Ice and fire: exploring relationships between glaciers, volcanoes and climate

Mountain glacier surface mass balance responds to changes in climate. The glacier equilibrium line altitude (ELA), the elevation at which net accumulation equals net ablation, has been empirically linked to both precipitation and temperature. However, this relationship is often offset when glaciers occupy volcanoes. The magnitude of this offset is likely to be a function of time since last eruption, the nature of this eruption, and recent geothermal heat flux. This project will quantify the offset at a global scale, in order to understand relationships between volcanoes and glaciers. In so doing, the project will also identify glaciers that should not be included in the global databases frequently used to analyse regional climate. An improved understanding of glacier-volcano interactions has implications for understanding and mitigation of related hazard (e.g. lahars). It will also explore the possibility of using the offset to quantify regional geothermal heat flux.
In this exciting, interdisciplinary project, we will study climate in different glacio-volcanic areas worldwide, and analyse nearby, non-volcanic glacier ELA to establish the relationship between glaciers and climate in those regions. We will then look at volcanic glaciers, quantify their ELA and analyse the offset to the climatically-controlled ELA of non-volcanic glaciers. Finally, we will analyse the recent history of volcanic activity in these areas: if and when an eruption occurred, the nature of the eruption, known sudden changes to the glaciers that might have affected their mass balance (e.g. beheading), and the geothermal history of the volcanoes in question. These tasks will be performed using GIS and remote sensing techniques applied to a time series of satellite images and digital terrain models, and integrated with direct observations, where available (e.g., from glacier monitoring schemes, meteorological stations, observations of volcanic activities, media reports, geothermal heat measurements, etc.). Finally, we will downscale climate model output to project future ELA changes for these regions.
The project seeks a highly motivated, curious and passionate student interested in doing a truly interdisciplinary project. The student will be supervised by a team of glaciologists, climatologists and volcanologists, led by Matteo Spagnolo (University of Aberdeen) and Donal Mullan (Queen's University Belfast). Ideal candidates should have a strong background in one of the three disciplines involved. Prior knowledge of remote sensing and GIS is not essential but welcome.