Mountain glacier response to climate change

Mountain glaciers are sensitive indicators of climate change. In recent decades retreat and thinning of these glaciers has accelerated and many are predicted to have disappeared by the end of the 21st Century. At sub-regional and local scales, there is substantial variability in how glaciers are predicted to respond, meaning that glacier-specific observations are important for refining modelled predictions at these scales. This PhD project will focus on examining regional to individual glacier responses of high-latitude mountain glaciers across a range of northern hemisphere locations, including Norway, Greenland and Arctic Canada. The project will explore the role that topography, glacier hypsometry and microclimates play in moderating the response of glaciers to regional climate change. Particular attention will be paid to threshold behaviour, for example on plateau icefields, and predicting glacier source-area disconnections and catastrophic glacier detachments. Data collection and analysis will be primarily undertaken remotely, using satellite and aerial imagery, and DEMs, and therefore interested candidates should be familiar with using remotely-sensed data and analysis within GIS.  There will also be the opportunity to undertake fieldwork in active glacial environments.