Fairbanks, Alaska
A 3-day symposium on modelling and observation of solid-earth response to ice-ocean load changes. The symposium will be followed by a 1-day hands-on workshop on modelling of elastic deformation. Please save the dates:
Venue: University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, Fairbanks, Alaska
Symposium Description
Melting of ice sheets and glaciers adds to the mass of water that fills the ocean basins and results in solid Earth deformation over a large range of spatial and temporal scales. Both ice-ocean load and surface deformation changes (vertical and horizontal) are far from completely observed and where they are observed they are typically not fully understood. Observations of ice extent and paleo sea level are increasing in number, but provide less spatial or temporal coverage than desired and reconstructions benefit from further indirect constraints associated with the deformation of the solid Earth. Time series of relative sea level are particularly powerful additional constraints, with modern geodetic measurements often providing more complete spatial coverage but with the limitation that the observations only cover a few decades at most.
This workshop will bring together those working on ice load reconstructions, modeling of (visco-) elastic processes and comparison to relative sea level and geodetic observations (e.g. GRACE, GPS, ICESat, CRYOSAT II) in order to further refine our understanding of past to present ice/ocean load changes, and the characteristics of the solid Earth under time-varying loads, in order to advance our understanding of past ice sheet and sea level changes, of the structure and rheology of Earth, and of exactly what geodetic measurements are measuring.
Final Day Workshop on Elastic Modelling
The final day of the meeting will provide an opportunity to gain hands on experience and tutoring on tools for computation of the high-resolution elastic response of Earth to surface load changes. The session will explore the theory and practical application of two tools - REAR and SPOTL – as well as a summary of sources for obtaining observed or modeled ice loading changes and their treatments. The 1-day workshop will focus on learning through undertaking computer exercises with the software. A familiarity with Linux will be essential. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.
Registration and abstract submission
The abstract deadline for this workshop is Feb 16, 2015 – see http://www.gia2015.org/
Please note, partial travel support is available to a limited number of early career researchers from nations active in Antarctic fieldwork with priority given to those with smaller national programs.
The workshop is sponsored by IAG sub-commission 3.2 “Cryospheric Deformation” and SCAR SERCE.
Symposium/Workshop Organisers: Jeff Freymueller, Abbas Khan, Michael Bentley, Pippa Whitehouse and Matt King