Department of Geography

Dr Felix Ng

Lecturer in Glaciology

	Room number:	E19
	Telephone (internal):	27949
	Telephone (UK):	0114 222 7949
	Telephone (International):	+44 114 222 7949
	Email:	F.Ng@Sheffield.ac.uk

Felix is originally from Hong Kong and he moved to the UK during his middle-school years. After graduating in Engineering Science at Oxford in 1994, he switched into mathematics and wrote a doctoral thesis on theoretical glaciology. This was completed in 1998, and soon after that Felix gained a Junior Research Fellowship at St. John's College. He lived in Oxford until 2002 but spent 2001 visiting the University of Washington, Seattle, as Fulbright postdoctoral fellow.

Most recently (2003 to 2005) Felix had been a research fellow in geosciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Research interests

• Large-scale behaviour of glaciers and ice sheets, and their environmental interactions
• Mathematical models of glacial processes and landforms
• Polar ice on Mars

Current research

Ice dynamics
I had earlier investigated the surge behaviour of sub-polar glaciers with Tavi Murray (Leeds) and Andrew Fowler (Oxford) and recently turned my attention to the Antarctic ice streams, whose variable flow exerts strong control on ice-sheet mass balance. With Howard Conway (Seattle), I used the radar structures in Kamb Ice Stream to infer its flow speed before it stopped ~150 years ago. Ongoing work considers the general problem of deciphering the history of ice flow from englacial radar layers.

More information on my ice dynamics research

Glacier hydrology
Catastrophic outburst floods from ice-dammed lakes, known as jökulhlaups, can deliver several cubic kilometres of water suddenly, causing severe environmental and economic impact. In order to identify factors that regulate their timing and magnitude, I am studying the mechanics of these floods worldwide and also locally, using examples from Iceland and from the Tian Shan.

More information on my glacier hydrology research

Glacial geomorphology
Glaciation leaves behind a variety of bedforms on the Earth surface. Part of my research explores how they form, with an aim to reconstruct the conditions of past ice flow using them and to learn something about the processes that operate at the glacier bed.

More information on my glacial geomorphology research

Selected publications

• Ng, F. and Liu, S. (2009) Temporal dynamics of a jökulhlaup system. Journal of Glaciology, 55(192), 651-665.
• Ng, F., Liu, S., Mavlyudov, B. and Wang, Y. (2007). Climatic control on the peak discharge of glacier outburst floods. Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L21503.
  doi:10.1029/2007GL031426
  Nature Geoscience research highlights
• Ng, F. (2006). Review of "Mount Everest, the reconnaissance 1935: The Forgotten Adventure" by Tony Astill. Geographical Journal, 172(4), 351.
  doi:10.1111/j.1475-4959.2006.00221_3.x
• Ng, F. and M.T. Zuber (2006). Patterning instability on the Mars polar ice caps. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111, E02005.
  doi:10.1029/2005JE002533
• Ng, F., Hallet, B., Sletten, R., and Stone, J. (2005). Fast-growing till over ancient ice in Beacon Valley, Antarctica. Geology, 33(2), 121-124.
  doi:10.1130/G21064.1
• Ng, F. and Conway, H.(2004). Fast-flow signature in the stagnated Kamb Ice Stream, West Antarctica. Geology, 32(6), 481-484.
  doi:10.1130/G20317.1
• Ng, F. and Björnsson, H. (2003). On the Clague-Mathews relation for jökulhlaups. Journal of Glaciology, 49(165), 161-172.
  Online abstract
• Ng, F. and Hallet, B. (2002). Patterning mechanisms in subglacial carbonate dissolution and deposition. Journal of Glaciology, 48(162), 386-400.
  Online abstract

Other information