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This PhD project will develop and apply an advanced graph-based approach to analyse subglacial sediment generation and transport and its impact on ice sheets and the ocean. These techniques will seek to use the glacial sediment record to define the nature of the ice sheet bed, and the impact of sediment flux to the ocean from glacier in East Antarctica. The approach will help support the selection of new sites for detrital records to be collected, optimising the value of hard-won data. The new approach will be applied to vulnerable glacial catchments in East Antarctica and will help to constrain ice sheet evolution and projections for the future of sea level and climate. 

The PhD student will:

1) Devise novel workflows to model subglacial sediment generation and transport, using the model code GraphSSeT

2) Apply this to selected examples from glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland.

3) Express these results in the context of impacts on ice sheet flow and oceans

This project is supported by the $20M, 4 year Australian Centre of Excellence in Antarctic Science, which conducts world-leading research into the changes that are happening in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean, seeking to revolutionise predictions of their future.

alan.aitken@uwa.edu.au

The student will have a background in Earth, Cryosphere or Ocean sciences or Geomorphology.

The student will be able to engage in quantitative numerical and spatial analysis methods.