Gearing up to host FOGSS 2024

The University of Idaho will host the 2024 Future of Greenland ice Sheet Science (FOGSS) workshop April 3-5. The workshop will take place on the UI campus, in Moscow, and also be accessible remotely for those unable to travel.

FOGSS is a joint NSF/NASA-sponsored workshop whereby the community of researchers studying the Greenland Ice Sheet engages in discussion to set research priorities and collaboratively advance our science. You can learn more about FOGSS and the coming workshop here: https://www.fogss-workshop.org/2024-workshop

Strong showing at AGU 2023!

posted in: Outreach, Research | 0

The UI Glacier Dynamics lab group and alums made an outstanding impression at the AGU fall meeting in SF last week. Six of us attended and shared their most recent work: Grace Barcheck, Chris Miele, Bruno Belotti, Verenis Luca, Yoram Terleth, and Tim Bartholomaus. We gave talks and posters on surge evolution, heterogeneity of ice sheet beds, inclusion within the geosciences, next generation sea level projection, ice shelf fracture, and basal sedimentation.

A highlight of Tim’s meeting was the pride of enjoying all these fine presentations and catching up with this fun team over lunch.

UI Glacier Dynamics hosts meeting of Northwest Glaciologists

posted in: Outreach, Research, Service | 0

Our group was so proud to host the 50th anniversary of the meeting of Northwest Glaciologists, here at UI, on Oct. 14-15, 2022. We had nearly 60 attendees for about 40 talks and several posters, and the meeting really captured the enthusiasm, community, and celebratory spirit of the long-running meeting.

Thanks to everyone who visited us here in Moscow, and contributed to such a fun event!

Group assembles for outdoor, socially-distanced conference

The UI Glacier Dynamics Group gathered for three afternoons, Oct 14-16, in Tim’s driveway and garage to participate in the annual Northwest Glaciologists’ meeting.

Ph.D. candidate Chris Miele presented his latest results from floating ice shelves, and discussed the implications of his findings on glacier retreat in Greenland and Antarctica. Group leader Tim Bartholomaus introduced the new Turner Glacier surge project to the assembled research community.

It was great fun to gather in person, after months of time apart, and actually spend some time in community again- both together, and with the broader community of glaciologists in the Northwest.

Glacier moss balls captivate public imagination

posted in: Alaska, Outreach, Research | 0

Glacier moss balls, and the mystery behind their motion, gained international attention this summer, following a publication in Polar Biology. Group leader Tim Bartholomaus appeared on NPR’s popular Morning Edition broadcast, the CBC’s As It Happens radio show, podcasts, magazines, and many web sites.

See the Media Coverage page for a listing of some of the highlights. It’s been a delight to engage on this topic!

Moss ball with media logos

PhD student opp. to study calving in Greenland

The glacier dynamics group at the University of Idaho seeks a Ph.D. student to pursue research into the factors controlling iceberg calving around the Greenland Ice Sheet.  This NSF funded project, with Co-PI Dr. Ellyn Enderlin of UMaine, will draw on a wide variety of remotely sensed imagery, oceanographic data, and timelapse photography to evaluate terminus boundary conditions (calving laws) used by ice flow models.  These calving laws predict terminus positions and calving rates (formally: “frontal ablation rates”) around the ice sheet.  Increases in calving and submarine melt rates at the marine termini of Greenland’s tidewater outlet glaciers lead to the most rapid rates of ice loss from around the ice sheet, and therefore to acceleration in the rate of sea level rise.  Outcomes from this project will include: 1) New, mechanistic understanding of the drivers of terminus ice loss in the diversity of settings around Greenland; and 2) Model improvements in the handling of calving, thus directly leading to improved predictions of ice sheet change and sea level rise.

