ACCE DTP Studentship – Is Greenland greening? Biogeomorphic interactions in the ice sheet foreland

Details

The Arctic has warmed at more than twice the rate of the rest of the world in recent decades, resulting in widespread increases in vegetation growth (known as “Arctic greening”) and recession of ice masses. This is significant as vegetation-climate feedbacks could alter global soil carbon storage and the surface energy budget, impacting future climate in the process. Glacier recession creates foreland habitats upon which new ecosystems can potentially develop. However, the interaction between vegetation and foreland geomorphic processes is poorly understood in this region of the Arctic. 

This project investigates biogeomorphic dynamics in the glacier forelands of Greenland. The student will be trained in the use long-term (decadal) satellite archives and their products in the Google Earth Engine cloud computing platform to develop tools to automatically map and quantify spatiotemporal changes in vegetation and foreland dynamics. This will be combined with local field observations and potentially uncrewed aerial vehicles to monitor foreland vegetation and geomorphic change and to calibrate and quantify uncertainty in satellite vegetation indices.

Remote sensing and field results will be combined to quantify spatial and temporal relationships between vegetation change and controlling factors, such as ice sheet recession, meltwater runoff, catchment connectivity and geomorphic activity and climate change indices (e.g. temperature, precipitation, wind). The results of this project will be valuable for determining how Arctic ecosystems downstream of the Greenland Ice Sheet have changed, and will respond to climate warming. 

The project will suit a motivated graduate with expertise or interest in geomorphology, glaciology and/or Arctic ecosystems, ideally with some experience of using remote sensing and/or coding although we will provide training. There will be opportunities for the successful student to carry out fieldwork in western Greenland.

Start date: 1st October 2023

This PhD project is part of the NERC funded Doctoral Training Partnership “ACCE” (Adapting to the Challenges of a Changing Environment. ACCE is a partnership between the Universities of Sheffield, Liverpool, York, CEH, and NHM, for more information about ACCE and how to apply please visit the website: https://accedtp.ac.uk/

The ACCE DTP is committed to recruiting extraordinary future scientists regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, faith or religious belief, pregnancy or maternity, parental or caring responsibilities or career pathway to date. We understand that a student’s potential can be shown in many ways and we strive to recruit students from all backgrounds, and support them on their scientific journey. 

We have designed our application systems to identify candidates who are likely to be successful in research regardless of what opportunities may have been available to them prior to their application.

How to apply:

All applicants to ACCE must complete the ACCE personal statement proforma. This is instead of a normal personal/supporting statement/cover letter. The proforma is designed to standardise this part of the application to minimise the difference between those who are given support and those who are not. The proforma and more information on the ACCE application process can be found here: https://accedtp.ac.uk/how-to-apply-to-acce-dtp/.

Shortlisted applicants will be invited for an interview to take place in the w/c 20th February 2023.