News
International Glaciological Society British Branch Meeting 2010
15th-17th September 2010
The International Glaciological Society British Branch Annual Meeting will this year be hosted by the Centre for Glaciology at Aberystwyth University.
The British Branch Annual Meeting is an informal gathering at which presentations are welcome on all aspects of ice and snow research. Postgraduate students in particular are encouraged to attend and present their work.
Breaking slightly with tradition, this year the meeting will take place over three days. It will open on Wednesday night with a wine reception and a keynote speech by Professor John Glen. Oral and poster presentations will commence on Thursday morning and will last all day, and the meeting dinner will take place on Thursday night, on top of a local landmark... The meeting will conclude at lunch on Friday, allowing plenty of time for homeward travel.
This webpage will be updated with all the latest news regarding the meeting so please check back regularly. If you have any specific queries please do not hesitate to contact us by emailing igsbb2010@aber.ac.uk.
We look forward to welcoming you to Aberystwyth in September.
Research Grants
Climate Change Consortium of Wales (C3W)
The universities of Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea today announced the launch of the Climate Change Consortium of Wales (C3W), a £4 million initiative to be financed by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) through the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW). Staff in the Centre for Glaciology will contribute to all four of the "Grand Challenges" recognised by C3W. These "Grand Challenges" are: Earth system modelling; sea-level change; hazard evaluation, mitigation and adaptation; and the Welsh dimension of climate change. In the short-term, further information can be found at the following two links:
- http://ralph.swan.ac.uk/cccw/Home.php (C3W temporary website)
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8381744.stm (BBC news item).
Congratulations to all staff in Glaciology, especially Mike Hambrey, for securing the funding for this project.
Commercial Funding For The Greenland Analogue Project
Dr Alun Hubbard has received commercial funding worth ~£300k to AU this year and over £1 million over the next four years for the 'Greenland Analogue Project', an International Collaboration to investigate the hydrology of the surface, subglacial and deep aquifer systems under the Greenland Ice Sheet. The field and modelling based investigation will integrate glaciology, hydrology and geophysics with remote sensing and ice and bedrock drilling to frame a suite of state-of-the-art numerical experiments to help understand the nature of the water fluxes underneath deglaciating continental-scale ice sheets.
£265,000 for Research Project
Drs Alun Hubbard and Duncan Quincey have been awarded £265,000 from NERC for a research project entitled "Investigating the Dynamic Response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to Climate Forcing using a Geophysical, Remote Sensing and Numerical Modelling Framework". The project is led by AU and closely tied with the Universities of Cambridge and Swansea.
NERC Fund Research Project
Professor Neil Glasser (with Geoff Duller, also IGES) has been awarded £44,200 from NERC for a research project entitled "Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of glacial lake drainage during the deglaciation of the Patagonian Ice Sheet". The project will start in April 2009 and run until March 2012.
NERC Open CASE Studentship
Professor Neil Glasser (with James Brasington, also IGES) has also been awarded a NERC Open CASE studentship with Reynolds International on ‘Numerical modelling of Himalayan glacial lake outburst floods'.
Dr Duncan Quincey Awarded £7,000 For Study
Dr Duncan Quincey (with James Brasington, IGES) has been awarded £7,000 from the University Research Fund for a study entitled ‘Terrestrial Laser Scanning for Quantifying Glacial and Proglacial Morphometric Change on the Fox Glacier, New Zealand'.
Recent Appointments
Dr Bryn Hubbard
Congratulations to Dr Bryn Hubbard who has been appointed as Director of the Centre for Glaciology. Byrn replaces Professor Mike Hambrey, who steps down after ten years service to focus on the Climate Change Consortium for Wales (C3W) project.
Dr Simon Cook
Congratulations to Dr Simon Cook who rejoins the Centre for Glaciology after a year at University of Hertfordshire. Simon has been appointed as a Research Fellow to work on the 'Greenland Analogue Project' with Dr Alun Hubbard.
