The Department of Earth Science, Faculty of Geosciences at Utrecht University, invites applications from highly-motivated candidates for a PhD position on ''Improving ice sheet and glacial flow models for reducing uncertainty in sea-level rise projections''. This project is a research collaboration between the Department of Earth Science and the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (IMAU) at Utrecht University. Modern deformation experiments and recent microstructural observations from boreholes demonstrate that ice constitutive behaviour is sensitive to grain size. However, this parameter is typically not considered in rheological models of ice dynamics, where this is simplified to an empirical non-linear relation between stress and strain rate. As a result, ice deformation near bedrock is poorly constrained and fluctuations in deformation rate resulting from grain size differences are not represented. Currently, ice dynamics are the largest source of uncertainty in long term sea-level rise projections. The role of this PhD candidate is to improve ice sheet and glacial flow models by calibrating and implementing constitutive equations that are rooted in modern, quantitative insights into ice microphysics. The model will be used to quantify the effects of the revised flow parameters on the projected evolution of ice sheets (e.g., Greenland) and to explore implications for sea level rise.
for more information contact:a.j.kotowski@uu.nl