The successful applicant will join a growing lab group with two other graduate students in fall 2018, including a masters student working on a portion of this calving law project.  Collaboration with this student and Dr. Enderlin, and support from others in the group, provides a rich and varied research experience.  The student would additionally work towards completion of a Ph.D. within the Dept. of Geological Sciences at the Univ. of Idaho, a group of researchers with strong backgrounds in geophysics, climate change, remote sensing, numerical modeling, and statistics.  The University’s location in Moscow, ID, adjacent to the northern rockies, is an exciting and diverse geologic region with ample opportunities for diverse outdoor recreation.

This position includes two years of financial, educational, and benefits support through a research assistantship, with subsequent years of support through teaching assistantships.  Ph.D. student applicants with backgrounds in programming (python, matlab, r, etc.), geographic data analysis, and strong quantitative skills are preferred.

Expressions of interest are requested by Friday, March 2nd.  Please email a short statement of interest, a CV, and transcripts (unofficial is fine) to Dr. Timothy Bartholomaus.  Additional information about the group and the graduate school application process is available at this link and this link.  Following the statement of interest, complete applications for this opportunity should be submitted to the College of Graduate Studies prior to the project-specific deadline of March 9th.

Glaciology student wins college-wide award

posted in: Outreach, Research, Teaching | 0

Congratulations to Margot Vore for winning the “Outstanding Research Poster” award at the annual UIdaho College of Science student research fair!  Margot’s presentation was obviously very well received by all who stopped at her poster during the October 27 event.

Enthusiasts of glaciohydraulic tremor who missed the research fair can catch the latest at Margot’s oral presentation in the cryoseismology session at AGU this December, in New Orleans.  Bravo!

Margot receives her award from College of Science Dean Ginger Carney
Margot receives her award from College of Science Dean Ginger Carney

Research group presents at Northwest Glaciologists in Vancouver, BC

The UI Glacier Dynamics Group traveled to the annual meeting of Northwest Glaciologists in mid-October to present their latest research and share ideas with other regional glaciologists.  Univ. of Idaho grad students Margot Vore and Tristan Amaral made excellent presentations of their latest work.  Colleagues at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University were wonderful hosts, and Vancouver, BC, treated us to glorious weather.  We’re looking forward to future years of this favorite gathering of the minds.

Margot Vore presents her research on the seismic signals produced by subglacial water flow.
Margot Vore presents her research on the seismic signals produced by subglacial water flow.

U Idaho group presents and participates in international workshops

posted in: Outreach, Research | 0

It’s been a busy summer for the Glacier Dynamics group, with a number of high-profile presentations focused around glacier seismology.

In June, Tim participated in back to back workshops on Environmental Seismology, then taught during a weeklong summer course on Glacier Seismology.  During the Environmental Seismology workshop, Tim gave one of the evening keynote lectures, during which he presented an overview of his and others efforts to use seismology to better understand glaciological processes.  The workshop took place in Bavaria, Germany, and was attended by approximately 60 international scientists, many of which took part in the excellent field trip to a rockfall monitoring site in the alps.

Following the meeting in Germany, Tim flew straight to Fort Collins, CO, for the Glacier Seismology course to present on glacier hydrology, iceberg calving, and the seismic signals produced through these mechanisms.  Margot, a member of our lab, participated as a sponsored student in the Glacier Seismology course, and presented her research to date on Taku Glacier during the course.

 

A slide from the wrap-up to the Environmental Seismology workshop playfully illustrates the mechanism by which falling icebergs produce calving icequakes [Bartholomaus et al., 2012]
 

Environmental seismologists return from their field trip in the alps.

Understanding subglacial hydrology through seismology

Last week, I visited the Boise State Geosciences department to give a seminar on the use of seismology to understand subglacial water flow and sediment transport.  I reviewed two of my recent papers, published in GRL (this in 2015, and this in 2016), and also presented some of the initial results from my work with graduate student, Margot Vore, from Taku Glacier.  I enjoyed getting to know some other Idaho geophysicists and identifying new opportunities for collaboration.

bartholomaus_bsu