Glaciers can warn us about the looming dangers of climate change, but it takes a multidisciplinary scientist (with a warm jacket) to interpret the message.
Glaciers
may
have
the
reputation
of
moving
slowly,
but
deep
below
them,
unseen
by
humans,
things
are
moving
more
quickly
every
day.
Global
warming
is
melting
our
glaciers,
creating
streams
of
icy
water
and
slush
below
the
surface.
If
this
water
spreads
out,
it
can
lubricate
the
ice
above
it
and
cause
the
glaciers
to
flow
faster.
While
this
melt
and
the
resulting
glacier
flow
tells
scientists
how
fast
our
climate
is
changing,
it’s
up
to
a
new
breed
of
scientist
to
tell
us
how
fast
we
need
to
act.
Christine Dow, Water Institute member and Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Glacier Hydrology and Ice Dynamics, is the newest CRC in Waterloo's Faculty of Environment. She travels all over the world, or at least all over its coldest parts, to study the dynamics of glaciers and the water flowing through and underneath them.
She represents a new kind of young, diverse, cryospheric researcher who are inheriting the duty to warn the planet about inevitable sea level rise that will impact people for thousands of years. And she’s willing to literally go to the ends of the earth to do it.
“It’s so challenging to access the bed of glaciers, that there are many aspects of the system that we still have to discover,” she says of her giant frozen subjects. “I enjoy that frontier-like aspect of the science — the opportunity to visit spectacular and rarely seen regions of the world, which is a huge privilege.”
It’s a privilege that Dow, the Faculty of Environment’s youngest CRC, has earned. Joining Environment from NASA, her appointment as a CRC is rooted in an impressive grasp of different scientific disciplines:
“Interdisciplinary research is important to cryospheric research, as we pull from areas such as physics, mathematics, engineering, and computer science in addition to earth science and geography.”
As a gifted multidisciplinary scientist, Dow could have applied her talents to climate-related problems anywhere in the world, but the cryosphere has a special allure; masses of ice and snow act as ancient artifacts grudgingly surrendering clues about the past and the future of our climate. It takes more than data analysis to understand them.
The phrase, “least accessible regions of the world,” is a kind of Rorschach test. To some, visiting these regions sounds like a hassle. But for Dow, it’s an undeniable perk of being one of the brightest minds in a field growing in importance with each degree the earth warms.
“Alarm bells for climate change have been ringing for several decades now. This is particularly clear when measuring the rapid retreat of Alpine glaciers,” she says. “An area of increasingly great concern is the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which has the potential to add more than three metres to sea level if it were to entirely collapse.”
What that collapse means for the planet is difficult to grasp. Partly because the potential for devastation and disruption isn’t something most people want to consider. It’s also difficult because the scale by which Dow is talking is hard to put into context for people. However, as a new voice in the field she’ll have the opportunity to change the conversation on climate change with first-hand, on the ground stories conveying the size and scope of both her subjects and the problem she’s trying to solve.
“Being a CRC is allowing me to build a research program that addresses some of the most pressing questions in glaciology stretching from the Antarctic to the Arctic and to Canada’s shrinking glaciers in the Yukon Territory. As the CRC in glacial hydrology and ice dynamics, I will have opportunities to communicate the outcomes of this global research both in Canada and internationally.”
The
fact
that
Dow
is
willing
to
spend
prolonged
time
in
inhospitable
places,
can
be
an
inspiration
to
a
new
generation
of
scientists
who
don’t
feel
constrained
by
what
an
explorer
or
a
scientist
is
supposed
to
be.
She
can
also
offer
an
example
of
the
rewards
associated
with
being
one
of
the
brightest
minds
in
your
field.
“Visiting the Antarctic has been one of the most special parts of my career to date,” she says. “The scale of the ice fields is so vast that it really enforces what drastic changes would happen to our planet if they were to melt or collapse. The Antarctic is both an inhospitable yet deeply beautiful part of the world and should be protected for its own sake as well as for all of our futures.”
Photos
by: Brandon
Abiog
Words
by: Faculty
of
Environment