Greenland Radar Geophysicist

Greenland Radar Geophysicist

BAS - British Antarctic Survey

Cambridge, United Kingdom

Purpose

Collection, analysis, interpretation and publication of ice-penetrating radar data over the Petermann Glacier in northwestern Greenland as part of the GIANT (Greenland Ice sheet to AtlaNtic Tipping points from ice loss) project. The resulting grids of ice base elevation and change will be delivered to ocean and cryosphere modelling groups within GIANT.

The primary focus will be on new high-resolution data collected with a UAV over the ice shelf and the region up to 50 kilometres inland of the grounding line. Integration, comparison and re-analysis of existing airborne radar data, together with new static ground based ApRES data will support the primary focus.

You’ll be joining the BAS Palaeo Environments, Ice Sheets and Climate Change team as part of the GIANT project, investigating the processes occurring within and beneath the Greenland ice sheet and how these may trigger tipping points within the global climate system. Through the GIANT project you will play a key role in a multidisciplinary team including geophysicists, radar specialists, ocean and ice modellers at BAS and beyond.

Current projects the team are working on include International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC) and development of enhanced radar capabilities for UAV and Twin Otter aerial platforms through NERC National capability funding.

Duties

• Assist with radar data collection in northwestern Greenland (approximately 6-week field season);
• Assist with the processing of new airborne radar data collected with a UAV platform;
• Deliver along track, georeferenced, ice base pick from airborne radar data to other ARIA-GIANT stakeholders;
• Assess rates of change in ice thickness and internal ice shelf deformation, constraining basal melting, including linking ground based ApRES and airborne radar datasets;
• Publication of key findings in peer reviewed journals, and preparation and publication of datasets through national/international data centres in collaboration with the GIANT team.

Skills, Qualifications, and Experience

Essential

• PhD in relevant discipline (Earth Sciences/Cryosphere science/Physics);
• Experience analysing along-track radargrams from ice penetrating radar systems;
• Numerical ability in line with PhD topic;
• Proficient in use of technical data processing software;
• Good written and oral presentation skills are required;
• Capable of working in a small team.

Desirable

• Skills in data analysis, visualization and presentation (e.g. ArcGIS or QGIS);
• Experience with seismic or similar processing software used to pick ice bed elevation from data in a semi-automated manner;
• Post doc experience working with airborne radar data;
• Experience of polar field work;
• Experience generating bed elevation DEM’s from ice penetrating radar data;
• Experience using Matlab or Python for data processing;
• Experience using version control system tools such as Git;
• Experience using UNIX systems;
• Proficient with standard windows packages;
• Good time management with evidence of delivering to a deadline;
• Evidence of delivering technical reports;
• Track record of academic publication.