Staff profile

Research Overview

My research focuses on solid Earth deformation in Antarctica with the goal of understanding more about the underlying Earth structure and rheology, and untangling present day observed deformation signals. My background is in modelling glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) – the response of the Earth to changes in ice and ocean loading – and work I completed as part of my PhD highlighted that this process was occurring on a much shorter timescale in the Antarctic Peninsula than previously thought due to the low viscosity upper mantle in this region.

In the past few years, I have been working on an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project to build a model of postseismic deformation for Antarctica, that is, to simulate how the Earth deforms in the years following a large earthquake. This signal can be observed in GPS records in the Northern Antarctic Peninsula and can be used to constrain the Earth structure in this region. Moreover, this signal needs to be fully understood before GPS data can be used to estimate ice mass balance in Antarctica.

My current research, as part of the UKANET project, aims to enhance 3D finite element models of GIA in the Southern Antarctic Peninsula using high resolution seismic data to derive earth properties. Incorporating lateral variations in Earth properties will improve estimates of solid Earth deformation in response to changes in ice loading since the Last Glacial Maximum in this tectonically complex region. Furthermore, this project aims to model the viscoelastic response to large scale surface mass balance anomalies, a signal that has been previously unaccounted for in GPS timeseries.

• Postseismic deformation
• Glacial isostatic adjustment
• Solid Earth deformation
• Ice-sheet modelling
• Antarctica

• Sea Level, Ice and Climate

• Defining models of glacial isostatic adjustment in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula (UKANET): Better constraints on Earth structure and uplift

• 2022: :
  • Invited speaker for Imperial College Earth Sciences Department seminar
  • Invited speaker for the AGU Geodesy Lecture Series
  • Invited speaker at the AGU Fall Meeting
• 2020: Co-convener at EGU session: Linking Solid Earth and Glacial Isostatic Adjustment:
• 2018: Session Chair at the UK Antarctic Science Conference, Durham:
• 2014: Keith Runcorn Prize (runner up) for Best Geophysics Thesis:
• 2013: Invited seminar speaker, Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, University of Tasmania:
• 2013: Invited speaker at the Larsen Ice Shelf System, Antarctica (LARISSA) Project Meeting:
• 2012: EGU Outstanding Student Poster Award, Geodesy Division, EGU General Assembly. Poster title: “The effect of recent accumulation changes in the Antarctic Peninsula upon Glacial Isostatic Adjustment”. ;

