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Eliza Dawson

Ph.D. Student in Geophysics, admitted Summer 2018
I am interested in processes that impact the evolution of the Antarctic ice sheet and could ultimately lead to wide spread mass loss and unstable retreat. Ice flow is modulated by conditions at the ice-bed interface however the basal environment is very challenging to directly measure due to the remote location, vast size, and extreme thickness of the ice sheet. As a result, it's unknown how the ice sheet could evolve to changes in basal forcing. I am particularly interested in the basal thermal regime and the ability of basal thawing to drive changes in ice flow and stability. The integration of radar analysis and numerical modeling is a powerful way to investigate this problem. With these techniques, I am investigating the ice sheet’s response to changes in the extent of thawed basal regions in order to project possible mass loss and contribution to sea level rise.