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Overview
Affiliations
AffiliationRoom numberTelephone
Professor in the Department of Geography411+44 (0) 191 33 41990
Professor , Catchments and Rivers411+44 (0) 191 33 41990
Professor , Hazards and Surface Change411+44 (0) 191 33 41990
Professor , Sea Level, Ice and Climate411+44 (0) 191 33 41990

Biography

My research focuses on understanding controls on ice sheet behaviour, long-term landscape evolution, topographic reconstruction and glacial geomorphology. In particular, I am interested in understanding and quantifying the impact that interactions between these large-scale processes have upon ice sheet behaviour. Geographically, my work centres upon Antarctica although I also have interests in Greenland, Norway, Canada, Patagonia and the Himalayas.

I use an approach that links numerical models of ice sheets, ice streams, tectonics and rivers to geological and geomorphological evidence for past system behaviour. A significant component of my model-based research is carried out using synthetic systems to understand the responses of ice sheets and ice streams to perturbations in bed conditions produced under conditions of glacial erosion and deposition.

My current project investigates the importance of glacial erosion and deposition for controlling the advance and retreat of marine-terminating ice streams. This builds upon a major component of my previous work which focused on determining how patterns of glacial landscape evolution under terrestrial ice sheets can perturb ice dynamics on timescales of hundreds to millions of years.

Long-term landscape evolution of Antarctica

Much of my work has focussed on understanding patterns of long-term landscape evolution in Antarctica. By making links between numerical models of ice behaviour and our knowledge of landsystems that were produced under ice in the Northern Hemisphere, I have been able to predict how Antarctica has been modified by its long-lived ice sheet. This has led to better understanding of long-term interactions between ice and the landscape in Antarctica. Read more.

I am also working on using our understanding of glacial erosion processes and patterns to reconstruct the former landscape of Antarctica. This work forms part of theANTscape project to generate a range of palaeotopographic maps of Antarctica over the past 130 Million Years (www.antscape.org). This work is sponsored by Past Antarctic Ice Sheets (PAIS) group of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR).

Research interests

  • Ice Sheet Modelling
  • Glaciology
  • Landscape Evolution

Research Projects

  • Glaciated North Atlantic Margins (GLANAM)
  • Greenland in a Warmer Climate: What Controls the Advance & Retreat of the NE Greenland Ice Stream? (NEGIS)
  • Understanding Marine Ice Stream Retreat Using Numerical Modelling and Geophysical Data

Awarded Grants

  • 2018: Assessing the sensitivity of major Antarctic outlet glaciers to recent and future changes in the ocean-climate system(£324184.00 from Natural Environmental Research Council)
  • 2016: Greenland in a warmer climate: What controls the advance & retreat of the NE Greenland Ice Stream(£527622.50 from NERC - Natural Environment Research Council)
  • 2012: The influence of evolving bed topography on marine ice stream stability(£236113.39 from NERC - Natural Environment Research Council)

Media Contacts

Available for media contact about:

  • Environmental change: Glaciers and Ice Sheets
  • Landscape systems: Glaciers and Ice Sheets
  • Geophysics: Landscapes under ice
  • Tectonics: Landscapes under ice
  • Landscape systems: Landscapes under ice

Publications

Chapter in book

Edited Sources, Research Data Sets and Databases

Journal Article

Newspaper/Magazine Article

  • Jamieson, S.S.R & Livingstone, S.J. (2013). Look to the past to see the future. Geoconnexion International (July-August): 31.

Supervision students