School of Earth Sciences

How does vertical land movement affect

climate change?

Supervisors: Dr. Mark Siddall, Dr Joy Singarayer, Prof. Kurt Lambeck

One of the key questions relating to ongoing climate change is to better understand natural, pre-anthropogenic climate variability, which is currently only poorly understood (Valdes 2011). One unstudied aspect is the importance of the vertical shifts in land height in response to the loss of the mass of ice sheets at high latitudes following the glacial period (isostatic rebound, e.g. Lambeck et al 2010). These changes in elevation are ongoing at high latitude must have affected global climate during the last several thousand years (the key period for the benchmark for natural climate). However, we can’t say by how much because this has never been studied before this PhD with such a focus on the last few millennia. Earlier studies looking at multiple glacial cycles have found that isostastic effects are an important climate feedback (Crucifix et al 2001).

This PhD will undertake both idealised and realistic experiments varying the elevation of large parts of north America and Eurasia in order to better understand what these effects may have been and indeed what impact there may still be on global climate at high northern latitudes. Scenarios will be modeled regarding the isostatic rebound and ice sheet configuration using the HADCM3 climate model, one of the world’s leading general circulation models (GCM). These scenarios will be compared with changes observed in temperature recorded in ice cores, ocean sediment records and terrestrial records and include time-transient scenarios based on time scales of glacio-isostatic and ice sheet adjustment.

You will gain highly sought-after technical skills in GCM modelling, climate change and glacio-isostatic modelling. It is anticipated that your work will result in a series of high-profile publications, giving you the opportunity to start your career very effectively with a unique, stand-out project.

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