Dr Poul Christoffersen

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Poul Christoffersen (MSc, PhD)

University Lecturer, Fellow and Director of Studies in Geography

Murray Edwards College
Cambridge
CB3 0DF

Telephone: 01223 769405
E-mail: pc350@cam.ac.uk
Departmental web page

Profile

Poul Christoffersen is a glaciologist and Lecturer in Physical Geography at the Scott Polar Research Institute and the Department of Geography. His research takes place in the Arctic and Antarctic and focusses on climate change and its impact on ice masses and permafrozen ground.

Specific research themes include flow dynamics of fast flowing glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland, interactions of polar ice sheet with Earth's atmosphere and polar oceans, and the search for living organisms in dark, cold and deeply buried lakes beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

In his research, he uses field observations, satellite imaging and computer models. His current research projects include (i) the development of a 3D numerical models of the ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland, (ii) field-based instrumentation and modelling of large glaciers in Antarctica, Greenland and Svalbard, and (iii) assessment of melting permafrost in northern Alaska.

Poul teaches glaciology and climate change in the Geography Undergraduate Tripos and his research group includes several graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.

Current research projects

• Airborne geophysical investigations of basal conditions at flow transitions of outlet glaciers on the Greenland Ice Sheet (2010-2013), Funding by the Natural Environment Research Council (£k810)

• Determining the Dynamical Response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to Climate Forcing using a Geophysical, Remote-Sensing and Numerical Modelling Framework (2009-2012), Funding by the Natural Environment Research Council (£k88)

• Permafrost changes in the Arctic (2009-2013), Funding by Eni S.p.A. (£k522)

• Investigating basal conditions and flow dynamics on Vestfonna Ice Cap (2008-2010), Funding by the Natural Environment Research Council (£k53)

• Understanding contemporary changes in the Antarctic Ice Sheet (2007-2011), Funding by the Natural Environment Research Council (£k166)

Recent 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, doi:10.1029/2011JF002019, in press.
  

• 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(2), 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.