New Technology for Glaciology

冰川是气候变化的“预警系统”。极地冰盖和高山冰川都在迅速变化，这对生命和生计产生了直接影响。仅格陵兰岛在2019年夏天就失去了足够的冰，使全球海平面上升了2.2毫米，因此，如果我们要保护沿海地区的人民和基础设施免受气候变化造成的未来洪水的影响，预测冰川行为至关重要。为了做出这些预测，我们需要对冰川进行更好的观测，特别是从观测稀缺的冰川内部和下方进行观测。传统上，冰川学家在夏季收集数据--在一年中天气最有利的时候，徒步登山或登上极地冰盖。这将每年亲自收集数据的机会限制在少数几个星期。人们非常希望全年收集数据，并将数据带回真实的分析，但很少有冰川学家能够获得这项工作所需的工程专业知识。卫星遥感技术的最新进展使冰川学家能够从太空看到冰川表面，每隔几天就有新的数据。但遥感只能说明一部分--它不能显示冰川下发生了什么，它需要用实地的“地面实况”观测来验证。我的背景是工程学，我的大部分职业生涯都花在了为商业用途设计新技术的工业上。现在，我想用这些技能从根本上改变冰川学的研究方式--通过开发新的仪器和数据基础设施，全年真实的收集冰川数据。我希望用这些新仪器回答的关键问题是，了解流入和流经冰川的液态水如何影响冰川的运动。融化的雪水流入冰川表面的溪流和河流。但它也会穿过积雪，消失在人们的视线之外，而溪流本身也会消失在冰川上被称为“冰川穴”的洞里。这些水穿过冰川到达冰川床，在冰川冰和下面的地面之间形成通道。遥感可以观察到地表的水，但无法看到地下-所以我们需要在实地观察。利用我的工程技术，我将开发一套新的仪器，用于在雪中，溪流和河流中以及冰下的通道中进行测量。无线通信和跟踪将使我们能够观察冰川下未开发的水道。我将与来自工程和地球科学的研究人员以及世界各地的合作者一起，将这些成果付诸实践，在瑞士的冰川上进行测试，并对格陵兰岛移动最快的冰川进行有价值的观测。最重要的是，我将以“开源”设计的形式免费分享我的新仪器和软件。这意味着任何人都可以看到我的设计，看看它们是如何工作的，并复制或修改它们供自己使用。这些低成本、方便的无线仪器的价值将超越冰川学--其核心技术（传感器、可再生能源供应、通信和数据基础设施）可应用于整个环境科学。我的愿景是创建一个开源仪器的生态系统-科学家和工程师共享他们的仪器，并在彼此的设计基础上构建。我拥有工业工程专业知识和极地科学工作经验，因此能够从这项奖学金中受益。它将启动我的学术生涯，使我能够开发令人兴奋的新技术，并利用它来开展具有全球意义的科学工作。我的开源愿景将改变冰川学的研究方式，造福未来的科学家，并使我成为环境科学的全球领导者。

Glaciers are the "early warning system" of climate change. Both the polar ice sheets and high-mountain glaciers are changing rapidly, and this has a direct effect on lives and livelihoods. Greenland alone lost enough ice in the summer of 2019 to raise global sea levels by 2.2mm, so forecasting glacier behaviour is vital if we are to protect people and infrastructure in coastal regions from future flooding caused by climate change. To produce these forecasts, we need better observations of glaciers, especially from within and below the glaciers where observations are scarce. Traditionally, glaciologists collect their data in the summer seasons - tramping up mountains or travelling up onto the polar ice sheets - at the time of year when the weather is most favourable. This limits the opportunity for in-person data collection to only a small number of weeks each year. It is highly desirable to collect data all year round and bring the data back for analysis in real time, but very few glaciologists have access to the engineering expertise required to make this work. Recent advances in remote sensing from satellites allow glaciologists to see the surface of glaciers from space, with new data every few days. But remote sensing only tells part of the story - it doesn't show what's going on beneath the glaciers, and it needs verifying with "ground truth" observations from the field. My background is in engineering, and I've spent the majority of my career in industry designing new technology for commercial use. I now want to bring these same skills to radically change the way glaciology is done - by developing new instruments and data infrastructure to collect data from glaciers in real time all year round.The key question I aim to answer with these new instruments is understanding how liquid water flowing in and through a glacier affects the glacier's movement. Water from melting snow flows into streams and rivers on the glacier surface. But it also percolates down through the snowpack out of sight, and the streams themselves disappear into holes in the glacier called "moulins". These pass through the glacier to its bed, and the water forms channels between the glacier ice and the ground beneath. Remote sensing can observe water on the surface but cannot see beneath - so we need to observe in the field. Using my engineering skills, I will develop a suite of new instruments to measure in the snow, in streams and rivers, and in the channels beneath the ice. Wireless communications and tracking will let us observe the unexplored water channels beneath glaciers. With a team of researchers from engineering and earth science and collaborators around the world, I will bring these to fruition, test them on glaciers in Switzerland and make valuable observations on the fastest-moving glacier in Greenland.Most importantly, I will share my new instruments and software freely as an "open source" design. This means that anyone will be able to look at my designs, see how they work, and copy or modify them for their own use. These low-cost, convenient, wireless instruments will be valuable beyond glaciology - the core technologies (sensors, renewable energy supplies, communications and data infrastructure) have applications right across environmental science. My vision is to create an ecosystem of open source instrumentation - with scientists and engineers sharing their instruments and building upon each other's designs.I am uniquely placed to benefit from this fellowship because I have both industrial engineering expertise and experience of working in polar science. It will jump-start my academic career, allowing me to develop exciting new technology and use it to conduct globally significant scientific work. My open source vision will change the way glaciology is done, benefiting future generations of scientists, and establishing me as a global leader in environmental science.