SFU Canada Research Chairs Seminar Series "Glacier and ice-sheet dynamics in a warming world"
11:30 - 12:30
Rm10900
Abstract
Glaciers and ice sheets deform under their own weight, in addition to sliding over their substrates (rock or sediment), and under the right conditions, causing deformation of the substrate itself. Because water acts as a lubricant, glacier hydrology underpins much of what we understand about how fast, and the way in which, ice masses flow. It is becoming clear that dynamics must be considered in our estimates of the future mass balance of the terrestrial cryosphere, even on short timescales. Mountain glaciers are expected to make a larger contribution to sea-level than the ice sheets in this century, but uncertainty has prevented ice-sheet dynamics from being considered in the most recent projections of 21st century sea-level rise. In this talk we review the state of the cryosphere, the mechanisms responsible for glacier flow, and how we might expect these to change in our currently warming world. We also address how glacier dynamics are measured and modelled, and illustrate how computer models are used to project the response of glaciers to future climate. These projections serve as a basis for interpreting the impacts of global warming on the cryosphere, with respect to both sea-level rise and freshwater supply.
About the Speaker
Dr. Gwenn Flowers graduated Suma Cum Laude with a B.A. degree in Physics with Chemistry Minor at the University of Colorado. She obtained her Ph.D. degree in Geophysics at the University of British Columbia. Through her Ph.D. research, Dr. Flowers incorporated soft-bed hydrological theory into a distributed multicomponent glacier-scale model. In the period 2000 - 2001, Dr. Flowers was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Science Institute, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland, and in the period 2002-2004 she was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia. Dr. Flowers joined Simon Fraser University in 2005 as an Assistant Professor and a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Glaciology in the Department of Earth Sciences. Dr. Flowers is also an Associate Member of the Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia. In 2008 Dr. Flowers was awarded the prestigious Marie Tharp Fellowship by the Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York, NY. Currently Dr. Flowers is involved in the following projects: Glaciological and geophysical field investigations in the St. Elias Mountains, Yukon Territory; Tundra ecosystem dynamics, Kluane, Yukon Territory; Arctic tidewater glacier dynamics, Devon Island, Nunavut; and Glaciohydraulics and thermodynamics of glacier outburst floods (jkulhlaups). Dr Flowers describes her research interests in the following way, "I am interested in the glaciological elements of watershed hydrology, natural hazards and climate change. In the field, geophysical, meteorological and hydrological measurements are used to evaluate the geometry, mass balance and flow structure of a glacier. These data are the foundation for the development of theoretical and numerical models used to better understand the physics of various glaciohydraulic processes."
