Climate and Cryosphere
Members of staff conduct research within the theme of climate and cryosphere, covering periods from the Pleistocene, or earlier, through current glaciological and climate processes to the future. A key strength of this theme is a strong track record in the use of a range of approaches from field and laboratory investigations, through Earth Observation, GIS analysis and numerical modelling at regional scales to global coupled climate modelling.
Fundamental research focii that drive this theme are:
- the reconstruction of former ice sheets during the Pleistocene, and increasing insight into the physical, chemical and biological processes within the cryosphere
- freshwater from ice sheets, as runoff or icebergs, and its impact on the ocean, its thermohaline circulation, and hence climate, in the past, present and future
- the physical processes, and temporal variability, involved in the large-scale structure of atmospheric storm belts, from mid-latitudes to the polar and tropical regions
- the climatic links of exchanges – particulate, nutrient, gaseous, or thermal - within the Earth System
Particular geographic settings for this research include northern Canada, Greenland, the North Atlantic and Arctic, southern Africa and the Sahara, and the Antarctic.
There are strong links with the Environmental Reconstruction & Earth Observation and Ecosystem Dynamics & Biogeochemistry research groups, through the interaction of biogeochemical exchanges with climate, the deforming effect of ice on the Earth's surface and the processes leading to exchanges within the Earth's boundary layers. Several members of the Climate and Cryosphere group therefore also belong to one or other of these other research groups. NERC is the major funder of research for the Climate and Cryosphere group, and national and international collaborations strongly drive the group’s science.
In addition, there is a growing link between the Climate and Cryosphere group and the department’s interdisciplinary Society and Environment research group, because of the direct implications of climate change for society.
Details of individual's research activity can found by following the links below:
Professor Grant Bigg (group leader)