Media
Scientists Bury GPS in Antarctic Ice to Measure Effects of Tides
NASA video of scientists and ice sheet modelers, Ryan Walker and Christine Dow, who traveled to a remote location on the coast of Antarctic to investigate how tides affect the movement and stability of the Nansen Ice Shelf, a 695-mile extension of ice protruding into Antarctica’s Ross Sea. Relatively understudied, Nansen’s manageable size lends itself to becoming a proxy for predicting how larger ice shelves will contribute to sea level rise in the decades and centuries to come. By studying the impact of tides, Walker and Dow are able to determine how the rise and fall of floating ice sheets may impact the likelihood of an eventual ice shelf collapse.
Question Period: Christine Dow, ’09 MSc
New Trail, University of Alberta, April 5, 2016Online
URL: https://www.ualberta.ca/newtrail/spring-2016/features-dept/question-period
What lies beneath Antarctica’s ice? Lakes, life and the grandest of canyons
The Conversation, July 17, 2016Online
Biography
Dr. Dow is the Canada Research Chair in Glacier Hydrology and Ice Dynamics. Her research focuses on water flow underneath ice sheets and glaciers, and the impact of this on the flow speed of the overlying ice. This research contributes to predictions of future climate impacts as, the faster that glaciers flow, the more ice is added to the ocean causing sea-level rise. Dow also runs a research program examining the stability of Antarctic ice shelves, which are floating bodies of ice vital for holding back the land-based ice behind them. If the shelves break up, the land based ice can speed up and contribute to sea-level rise. Dow has recently also initiated research on Lowell Glacier, Kluane National Park, Yukon Territory to establish controls on glacier speed and dynamics in our warming climate.