Ingo Wolff, Andrew Fitzpatrick, Colun Souness and Matt Westoby
Welcome also to Ingo Wolff who has joined the group as a PhD student, and welcome back to Andrew Fitzpatrick, Colin Souness and Matt Westoby, who all previously graduated from the MSc Glaciology and are now embarking on their PhD research with the group.
Recent Books
Glacial Geology
Wiley have just published the new Second Edition of Glacial Geology written by Matthew Bennett and Centre for Glaciology staff member Neil Glasser.
The aim of the book is to outline glacial landforms and sediments and to provide the reader with the tools required to interpret glacial landscapes. It describes how glaciers work and how the processes of glacial erosion and deposition which operate within them are recorded in the glacial landscape.
The Second Edition is presented in the same clear and concise format as the First Edition, providing detailed explanations that are not cluttered with unnecessary detail. Additions include a new chapter on Glaciations around the Globe, demonstrating the range of glacial environments present on Earth today and a new chapter on Palaeoglaciology, explaining how glacial landforms and sediments are used in ice-sheet reconstructions. Like the original book, text boxes are used throughout to explain key concepts and to introduce students to case study material from the glacial literature. Newly updated sections on Further Reading are also included at the end of each chapter to point the reader towards key references. The book is illustrated throughout with colour photographs and illustrations.
Please click on the book cover for a link to the publisher's website.
Field Techniques in Glaciology and Glaciology and Glacial Geomorphology
Field Techniques in Glaciology and Glaciology and Glacial Geomorphology is written by two Centre for Glaciology staff, Neil Glasser and Bryn Hubbard, and was published in April 2005 by Wiley.
Coverage includes: 1. The role of field data acquisition in the broader disciplines of glaciology and glacial geomorphology 2. Logistical preparations for fieldwork 3. Field techniques in glaciology such as investigations on ice and meltwaters 4. Field techniques in glacial geomorphology including investigations on glacial landforms and sediments 5. International case studies showing each method in practice.
Please click on the book cover for a link to the publisher's website.
Glacial Sedimentary Processes and Products
Glacial Sedimentary Processes and Products, was published in December 2007 as Special Publication No. 39 of the International Association of Sedimentologists. The volume is edited by Mike Hambrey and other staff of the Centre for Glaciology.
The publisher describes this volume as "bringing numerous state-of-the-art research contributions together, each relating to a different physical setting, spatial scale, process or investigative technique. The result is a diverse and interesting collection of papers by glaciologists, numerical modellers and glacial geologists, which are all linked by the theme of investigating the relationships between the behaviour of ice masses and their resulting sedimentary sequences."
Please click on the book cover for a link to the publisher's website.
Recent Papers
- Glasser N. F., Kulessa, B., Luckman, A., Jansen, D., King, E. C., Sammonds, P. R., Scambos, T.A. and Jezek, K.C. (2009). Surface structure and stability of the Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula. Journal of Glaciology 55, 400-410.
- Hambrey, M.J., Smellie, J.L., Nelson, A., Johnson, J. 2008. Late Cenozoic glacier-volcano interaction on James Ross Island and adjacent areas, Antarctic Peninsula. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 120, 709-731. doi:10.1130/B26242.1
- Hubbard, A., Sugden, D, Dugmore, A., Norddahl, H. and Pétursson, H. 2006 A modelling insight into the Icelandic Last Glacial Maximum ice sheet. Quaternary Science Reviews, 25 (17-18): 2283-2296. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.04.001
- Hubbard B, Roberson S, Samyn D, Merton-Lyn D. 2008. Digital optical televiewing of ice boreholes. Journal of Glaciology, 54(188), 823-830.
- Quincey, D.J., Luckman, A. and Benn, D. 2009. Quantification of Everst region glacier velocities between 1992 and 2002, using satellite radar interferometry and feature tracking. Journal of Glaciology, 55 (192), 596-606.