Dr Andrew Sole
Faculty Research Fellow
| Room number: | F18 |
| Telephone (internal): | 27951 |
| Telephone (UK): | 0114 222 7951 |
| Telephone (International): | +44 114 222 7951 |
| Email: | A.Sole@Sheffield.ac.uk |
Andrew Sole received an MA (First Class Honours) in Physical Geography from the University of Edinburgh in 2005 and a PhD in glaciology (entitled Investigating Greenland Outlet Glaciers) from the University of Bristol in 2010. From 2009 to 2012 Andrew worked on The role of atmospheric forcing on the dynamic stability of Greenland’s outlet glaciers as a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the Universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh. Andrew was awarded a Social Science Research Fellowship at Sheffield in 2012.
Research Interests
Andrew's research is focused on furthering our understanding of the mass balance and dynamic stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) in a changing climate through the use of numerical modelling, satellite and airborne remote sensing and fieldwork.
Current Research
The role of atmospheric forcing on the dynamic stability of Greenland’s outlet glaciers
This work aims to quantify the effect of surface generated melt-water fluctuations on ice motion at the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet. There has been significant recent research focus on the role that surface melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet might play in forcing changes in its flow rate in a warmer climate. Since 2009, Andrew has been part of a team collecting ice motion, air temperature and hydrology data at both a land and ocean terminating transect of the Greenland Ice Sheet to distances of more than 100km from the ice margin. The resulting data will be used to improve the representation of the links between surface melting and ice flow in ice sheet models.
Interactions between marine-terminating outlet glaciers and fjord water flow
The retreat and acceleration of Greenland Ice Sheet marine-terminating outlet glaciers, which are responsible for a large portion of the total mass lost from the ice sheet each year, have been linked to regional ocean warming. Fjords constitute an important link between these outlet glaciers and the deep ocean, however the processes controlling propagation of warm water along them to the glaciers' calving termini are poorly understood. Andrew has adapted the Bergen Ocean Model to simulate water circulation in Kangerdlugssuaq Fjord to assess the impact of regional ocean warming and increased glacier runoff on the dynamics of the glaciers which flow into the fjord.