[CRYOLIST] Increased melting in Greenland

Dear Greenlanders

 

Increased melt on the Greenland ice sheet is in the news today with an article by Tom Parfitt (The Times, Wednesday July 31 2019). One of the people quoted in the article is Ruth Mottram from DMI (Danish Meteorological Institute) and she was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 around midday.

This set me thinking! Thirty years ago, I and Ole B. Olesen presented a paper on increased Greenland melt at a conference at the University of Washington in Seattle. It was later published in Annals of Glaciology (https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/E99A6D6167175DA35C5152772855052F/S0260305500008181a.pdf/increased_ablation_at_the_margin_of_the_greenland_ice_sheet_under_a_greenhouseeffect_climate.pdf)

The increased melt was calculated by perturbing an energy balance model at two locations in Greenland. The model was exceptionally well-constrained by hundreds of days of observed ablation stake measurements but two locations would not hack it today. Recent work in Greenland has stressed the nonlinear relation between melt and temperature increase and I am happy that our Fig. 3 shows a nonlinear relation. This represented an extrapolation because there was then (1989) no evidence of increased melting in Greenland or of rising temperatures. The paper was the second last paper on the last day of the Seattle conference and hardly caused a ripple except for a joke by Ed Waddington that I did not hear properly. The paper was cited in the First Assessment Report (1991) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) so it was not completely overlooked.

Roger Braithwaite

Senior Research Fellow

The University of Manchester

0161 275 7877

 

 

Roger J. Braithwaite
Honorary Senior Research Fellow
Geography - SEED
Humanities Bridgeford Building HBS 1.77
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL

Note new website and new telephone number:
www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/roger.braithwaite
Tel: Int + (0)161 275-7877

---

From: CRYOLIST [cryolist-bounces@lists.cryolist.org] on behalf of Karen Heywood (ENV - Staff) [K.Heywood@uea.ac.uk]
Sent: 31 July 2019 21:19
To: cryolist@cryolist.org
Subject: [CRYOLIST] Researcher in Antarctic Physical Oceanography

Researcher in Physical Oceanography

Ref: RA1665

£33,199 to £39,609 per annum

Applications are invited for the post of Researcher in Physical Oceanography to undertake research on physical oceanographic processes on the continental shelf and slope of Antarctica.  You will work with Professor Karen Heywood on the European Research Council funded COMPASS project. 

Processes on the Antarctic continental shelf and slope are crucially important for determining the rate of future sea level rise, setting the properties and volume of dense bottom water exported globally, and regulating the carbon cycle. Yet our ability to model and predict these processes over future decades remains rudimentary. This deficiency in understanding originates in a lack of observations in this inaccessible region. COMPASS seeks to rectify that by exploiting new technology - autonomous marine vehicles - to observe, quantify and elucidate processes on the continental shelf and slope of Antarctica that are important for climate.

You will participate in the design and delivery of field campaigns in the Antarctic using gliders and our new autonomous surface vehicle. You will analyse the resulting observations and compare these with current understanding and/or numerical model output.  You will lead publication of the results in international peer reviewed journals.

The research will be based within the Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (COAS) at UEA.

You should have a PhD in physical oceanography (or equivalent experience) and a publication record showing evidence of international quality. You should have excellent oral and written communication skills, with experience of presenting results at conferences. 

We anticipate that you will participate in observational oceanographic campaigns in the Antarctic.

The full time post is available to start between 1 October 2019 and 30 March 2020 for a fixed term of up to 35 months depending on the salary spine point but the fixed term must end on 31 August 2022.

Closing Date: 23 August 2019

Applications should be made only through the website at https://myview.uea.ac.uk/webrecruitment/pages/vacancy.jsf?latest=01006888.

Professor Karen J. Heywood

Professor of Physical Oceanography
President of EGU Ocean Sciences Division

Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
School of Environmental Sciences
University of East Anglia
Norwich NR4 7TJ
-44-1603-592555
k.heywood@uea.ac.uk

Gold (Teaching Excellence Framework 2017-2020)
UK Top 15 (The Times/Sunday Times 2018 and Complete University Guide 2018)
World Top 200 (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018)