Ice Sheet - Sea Level - Solid Earth Interactions

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Future sea-level rise in response to climate warming poses a threat to coastal communities and environments around the world. A critical task of climate change research is to constrain the response of present-day ice reservoirs to climate warming and estimate their contribution to future sea-level change. I work at the intersection between geophysics and climate change science. My proposed research will contribute to improving our understanding of past and future climate by exploring the physics of sea-level changes and solid Earth deformation, accounting for this physics in state-of-the-art numerical models of the retreat and advance of the polar ice sheets, and taking an integrated view of the Earth system. Through pursuing four interconnected lines of research - Development and applications of coupled modeling to study ice sheet - sea level interactions, constraining the contributions to future and past sea-level changes, the influence of the solid Earth on the climate system and development and applications of new sea-level observation techniques in the cryosphere - my research program will aim to: • Take an integrated view of sea-level change, ice-sheet evolution and solid earth deformation by elucidating and modeling the physical processes that govern the coupling between these aspects of the Earth system; • Improve constraints on the history of sea-level and ice-sheet changes during the last ice age with the goal of understanding the sensitivity of the cryosphere to climate forcing; • Refine projections of future sea level change and ice sheet dynamics in our progressively warming world. Achieving these goals will aid in mitigating the impacts of climate change both in Canada and around the world, improve the interpretation of geophysical observations of the past and present Earth system, and delineate the edges of the Earth’s resilience in the face of ongoing climate change. I have played a leading role in establishing a new direction for research that aims to understand the connection between sea-level changes and the stability and evolution of marine ice sheets. My highly interdisciplinary training in the fields of geophysical modeling, ocean and climate dynamics and past and modern sea level research, makes me uniquely qualified for research on ice sheet - sea level - solid Earth interactions.