Cryosphere
The cryosphere plays in critical role in the Earth system, both responding to and having some control over the dynamics of the oceans, the atmosphere, the lithosphere and global climate. Glaciology is the study of ice and natural phenomena that involve ice. It is a true integration of geology, meteorology, oceanography, and climatology.
Our main areas of glaciological research are:
- Using ice-cores and ice sheet studies to advance our understanding of past climate change
- Applying field and remote sensing techniques to investigate ice sheet surface processes and recent change
- Understanding the controls on ice dynamics
Our current research is focused on the polar ice sheets, and two specific geographic areas in particular: the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Greenland Ice Sheet. These regions have fast moving ice streams, fringing ice shelves, surface melting, a strong marine influence, show large changes since the last ice age, and have the potential for rapid future change and large sea level impacts