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You are in:  Home » Staff and students » Academic staff » Poul Christoffersen

Poul Christoffersen MSc PhD

University Lecturer

Glaciologist and Engineer, researching glacier and permafrost dynamics, interactions of ice-sheets with oceans and the cryosphere's response to climate change, using numerical models, satellite remote sensing and data acquired by geophysical fieldwork.

Biography

Career

• 2007 to present: Lecturer in Physical Geography, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
• 2004-2006, Lecturer in Glaciology, University of Wales, Aberystwyth
• 2003-2004, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of California, Santa Cruz
• 1998-1999, Engineering Geologist, Coffey Geosciences, Melbourne, Australia

Qualifications

• MSc, Technical University of Denmark
• PhD, Technical University of Denmark

Research

One of the most challenging scientific problems today is the theoretical understanding of climate change, including accurate assessment of future impacts on natural environments. My research is focused on the dynamics of glaciers, ice sheets and permafrozen ground, and the interactions of the cryosphere with Earth's climate system. To examine cryosphere-climate interactions, I use geophysical data acquired from field campaigns and remote sensing together with theoretical models. Current research projects include the development of 3D numerical models of tice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland to develop a better understanding of contemporary flow dynamics and to assess the future evolution of dynamic contributions to the ice-sheet's mass budgets. Research in the Antarctic includes observations and modelling of subglacial processes beneath ice streams with complex flow history. In the Arctic, I am researching air-sea interctions and their influence on the flow of marine-terminating outlets of the Greenland Ice Sheet as well as smaller maritime ice caps. The Arctic component of my research includes assessment of thawing permafrost in the Alaskan Arctic and the discovery of a large subglacial paleolake in Canada.

PhD research opportunities

Graduate student research opportunities within my research group range from large-scale issues related to the past and future behavior of polar ice sheets to more specific themes such as basal hydrology, dynamics of fast glacier flow, oceanic controls on calving rates. I am currently supervising two PhD students. Narelle Baker is modelling the flow of Antarctic ice streams and assessing the role of subglacial hydrology. Martin O'Leary is investigating brine infiltration in Antarctic ice shelves and meltwater plumes forming in front of calving glaciers. Examples of potential new projects are available. The topics are not definitive. I am happy to discuss project ideas and funding opportunities by e-mail.

Research Grants

Airborne geophysical investigations of basal conditions at flow transitions of outlet glaciers on the Greenland Ice Sheet

PI and Co-I: Julian Dowdeswell, Martin Siegert, Poul Christoffersen, Jonathan Bamber, Peter Nienow, Andrew Wright, Toby Benham
Funding: Natural Environment Research Council, £809,856 (2010-2013)

Determining the Dynamical Response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to Climate Forcing using a Geophysical, Remote-Sensing and Numerical Modelling Framework

PI and Co-I: Alun Hubbard, Poul Christoffersen, Bernd Kulessa, Marion Bougamont
Funding: Natural Environment Research Council, £88,193 (2009-2012)

Permafrost changes in the Arctic

PI and Co-I: Poul Christoffersen and Julian Dowdeswell
Funding: Eni S.p.A., £521,744 GBP (2008-2012)

Investigating basal conditions and flow dynamics on Vestfonna Ice Cap

PI and Co-Is: Poul Christoffersen, Julian Dowdeswell and Alun Hubbard
Funding: Natural Environment Research Council, £53,258 (2008-2009)

Understanding contemporary changes in the Antarctic Ice Sheet

PI and Co-Is: Tony Payne, Poul Christoffersen and Andreas Vieli and Marion Bougamont
Funding: Natural Environment Research Council, £165,878 (2007-2010)

Identification of subglacial paleolakes in Arctic Canada: geophysical surveys in the Great Slave Lake

PI: Poul Christoffersen
Funding: University Research Fund, £9,000 (2005-2007)

Publications

• Bougamont, M., S. Price, P. Christoffersen, A. J. Payne, Dynamic patterns of ice stream flow in a 3D higher-order ice sheet model with plastic bed and simplified hydrology, Journal of Geophysical Research, 116, F04018, doi:10.1029/2011JF002025.
  
