The PhD defence and trial lecture will be held in Auditorium 1 in The Geology Building. In some cases, it will be possible to attend the trial lecture and dissertation digitally, in that case a link to Zoom will be posted.
Trial lecture
Thursday 21 May, 10:15-11:00, Aud 1, The Geology Building:
The Subglacial Water Drainage in Polar and Alpine Glaciers in a Changing Climate and Implications to Ice Dynamics
Conferral summary
The Arctic is warming three to four times faster than the rest of the world, affecting its glaciers, sea ice, and permafrost. In this dissertation, Erik Schytt Mannerfelt investigates how glaciers are influenced by a rapidly changing climate in more forms than just melt by warmer temperatures. Glaciers can enter unstable phases, known as glacier surges, during which enormous masses of ice are suddenly displaced over a short period of time. Using new methods to detect and analyze such events, the work explores the drastic increase of surging in Svalbard in recent years, while several glaciers appear to have a limited ability to recover afterward. The dissertation provides new insight into how climate change may affect glacier ice dynamics and future mass loss.
Main research findings
Popular scientific article about Mannerfelt’s dissertation:
A warming Arctic is changing how glaciers surge
Glaciers in the Arctic play an important role in the global climate system and in regulating sea level. However, glaciers do not always respond to climate change simply by melting and retreating. Some enter short periods of sudden and rapid movement, known as glacier surges, which can move massive volumes of ice in short periods. Such surges can create hazards and make future projections of glacier mass loss more uncertain. Erik Schytt Mannerfelt’s thesis includes the development and application of new methods based on satellite radar, elevation measurements, and ground-penetrating radar to detect and understand glacier surges, mainly in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.
Results from the doctoral thesis show that glacier surge activity on Svalbard has increased sharply in recent years. The number of surges has been approximately three times higher over the past decade than in the preceding period. At the same time, several glaciers appear to have a limited ability to rebuild the ice mass they lost after a surge. This suggests that rapid Arctic warming not only causes glaciers to melt, but may also affect their motion. The work provides improved methods for detecting glacier surges at an early stage, as well as new knowledge about how they develop. The thesis also shows that future changes in glaciers may be more dynamic and more difficult to predict than we often assume.
Photo and other information:
Press photo: Erik Schytt Mannerfelt, portrait; 1600px. Photo: Private
Other photo material: Photo with description and credit as specified in the article above, size 2000px.