Greenhouse Gas Cycling in Supraglacial Debris Covers (Ref: OP19_63)

Debris-covered glaciers extend over 4000 km2 in the high Asian Mountains and are significant and expanding features of most of the World’s glacierized mountain ranges. Within supraglacial debris covers, a combination of fresh mechanically weathered rock and an abundance of water and energy during melt seasons provides an ideal environment for chemical rock weathering and microbial activity. These processes involve exchange of carbon dioxide and methane with the atmosphere, while daytime heating of debris leads to evaporation of meltwater from the debris matrix. Debris-covered glaciers may therefore play an important role in regional and global cycling of major greenhous gases. The key questions are: what are the important chemical and microbiological processes affecting carbon gas exchange within supraglacial debris covers? What are the rates and controls on gas production and drawdown and how do these rates vary in time and space?

Data will be collected through fieldwork on debris-covered glaciers in the Italian Alps and Svalbard, with the potential for work further afield in the Andes or Himalaya, involving direct gas flux measurements using an eddy-covariance system and a portable greenhouse gas analyser; and measurements and sampling of debris for analysis. Associated laboratory work will determine the minerals, carbon content and microbial communities present in debris covers to determine the relative roles of chemical weathering and microbial activity in greenhouse gas cycling.

The PhD project offers excellent opporutnities for training in field and laboratory techniques, specifically in micrometeorology, geochemistry and microbiology with potential for the student to develop new methods to simulate rock debris chemical weathering in a laboratory. The successful candidae will collaborate together with an international team within the IACS debris-covered glaciers working group DCGWG.
Key Research Gaps and Questions:
What role do debris-covered glaciers play in regional and global cycling of major greenhouse gases?

What are the key processes and controls on spatial and temporal patterns of gas exchange?
Prerequisites:
This project would be suitable for students with a background in Physical Geography, Geology, Environmental, Earth or Atmospheric Sciences and a minimum upper second class honours degree (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities). Previous fieldwork experience in cold environments would be preferable, but not essential.
For more information, please contact [Email Address Removed]