Investigating the polar regions from the inside out
2023 Glacial Isostatic Adjustment Training School
Course Program and Recorded lectures
Click the links below to view recordings. For a description of lectures included in each recording, refer to the course summary program posted below the links.
All times are listed in CEST (Central European Summer Time) which is GMT+2
A training school focused on exploring glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) modelling was held from 3-7 July 2023 at Lantmäteriet in Gävle, Sweden. The program included lectures and practical exercises aimed at investigating the interactions between solid Earth deformation, ice mass change, and associated sea-level and geoid variations. Students completed homework exercises utilizing freely available modelling software and had the opportunity to spend one-to-one time with leading researchers in the GIA community while working through examples in class. A field trip to examine records of land uplift and sea level change was included.
Virtual Participation
Due to overwhelming interest in the training school, lectures were made available via web conferences services. Each lecture was a live broadcasted stream, similar to live television. The streams were recorded and are posted for viewing below. Virtual participants were able to ask questions via chat, but only while the stream was live.
Virtual participation seats were unlimited and open to anyone. To access to pre-school homework and course content, send a request to 2023.gia.school@gmail.com.
Instructors
(more information may be found about each instructor by clicking their name)
Martin Ekman (Summer Institute for Historical Geophysics, Åland)
Martin Ekman is an associate professor of geophysics with an interest in history. He runs the one-man-institute "Summer Institute for Historical Geophysics" on the Åland Islands in the central Baltic Sea. He is the author of a few books involving the historical development of postglacial rebound and sea level changes.
The influence of ice sheets and glaciers on various aspects of the Earth System, including: sea level, land motion, landscape evolution, gravity field, Earth rotation. Dr Milne applies computer models to study interactions between ice sheets, the solid Earth and the oceans. A primary focus of Dr Milne’s research is geophysical modelling of sea-level changes caused by climate change.
Torsten Albrecht (Postdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany)
Torsten Albrecht works at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany and has co-developed the Parallel Ice Sheet Model (pism.io) since over 14 years with a focus on the Antarctic Ice Sheet. He has implemented parameterizations for processes within the ice (e.g. fracture formation) or at the ice-ocean boundary (e.g. tabular iceberg calving, sub-shelf melting), has run ensembles of glacial time scales PISM simulations and participated in community-effort sea-level projections (e.g. ISMIP6). Torsten Albrecht is also engaged in the interactive coupling of PISM with GIA and ocean models and is currently involved in studies on feedback mechanisms and tipping characteristics.
Nicole Khan is an Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong. Her research uses sedimentary, microfossil and geochemical indicators to produce and synthesize records of present and past sea levels, storms, and floods, and their extent of geological and ecological impacts. These records provide means to assess future risk, reveal the spatial and temporal variability of coastal inundation and decipher the relationship of these events to global climatic changes.
I am a Senior Scientist at the chair of Geodetic Earth System Research, Technische Universität Dresden (TUD – Dresden University of Technology), Germany. I completed my PhD in Geodesy, on satellite orbit dynamics at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. In academia, I give graduate lectures in Geodesy and supervise BSc, MSc and PhD students. In research I am focusing on the determination of solid Earth deformation by geodetic methods (GNSS, gravimetry), on gravity field analysis and geoid determination in Antarctica, on the application of airborne methods in geodesy and on geodetic Earth system research. For more than 25 years I have been active in polar research, participating and as PI leading measurement campaigns in Antarctica, Greenland and southern Patagonia.
Giorgio Spada is professor in Geophysics of the Solid Earth at the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna. He is mainly active in the field of global geodynamics, with particular interest into Glacial Isostatic Adjustment, rheology of the Earth, sea-level variations at various temporal scales, planetary dynamics and in geophysical modeling of the Earth’s system.
Lambert Caron's expertise focuses on GIA modeling and uncertainty quantification. He developed in IPGP (France) a framework for Bayesian statistics applied to GIA model parameters and inputs, including non-uniqueness in ice history and complex mantle rheology. He then joined the sea level and ice team at JPL, Pasadena to combine his GIA model ensemble approach with NASA observational and computational capabilities, including applications to GRACE, polar motion, tide gauges and GNSS time series, and is now a lead developper of the Ice Sheet and Sea level system Model (ISSM) solid Earth capabilities. His research interests include ice and solid-Earth interactions, sea level projections, mantle rheology and uncertainty quantification.
I’m a geophysicist working on the connection of GIA and seismicity, namely glacially triggered earthquakes, and the effect of those earthquakes on relative-sea level data, an important GIA observation. I’m also interested in research related to the effect of 3D Earth models on GIA observations, the estimation of lithospheric structure using gravity data, and the development of continental-wide GNSS velocity models.
Volker Klemann is senior scientist at the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ. He investigates several aspects of solid-earth deformation and glacial isostatic adjustment. His main focus lies on lateral heterogeneity in earth structure, coupling of solid-earth and ice-sheet dynamics, and the relation to former and present-day sea-level change as surface deformations.