• Pettersson, R., P. Christoffersen, J. A. Dowdeswell, V. A. Pohjola, A. Hubbard, T. Strozzi, 2011, Ice thickness and basal conditions of Vestfonna Ice Cap, eastern Svalbard, Geografiska Annaler A-Physical Geography, 93A, 311-322, doi:10.1111/j.1468-0459.2011.00438.x
• Pohjola, V. A., P. Christoffersen, L. Kolondra, J. C. Moore, R. Pettersson, M. Schafer, T. Strozzi, C. Reijmer, 2011, Spatial distribution and change in the surface ice-velocity field of Vestfonna Ice Cap, Nordaustlandet, Svalbard, 1995-2010, using geodetic and satellite interferometry data, Geografiska Annaler A-Physical Geography, 93A, 323-335 doi:10.1111/j.1468-0459.2011.00441.x
• Christoffersen, P., R. I. Mugford, K. J. Heywood, I. Joughin, J. A. Dowdeswell, J. P. M. Syvitski, A. Luckman, T. J. Benham, Warming of waters in an East Greenland fjord prior to glacier retreat: mechanisms and connection to large-scale atmospheric conditions, The Cryosphere, 5, 701–714, 2011. (open access: www.the-cryosphere.net/5/701/2011/).
• Seale, A., P. Christoffersen, R. I. Mugford, M. O'Leary, Ocean forcing of the Greenland Ice Sheet: Calving fronts
  and patterns of retreat identified by automatic satellite monitoring of eastern outlet glaciers, Journal of Geophysical Research, 116, F03013, doi:10.1029/2010JF001847, 2011.
  
• Bentley, M., P. Christoffersen, D. Hodgson, A. Smith, S. Tulaczyk, A. Le Brocq, Subglacial lake sediments and sedimentary processes: potential archives of ice sheet evolution, past environmental change and the presence of life, In Antarctic Subglacial Aquatic Environments, Geophysical Monograph Series, 192, American Geophysical Union, 2011.
• Lim, J., J. Woodward, S. Tulaczyk, P. Christoffersen, S. P. Cummings, Analysis of the microbial community and geochemistry
  of a sediment core from Great Slave Lake, Canada, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek Journal of General and Molecular Microbiology, 99, 423-430, 2011.
• Christoffersen, P., S. Tulaczyk, A. Behar, Basal ice sequences in Antarctic ice stream: exposure of past hydrologic conditions and a principal mode of sediment transfer, Journal of Geophysical Research, F03034, doi:10.1029/2009JF001430, 2010.
  
• Christoffersen, P., S. Tulaczyk, N. Wattrus, J. Peterson, N. Quintana-Krupinski, C. Clark and C. Sjunneskog, Large Subglacial lake beneath the Laurentide Ice Sheet inferred from sedimentary sequences, Geology, 36, 563-568, 2008.
• Christoffersen, P., S. Tulaczyk, F. Carsey, and A. Behar, 2007, Reply to comment by A. W. Rempel et al. on "A quantitative framework for interpretation of basal ice facies formed by ice accretion over subglacial sediment", Journal of Geophysical Research, F02037, doi:10.1029/2006JF000732.
• The Lake Ellsworth Consortium, 2007, Exploration of Ellsworth Subglacial Lake: a concept paper on the development, organisation and execution of an experiment to explore, measure and sample the environment of a West Antarctic subglacial lake, Reviews in Environmental Science and Biotechnology, 6, 161-179.
• Larsen, N.K., J.A. Piotrowski, P. Christoffersen, and J. Menzies, 2006, Formation and deformation of basal till during a glacier surge, Elisebreen, Svalbard, Geomorhology, 81, 217-234.
• Christoffersen, P., S. Tulaczyk, F. Carsey, and A. Behar, 2006, A quantitative framework for interpretation of basal ice facies formed by ice accretion over subglacial sediment, Journal of Geophysical Research, F01017, doi:10.1029/2005JF000363.
  
• Christoffersen, P., J.A. Piotrowski and N.K. Larsen, 2005, Basal processes beneath an Arctic glacier and their geomorphic imprint after a surge, Elisebreen, Svalbard, Quaternary Research, 64, 125-137.
• Christoffersen, P. and S. Tulaczyk, 2003a, Signature of palaeo-ice stream stagnation: till consolidation induced by basal freeze-on, Boreas, 32(1), 114-129.
• Christoffersen, P. and S. Tulaczyk, 2003b, Thermodynamics of basal freeze-on: predicting basal and subglacial signatures beneath stopped ice streams and interstream ridges, Annals of Glaciology, 36, 233-243.
• Christoffersen, P. and S. Tulaczyk, 2003c, Response of subglacial sediments to basal freeze-on: I. Theory and comparison to observations from beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Journal of Geophysical Research, 108(B4), 2222, doi:10.1029/2002JB001935.

Magazines and popular science

• Hambrey, M.J., J. Bamber, P. Christoffersen, N Glasser, A. Hubbard, B. Hubbard, R. Larter, 2010, Glaciers : no-nonsense science, Geoscientist, 20, 18-23.
• Christoffersen, P. and M.J. Hambrey, 2006, Is the Greenland Ice Sheet in a state of collapse?, Geology Today, 22, 99-104.

Books and book sections

• Christoffersen, P., Greenland Ice Sheet, in Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers, Springer, 2011.
• Hambrey, M.J., P. Christoffersen, N.F. Glasser and B. Hubbard, Glacial Sedimentation Processes and Products, International Association of Sedimentologists, Special Publication, vol. 39, pp. 416.