Ice and fire: exploring relationships between glaciers, volcanoes and climate

山脉冰川表面物质平衡对气候变化做出反应。冰川平衡线高度(ELA)，即净积累等于净消融的高度，根据经验与降水和温度都有关。然而，当冰川占据火山时，这种关系往往被抵消。这种偏移量的大小很可能是自上次喷发以来的时间、这次喷发的性质以及最近的地热通量的函数。该项目将在全球范围内量化偏移量，以便了解火山和冰川之间的关系。在这样做的同时，该项目还将确定不应包括在经常用于分析区域气候的全球数据库中的冰川。更好地了解冰川-火山相互作用对于了解和减轻相关灾害(如拉哈尔火山)具有重要意义。在这个令人兴奋的跨学科项目中，我们将研究世界各地不同冰川-火山地区的气候，并分析附近的非火山冰川ELA，以建立这些地区冰川和气候之间的关系。然后，我们将观察火山冰川，量化它们的ELA，并分析非火山冰川对气候控制的ELA的抵消。最后，我们将分析这些地区最近的火山活动历史：如果以及何时发生喷发，喷发的性质，可能影响其物质平衡的已知冰川突然变化(例如斩首)，以及有关火山的地热史。这些任务将利用应用于一系列卫星图像和数字地形模型的地理信息系统和遥感技术，并在可能的情况下与直接观测相结合(例如，来自冰川监测计划、气象站、火山活动观测、媒体报道、地热测量等)。最后，我们将缩小气候模型输出的规模，以预测这些地区未来的ELA变化。该项目寻找一个非常有动力、好奇和热情的学生，对做一个真正的跨学科项目感兴趣。由阿伯丁大学的Matteo Spagnolo和贝尔法斯特女王大学的Donal Mullan领导的冰川学家、气候学家和火山学家团队将监督这名学生。理想的应聘者应该在所涉及的三个学科中的一个有很强的背景。遥感和地理信息系统的先验知识不是必须的，但很受欢迎。

Mountain glacier surface mass balance responds to changes in climate. The glacier equilibrium line altitude (ELA), the elevation at which net accumulation equals net ablation, has been empirically linked to both precipitation and temperature. However, this relationship is often offset when glaciers occupy volcanoes. The magnitude of this offset is likely to be a function of time since last eruption, the nature of this eruption, and recent geothermal heat flux. This project will quantify the offset at a global scale, in order to understand relationships between volcanoes and glaciers. In so doing, the project will also identify glaciers that should not be included in the global databases frequently used to analyse regional climate. An improved understanding of glacier-volcano interactions has implications for understanding and mitigation of related hazard (e.g. lahars). It will also explore the possibility of using the offset to quantify regional geothermal heat flux.In this exciting, interdisciplinary project, we will study climate in different glacio-volcanic areas worldwide, and analyse nearby, non-volcanic glacier ELA to establish the relationship between glaciers and climate in those regions. We will then look at volcanic glaciers, quantify their ELA and analyse the offset to the climatically-controlled ELA of non-volcanic glaciers. Finally, we will analyse the recent history of volcanic activity in these areas: if and when an eruption occurred, the nature of the eruption, known sudden changes to the glaciers that might have affected their mass balance (e.g. beheading), and the geothermal history of the volcanoes in question. These tasks will be performed using GIS and remote sensing techniques applied to a time series of satellite images and digital terrain models, and integrated with direct observations, where available (e.g., from glacier monitoring schemes, meteorological stations, observations of volcanic activities, media reports, geothermal heat measurements, etc.). Finally, we will downscale climate model output to project future ELA changes for these regions.The project seeks a highly motivated, curious and passionate student interested in doing a truly interdisciplinary project. The student will be supervised by a team of glaciologists, climatologists and volcanologists, led by Matteo Spagnolo (University of Aberdeen) and Donal Mullan (Queen's University Belfast). Ideal candidates should have a strong background in one of the three disciplines involved. Prior knowledge of remote sensing and GIS is not essential but welcome.