe rapid
changes in ice-ocean interactions. Undergraduate Mike Driscoll is currently working
with time-lapse photos from two fast-flowing glaciers, one in Alaska
and the other in Greenland (see real-time photos here: http://glacierresearch.org/realtime-images.html), to
characterize changes in iceberg calving. These data will be combined with a variety of other satellite remotely-sensed datasets to investigate what the observed changes mean
in regard to glacier change. New graduate student: The CCI Glaciology group is happy to add a new graduate student, Will Kochtitzky. Will is starting his graduate research working on my Greenland iceberg melting project: he is extracting iceberg meltwater flux and melt rate estimates for ~6 fjords in Greenland using very high-resolution satellite images. He'll later combine these data with iceberg observations from other fjords and use these data to characterize spatial and temporal variations in ice melt potential in Greenland's glacial fjords. Welcome Will! Spring 2016Undergraduate Research: Undergraduate research assistant and UMaine junior, Caroline Carrigan, presented her research results on iceberg melting at the UMaine Center for Undergraduate Research symposium. This was Caroline's first scientific poster! She presented her preliminary results on submarine melting for icebergs calved from Alison Glacier in NW Greenland and Zachariae Isstrom in NE Greenland. She's found that 2011 iceberg melt rates were similar in both locations, with an average of ~0.04 m/d and no significant seasonal variations. She'll be expanding her datasets to investigate seasonal and inter-annual variations in iceberg submarine melting near these two glaciers during her senior year at UMaine. |
Climate Change Institute School of Earth & Climate Sciences Glacier Flubber GIF Glacier Dynamics Video Educational Antarctic Game Real-time Glacier Observations OSU Glacier Dynamics Group Visitor Count |
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