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Marion Bougamont, MSc, PhD

Research Associate

Glaciologist using modelling techniques to study the dynamics and subglacial processes that affect the mass balance of ice sheets.

Biography

Career

Qualifications

Research

My research primarily aims at improving the understanding of the basal mechanics of glaciers and ice streams in Antarctica and Greenland. In particular, I study how their effect on bed resistance controls the short and long-term variability of ice flow.

Past research

My interest for basal processes initiated during my PhD, when I developed an ice stream dynamics flowline model, built to study the sudden stoppage of Kamb Ice Stream (formerly "Ice Stream C", West Antarctica) that occurred about 170 years ago. This model is the first one to quantitatively explain the ice stream stagnation as a result of an unstable coupling between ice flow and basal conditions in the underlying sediment layer.

From South to North, and from basal to surface processes... while working in Bristol Glaciology Centre, I developed a new surface-energy and mass-balance model of the Greenland Ice Sheet in a collaborative project on the role of the cryosphere in modulating the thermohaline circulation in the North Atlantic (part of a NERC's RAPID programme). The model was coupled to GLIMMER, which is the land-ice component of GENIE, an integrated Earth-System model developed as part of the UK e-science initiative funded by NERC.

Current research

My recent research involved the coupling of a subglacial processes model to the higher-order Glimmer-Community Ice Sheet Model (Glimmer-CISM), with the goal of determining spatial patterns of subglacial controls on ice stream flow. When the model was further coupled to regional hydrology - in a highly simplified way - we found that small difference in till water content caused by incorporation of regional water may strongly impact the flow and long-term behaviour of the ice stream (Bougamont et al., 2011). This work revealed major new insights to the transient flow of ice streams underlain by plastic till.

Initially built to study the Antarctic Ice Sheet, the model is adapted to the Greenland Ice Sheet in order to investigate the dynamic response of the ice sheet to englacial and subglacial water flow (2009 NERC grant).

Research funding

Publications

Selected publications

External activities