Journal Article

• van der Wal, Wouter, Barletta, Valentina, Nield, Grace & van Calcar, Caroline (2023). Glacial isostatic adjustment and postseismic deformation in Antarctica. Geological Society, London, Memoirs 56(1).
• Nield, Grace A., King, Matt A., Steffen, Rebekka & Blank, Bas (2022). A global, spherical finite-element model for post-seismic deformation using Abaqus. Geoscientific Model Development 15(6): 2489-2503.
• Koulali, A., Whitehouse, P.L., Clarke, P.J., van den Broeke, M.R., Nield, G.A., King, M.A., Bentley, M.J., Wouters, B. & Wilson, T. (2022). GPS-observed elastic deformation due to surface mass balance variability in the Southern Antarctic Peninsula. Geophysical Research Letters 49(4): e2021GL097109.
• Zwinger, Thomas, Nield, Grace A., Ruokolainen, Juha & King, Matt A. (2020). A new open-source viscoelastic solid earth deformation module implemented in Elmer (v8.4). Geoscientific Model Development 13(3): 1155-1164.
• The Imbie Team (2020). Mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2018. Nature 579(7798): 233-239.
• O'Donnell, J.P., Brisbourne, A.M., Stuart, G.W., Dunham, C.K., Yang, Y., Nield, G.A., Whitehouse, P.L., Nyblade, A.A., Wiens, D.A., Anandakrishnan, S., Aster, R.C., Huerta, A.D., Lloyd, A.J., Wilson, T. & Winberry, J.P. (2019). Mapping crustal shear wave velocity structure and radial anisotropy beneath West Antarctica using seismic ambient noise. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 20(11): 5014-5037.
• O'Donnell, J.P., Stuart, G.W., Brisbourne, A.M., Selway, K., Yang, Y., Nield, G.A., Whitehouse, P.L., Nyblade, A.A., Wiens, D.A., Aster, R.C., Anandakrishnan, S., Huerta, A.D., Wilson, T. & Winberry, J.P. (2019). The uppermost mantle seismic velocity structure of West Antarctica from Rayleigh wave tomography: insights into tectonic structure and geothermal heat flow. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 522: 219-233.
• Simms, A.R., Whitehouse, P.L., Simkins, L.M., Nield, G., DeWitt, R. & Bentley, M.J. (2018). Late Holocene relative sea levels near Palmer Station, northern Antarctic Peninsula, strongly controlled by late Holocene ice-mass changes. Quaternary Science Reviews 199: 49-59.
• Shepherd, A., Ivins, E., Rignot, E., Smith, B., van den Broeke, M., Velicogna, I., Whitehouse, P., Briggs, K., Joughin, I., Krinner, G., Nowicki, S., Payne, T., Scambos, T., Schlegel, N., Geruo, A., Agosta, C., Ahlstrøm, A., Babonis, G., Barletta, V., Blazquez, A., Bonin, J., Csatho, B., Cullather, R., Felikson, D., Fettweis, X., Forsberg, R., Gallee, H., Gardner, A., Gilbert, L., Groh, A., Gunter, B., Hanna, E., Harig, C., Helm, V., Horvath, A., Horwath, M., Khan, S., Kjeldsen, K., Konrad, H., Langen, P., Lecavalier, B., Loomis, B., Luthcke, S., McMillan, M., Melini, D., Mernild, S., Mohajerani, Y., Moore, P., Mouginot, J., Moyano, G., Muir, A., Nagler, T., Nield, G., Nilsson, J., Noel, B., Otosaka, I., Pattle, M.P., Peltier, W.R., Nadege, P., Rietbroek, R., Rott, H., Sandberg-Sørensen, L., Sasgen, I., Save, H., Schrama, E., Schröder, L., Seo, K-W., Simonsen, S., Slater, T., Spada, G., Sutterley, T., Talpe, M., Tarasov, L., van de Berg, W.J., van der Wal, W., van Wessem, M., Vishwakarma, B.D., Wiese, D. & Wouters, B. (2018). Mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet from 1992 to 2017. Nature 558(7709): 219-222.
• Nield, G.A., Whitehouse, P.L., van der Wal, W., Blank, B., O'Donnell, J.P. & Stuart, G.W. (2018). The impact of lateral variations in lithospheric thickness on glacial isostatic adjustment in West Antarctica. Geophysical Journal International 214(2): 811-824.
• Nield, G.A., Whitehouse, P.L., King, M.K. & Clarke, P.J. (2016). Glacial Isostatic Adjustment in response to changing Late Holocene behaviour of ice streams on the Siple Coast, West Antarctica. Geophysical Journal International 205(1): 1-21.
• Wolstencroft, M., King, M. A., Whitehouse, P. L., Bentley, M. J., Nield, G. A., King, E. C., McMillan, M., Shepherd, A., Barletta, V., Bordoni, A., Riva, R. E. M., Didova, O. & Gunter, B. C. (2015). Uplift rates from a new high-density GPS network in Palmer Land indicate significant late Holocene ice loss in the southwestern Weddell Sea. Geophysical Journal International 203(1): 737-754.
• Nield, G.A., Barletta, V.R., Bordoni,A., King, M.A., Whitehouse, P.L., Clarke, P.J., Domack, E., Scambos, T.A. & Berthier, E. (2014). Rapid bedrock uplift in the Antarctic Peninsula explained by viscoelastic response to recent ice unloading. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 397: 32-41.
• Nield, G.A., Whitehouse, P.L., King, M.A., Clarke, P.J. & Bentley, M.J. (2012). Increased ice loading in the Antarctic Peninsula since the 1850s and its effect on glacial isostatic adjustment. Geophysical Research Letters