C440: Tracking atmospheric heat at the base of the Greenland Ice Sheet using fibre-optic sensors

The Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) is melting at an accelerating pace and is now a dominant component of world sea level
rise (Shepherd et al., 2012, Science). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Vaughn, 2013, IPCC) attribute
much of this melt to ocean forcing but recent studies point to the importance of atmospherically forced surface melt,
which can lead to the formation and drainage of supraglacial lakes over summer (Das et al., 2008, Science; Moon et al.,
2014, Geophys. Res. Lett.). These lakes, which form at lower elevations of the GIS, can penetrate to the ice sheet base
and cause local glacier speed up (Jougin et al., 2008, Science). They provide an effective mechanism for the transfer of
atmospheric heat to previously isolated regions and have been inferred in theories of cryo-hydrologic warming (Peter et
al., 2010, Geophys. Res. Lett.), viscous heat dissipation (Mankoff and Tulaczyk, 2017, Cryosphere) and drawing warm
water along fjords to calving fronts (Straneo et al., 2011, Nature). This PhD would be undertaken as team member of the
cutting edge RESPONDER program to monitor hydrological change in Greenland. Fibre optic cabling would be placed at
two sites in Greenland to monitor strain and heat flow during lake drainage events, potentially over multiple seasons.
This would offer unparalleled insight into the consequences of drainage events and, combined with numerical modelling
would enable more accurate prediction of future dynamic change of the GIS.