Glaciers and Climate Change Research ClusterAbout the ResearchThe World Meteorological Organisation and the United Nations Environment Programme established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988 in recognition of the growing problem of global climate change. In 2001 the IPCC concluded that over the 20th century global temperatures increased and that the 1990's were the warmest decade on record. Such climate change will have a direct impact on glaciers and snow-covered areas. In New Zealand it is likely that over one third of our glaciers will disappear within twenty years. The purpose of this research cluster is to catalyse a multidisciplinary team to advance the knowledge and understanding of glaciers and climate change. This interdisciplinary approach is based on the assessment that the next major advances in understanding environmental processes will spring from the integration of knowledge and approaches from a number of related disciplines. Thus the wider research team includes a civil engineer with expertise in geomechanics, chemists focused on the isotope chemistry of water, glacial geologists, a materials scientist and glaciologists specializing in the analysis of gasses and solutes in glacier ice. CoordinatorResearchers
Further details may be found on the Glaciers @ Otago website at http://glaciers.otago.ac.nzResearch ProjectsThe Glaciers and Climate Change research cluster operates three principal programmes:
Glacial ProcessesThe work on glacial processes concerns the mechanical behaviour and the physical characteristics of basal ice. Research over the last 10 years has focused on alpine glaciers in the McMurdo dry valleys of Antarctica. Recently the Antarctic-focused programme has developed into a bipolar programme through the formation of a strategic alliance with the glaciology programme at the University of Alberta. The University of Alberta programme is focused on glacial processes in the Canadian high arctic. The aim of this research is to improve the understanding of glacial processes by:
Contemporary and future glacial mass balanceThis research focuses on understanding how glaciers respond to climate change. It involves climate and glacial monitoring in New Zealand (Brewster Glacier), Greenland, Antarctica (Upper Victoria and Wright Lower glaciers) and on a number of high mountains in the tropics (e.g. Kilimanjaro). A number of postgraduate students work in this area. This research aims to:
Glacier response to past climate changeResearch on glacier responses to climate change in the past spans recent change (the last 20,000 years) to tens of millions of years. Postgraduate students in the Geology Department are working on the ANDRILL (ANtarctic DRILLing) project, a multinational initiative to investigate Antarctica's role in Cenozoic-Recent global environmental change through stratigraphic drilling for Antarctic climatic, volcanic and tectonic history. The geology Department also has two Masters students working on Pleistocene glaciation in the Southern Alps. This research aims to:
Researcher ProfilesAssociate Professor Sean FitzsimonsDr Sean Fitzsimons is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography. His research interests include earth surface processes in alpine and high latitude areas and quaternary climatic change and glaciation in the Southern Hemisphere. His current work includes direct observation of substrate and basal ice deformation at subfreezing temperatures, formation and deformation of basal ice, and temperate ice marginal sedimentary environments. Dr Nicolas J. CullenDr Nicolas Cullen is a Lecturer in the Department of Geography. His research interests are in all aspects of meteorology and climatology. The study of the atmosphere inevitably involves an understanding of other components of the global environment, which for Nicolas has been primarily the cryosphere. Much of his research has focused on the interactions of the atmosphere with snow and ice surfaces in Greenland and New Zealand (e.g. Brewster Glacier, Haast Pass), as well as on a number of high mountains in the tropics (e.g. Kilimanjaro). Nicolas' research is dependent on a combination of field data, remote sensing observations and modelling. Dr Russell D. FrewDr Russell Frew is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry. His research interests include trace metals in natural waters, stable isotope geochemistry and paleo-chemistry. A recent research project, conducted with Philip Boyd from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), studied the biogeochemistry of iron and its effects on algal productivity. The project was concerned with defining the role of trace metals, particularly iron, as essential factors controlling the productivity of New Zealand waters. Assoc Prof Gary S. WilsonDr Gary Wilson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geology. His research interests include palaeomagnetism, integrated chronostratigraphy, palaeoceanography, palaeoclimatology and stratigraphy, sedimentology and palaeoenvironments. He is one of the principle investigators in ANDRILL (ANtarctic DRILLing). Postgraduate ResearchRecently completed and current research by Masters and PhD students linked to the research cluster: PhD
Masters
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