Two fully-funded PhDs are offered as part of the NERC funded Doctoral Training Partnership "ACCE" (Adapting to the Challenges of a Changing Environment).
Investigating drainage beneath the British-Irish Ice Sheet: groundwater flow modelling and meltwater channel networks
Supervisors: Professor Chris Clark (Geography Department, University of Sheffield), Dr Stephen Livingstone (Geography Department, University of Sheffield) and Professor Domenico Baú (Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield)
Contact: s.j.livingstone@sheffield.ac.uk
The behaviour of ice sheets is largely controlled by conditions at their bed. Observations made beneath the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets reveal significant basal meltwater generation, storage and evacuation, which can lubricate the bed causing rapid ice-flow. Unfortunately, the pattern of meltwater flow beneath modern ice sheets is poorly understood. In particular, glaciologists have tended to think of the bed as an impermeable surface. However, the weight of an overlying ice mass has a major impact on groundwater flow patterns, recharge rates and distribution of freshwater. Detailing the complex aquifer--ice-sheet interactions is therefore crucial both for draining meltwater and as a mechanism for landform and sediment genesis.
This project we will use the bed of the British-Irish Ice Sheet, which has fully retreated revealing a bewildering array of meltwater features, in tandem with a numerical model, to reconstruct the form, evolution and drainage of groundwater and basal meltwater. This will be explored through: (1) detailed mapping of meltwater channels; (2) using a numerical model to reconstruct the pattern of groundwater drainage during the last glacial.Candidates with knowledge and interests in glacial hydrology, groundwater/ice-sheet modelling and/or glacial geomorphology are encouraged to apply.
Further details can be found here:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/geography/phd/projects/investigating_drainage_ice_sheet_phd
Greenland Ice Sheet hydrology and dynamics: the role of bed and ice surface roughness
Supervisors: Dr Andrew Sole (Geography Department, University of Sheffield), Dr David Rippin (Environment Department, University of York) and Dr Stephen Livingstone (Geography Department, University of Sheffield)
Contact: A.Sole@Sheffield.ac.uk
Substantial uncertainty remains about how the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) will respond to climate change, due principally to our lack of understanding of key processes that affect the ice sheet's fast-flowing outlet glaciers. The flow of these glaciers is strongly influenced by the roughness of their beds and the presence and pressure of basal water. Much of this water, generated by melting at the ice surface, gathers in lakes formed in surface depressions whose distribution is thought to be influenced by bed roughness. The lakes enhance surface melting and can drain rapidly through the ice affecting its flow. The cumulative effect on ice flow of increased lake coverage and drainage frequency, which could occur in a warming climate, remains uncertain.
This PhD represents an exciting opportunity to contribute to a fast moving and topical area of science. Initially it will focus on analysing radar and altimetry data to determine the ice bed and surface roughness of several regions of the GrIS. Investigation of the spatial distribution of surface lakes relative to these roughness parameters will inform numerical modelling of ice sheet flow to simulate the future evolution of the GrIS.
Further details can be found here:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/geography/phd/projects/greenland_ice_sheet--
NERC and Vice Chancellor Research Fellow
Department of Geography
University of Sheffield
Sheffield
S10 2TN
Tel. +44 (0) 114 222 7990
Email: s.j.livingstone@sheffield.ac.uk
http://www.shef.ac.uk/geography/staff/livingstone_stephen/index
Times Higher Education University of the Year 2011