I am an assistant research professor at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University. I use state-of-the-art methodologies from the field of seismology and high-performance computing to image Earth’s elastic structure as well as adapt and develop analogous methods to image Earth’s 3D viscosity structure using observations of Glacial Isostatic Adjustment. My results allow me to better understand geodynamic and tectonic processes as well as the interactions of the solid Earth and the cryosphere/hydrosphere. I am also interested in how these same techniques can be used to better characterize source properties (e.g., earthquakes and ice sheets).
Mike Bentley is a glacial geologist, specialising in reconstructing the past behaviour of glaciers and ice sheets, especially Antarctica. Mike uses a combination of geomorphology, cosmogenic surface exposure dating and other dating methods to determine past ice sheet changes. He works closely with ice sheet modellers to use the geological data as constraints on palaeo-models of the ice sheets. Mike has also developed site-based reconstructions of past relative sea level (RSL) around the margins of Antarctica. Mike led a synthesis of all geological data on the extent of the Antarctic ice sheet since the Last Glacial Maximum and is currently working on a comprehensive review of all Antarctic RSL data, which is likely to be of wide use to the GIA community.
Jacky Austermann is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University and works on better understanding how sea level and ice sheets have changed over the past hundreds, thousands, and millions of years. She performs geophysical modeling of GIA and mantle convection, and fieldwork to map and analyze paleo shorelines. She has a particular interest in sea level during past warm periods.
Chris Piecuch is an Associate Scientist in the Physical Oceanography Department at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). He will be lecturing on statistics and uncertainties of models and observations at the GIA Training School. Chris holds BA, MSc, and PhD degrees from the University of Rhode Island (URI). He has performed extensive research on the physics and statistics of sea-level change, which he has done with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), as a member of various National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Teams, and as part of multiple workshops and international teams convened by the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland. Chris is an associate editor at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) journal Earth’s Future. He has served on committees for advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion at WHOI. Prior to coming to WHOI, Chris was a staff scientist at Atmospheric and Environmental Research (AER) in Lexington, Massachusetts. Before that, Chris served as a volunteer with the United States Peace Corps, teaching math and science at a secondary school near Rumphi, Malawi. In his free time, you’ll find him roasting coffee, walking his dogs, doing the New York Times crossword puzzle, splitting wood, or lingering over good food and drinks with friends and family.
I am geophysicist with almost 20 years of work in the field of GIA. My GIA research focuses on GIA in Fennoscandia, but I have branched to other regions sporadically. I am also very interested in the history of research, people's adaptation to GIA-related environmental changes, available observations with their uncertainty and sensitivity, and glacially triggered faulting.
Terry Wilson (Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, USA)
Terry Wilson is a Professor Emerita in the School of Earth Sciences and Senior Research Scientist at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at The Ohio State University. Terry is a geologist, with principal research interests in the structural architecture of mountain belts, how continents rift, and the interaction of the solid Earth and ice sheets in Antarctica, using field, geodetic and geophysical observations. Terry has led over 25 field expeditions to Antarctica, cumulatively spending over 4 years ‘on the ice’ [so far]. At the training school Terry will discuss what we have learned about the complexity of GIA in Antarctica, and will also touch on operation the network of remote, autonomous GNSS and seismic instruments over 2 decades as part of the Polar Earth Observing Network (POLENET) and predecessor projects. Terry has contributed to training the next generation of Polar scientists, mentoring over 40 students in Antarctic Research and introducing over 50 students and early career scientists to field work in Antarctica – this GIA Training School is the latest important effort to train a new cohort of scientists in polar research.
Natalya Gomez is an associate professor in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department at McGill University in Montreal, and a Canada Research Chair in Ice Sheet - Sea Level Interactions. Her work at the intersection between solid Earth geophysics, glaciology and climate science focusses on using numerical modeling and geophysical and geological observations to study the interactions between ice sheets, sea level and the solid Earth, and the response of these systems to past, present and future climate changes.
I am a geodesist with a background in gravimetry and geodetic height reference frames (levelling), working in a region strongly affected by GIA. During my PhD studies I participated in the first GIA training school in Gävle (2009) and after that my research turned towards GIA modelling in general and GIA-induced gravity change in particular.
Organizers
Holger Steffen (Lantmäteriet, Sweden) Rebekka Steffen (Lantmäteriet, Sweden) Terry Wilson (Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, USA) Stephanie Sherman (née Konfal) (Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, Ohio State University, USA) Andrew Lloyd (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, USA) Volker Klemann (GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Germany)
Pre-School Homework and Course Content
The pre-course homework exercises and secure files may be accessed HERE.
Financial Support
Financial support for the training school was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Antarctica Network (ANET) component of the Polar Earth Observing Network (POLENET) project and the "Collaborative Research: Imaging the 3D Viscosity Structure of the Antarctic Mantle" project, as well as Polar Knowledge Canada, the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS), the European Geosciences Union (EGU), the University of Gävle, the Swedish Mapping, Cadastral and Land Registration Authority (Lantmäteriet), and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) through the former Solid Earth Responses and influences on Cryospheric Evolution (SERCE) program and the current INStabilities & Thresholds in ANTarctica (INSTANT) program.
There was no registration fee. We secured sufficient funds to provide travel and accommodation to all participants that submitted a financial support request. THANK YOU to our generous sponsors for making this possible.
Please contact 2023.gia.school@gmail.com with questions.