Determining the impact of seasonal meltwater on the subglacial hydrology and basal slipperiness of Icelandic glaciers

This project is part of the ONE Planet DTP. Find out more here: https://research.ncl.ac.uk/one-planet/

Seasonally varying subglacial hydrological systems have been implicated in both the speed up and slow down of glacier and ice sheet flow, through their influence on basal slipperiness. Whilst this is understood and accepted, glaciologists lack high resolution observations of these changes over broad spatial extents, and there have been few efforts to couple high resolution observations with numerical modelling to infer basal conditions.
This project will use high-resolution remotely-sensed radar observations acquired by the Sentinel1 satellites (repeat cycle of ~6 days) to determine in high resolution the flow velocity of Icelandic glaciers. Observations will be integrated with a numerical model to invert for basal conditions (i.e. slipperiness, mechanical properties etc.), and to evaluate how meltwater input throughout a melt season leads to seasonal changes in these parameters.
Field data (e.g. meteorological and GPS data) will be collected as input data for the model and for calibration of the remotely sensed data, with ice-penetrating radar surveys used to assess basal conditions.
This project will be in collaboration with Hilmar Gudmundsson (Northumbria University) and ENVEO (Austria). The student will gain skills in the processing and analysis of remote sensing data and in numerical modelling

A good knowledge of glaciology and/or hydrological processes, and experience in numerical modelling and/or expertise in scientific computing (e.g. Matlab, GIS etc.) is highly desirable. Knowledge and experience of fieldwork would also be advantageous.
For more information, please contact Dr Neil Ross ([Email Address Removed]).