
Professor Jonathan Bamber
B.Sc.(Bristol), Ph.D.(Cantab.)
Current positions
Professor
School of Geographical Sciences
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
I am a physicist who uses Earth Observation (EO) data, primarily from satellites but also airborne platforms, to study the cryosphere. My research interests are broad but can loosely be described as cryospheric processes and their interaction with the rest of the climate system. Most of my research focuses on using EO techniques, including laser and radar altimetry, Synthetic Aperture Radar, imaging spectrometry and gravimetry, to investigate the behaviour of the ice sheets covering Antarctica and Greenland. I have, however, also applied similar methods to study the Patagonian Ice Caps, Svalbard, Himalayan glaciers and Arctic sea ice. Much of my most recent research relates to the impact of melting land ice on sea level rise (SLR) and also the response of the ocean to changes in freshwater forcing. Thus, I have worked on investigating the stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) among other oceanogrpahy problems.
Most of the EO techniques I employ fall into the category of satellite geodesy and I have used the same methods to produce digital elevation models of various land surfaces. Digital terrain modelling is, therefore, another aspect of my research.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
4-D modeller
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Geographical SciencesDates
01/12/2022 to 31/05/2024
Arctic PASSION
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Geographical SciencesDates
01/05/2021 to 30/04/2025
Contribution of Land water stOrage to Sea-level Rise
Role
Co-Principal Investigator
Description
Sea-level rise is one of the most dreadful consequences of future climate change. To estimate the associated risk and prepare ourselves better for its implications, we need to identify the…Managing organisational unit
School of Geographical SciencesDates
01/07/2019 to 30/06/2021
Interactive visualisation of Antarctic mass trends from 2003 until present
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
JGI Seed Corn funded project for web visualisation of mass trends from the NERC Resolving Antarctic Mass TrEndS (RATES) project.Managing organisational unit
School of Geographical SciencesDates
01/12/2018 to 01/07/2019
Fellowship (Global) - Tom Jordan
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Geographical SciencesDates
21/08/2017 to 22/09/2020
Thesis supervisions
The development, benchmarking and application of a three dimensional thermomechanical finite volume model of ice sheet flow
Supervisors
How can the water budget help us understand terrestrial water storage variations?
Supervisors
Elevation and volumetric changes to the Greenland ice sheet derived from Sentinel-3 satellite radar altimetry
Supervisors
Clouds over Greenland
Supervisors
The role of ice shelves in Antarctic ice dynamics
Supervisors
Mapping Antarctic grounding zones from ICESat-2 laser altimetry
Supervisors
What lies beneath
Supervisors
Publications
Selected publications
01/04/2013An expert judgement assessment of future sea level rise from the ice sheets
Nature Climate Change
Paleofluvial Mega-Canyon Beneath the Central Greenland Ice Sheet
Science
Calving fluxes and basal melt rates of Antarctic ice shelves
Nature
Recent large increases in freshwater fluxes from Greenland into the North Atlantic
Geophysical Research Letters
Limits in detecting acceleration of ice sheet mass loss due to climate variability
Nature Geoscience
Recent publications
01/02/2023Can GPS and GRACE data be used to separate past and present-day surface loading in a data-driven approach?
Geophysical Journal International
Grounding line retreat and tide-modulated ocean channels at Moscow University and Totten Glacier ice shelves, East Antarctica
Cryosphere
The Impact of Altimetry Corrections of Sentinel-3A Sea Surface Height in the Coastal Zone of the Northwest Atlantic
Remote Sensing