Skip to main content

Geophysics faculty Enderlin & Mikesell receive NSF award to study glacier surging

Turner Glacier from Helicopter

Geophysics faculty Dr. Ellyn Enderlin and Dr. Dylan Mikesell have received a NSF Arctic Natural Sciences award to study periodic order-of-magnitude changes in glacier flow known as surges. The project is in collaboration with Dr. Tim Bartholomaus at the University of Idaho with the full project totaling $1.2 million. The project will involve analysis of satellite remotely-sensed data in combination with a variety of field measurements from Turner Glacier, Alaska. The field team will be deploying GPS, passive seismic stations, automated weather stations, and a stationary ice-penetrating radar on the glacier from August 27-September 9. We’ll revisit the glacier periodically over the next 3 years to adjust and repair equipment and collect data used in our analysis.

Aerial image of a river with measurement data