Post-glacial rebound from high precision geodetic measurements

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Climate, environment, ecosystems, human society and their interrelationships from the global perspective are of profound importance and significance nowadays. It is remarkable that still very little is known about our climate and its long-term changes as they relate not only to the atmospheric masses but to the arctic regions and the oceans as well. There is strong evidence that the polar regions of the Earth are the most sensitive showing the fastest warming rates than any other region on Earth. One characteristic physical phenomenon that is a result of climate change over the last several tens of thousands of years is the post-glacial rebound (PGR) or glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA), which can be described as the slow rebounding of the Earth's crust after the immense volumes of ice accumulated during the last major glaciation event (Pleistocene period) started melting some 21000 years ago. GIA is closely related to both the interior structure of the Earth and to the long-term global warming that causes deglaciation. The study of this continuing adjustment of the crust offers unique opportunities for understanding climate change and its impact on our daily lives. Research on GIA has been primarily based on geophysical modeling that describes the Earth deformations with complicated mathematical apparatuses and with limited verification from independent external sources. The proposed research comes to complement and ultimately improve the GIA models with the use of high precision geodetic measurements such as terrestrial and satellite gravity observations, Earth crust displacement monitoring with traditional and space geodetic techniques as well as crustal structure (density) from inversion of geoid models. This research proposes thorough analyses and interpretation of the geodetic observations by developing new theories, methodologies, and analytical tools. Once completed, the results of this research will enhance the geophysical models, and will be the catalyst for understanding Earth processes and climate change.