Four researchers at the University of Waterloo are receiving $250,000 each from the Government of Canada’s recently launched New Frontiers in Research Fund. Rolled out in 2018, the New Frontiers in Research Fund supports high-risk, high-reward, and interdisciplinary research by helping early career researchers make great discoveries in their fields.
Announced yesterday by the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport, at Laurentian University, Waterloo’s researchers are the first of 157 early careers researchers to receive this funding.
The
researchers
who
will
receive
funding
include
Water
Institute
member:
Christine
Dow (Geography
and
Environmental
Management):
Project
title:
Wireless
probes
for
subglacial
analyses
of
surging
glaciers
Her current research has three primary themes:
-
Using
numerical
models
to
assess
stability
of
subglacial
lakes
in
the
Antarctic
and
their
impact
on
the
dynamics
of
fast-flowing
ice
streams.
These
large
bodies
of
water
accumulate
and
drain
under
the
ice
on
scales
of
years
to
decades.
She
is
also
interested
in
the
seasonal
development
of
Greenland
subglacial
hydrological
networks,
particularly
in
regions
of
inland
ice
where
the
warming
climate
is
allowing
greater
access
of
water
to
the
bed
of
the
ice
sheet.
-
Field-based
data
collection
from
surge-type
glaciers
in
the
Yukon.
She
goes
to
her
Yukon
field
sites
several
times
a
year
and
collects
data
from
dGPS
networks,
time-lapse
cameras
and
in
situ
hot
water
borehole
drilling.
These
data
are
being
applied
to
analysis
of
surging
glacier
dynamics
and
also
hydrological
modelling.
- Geophysical analysis of ice shelf stability in the Antarctic. She uses aerial and ground-based geophysical data, along with remote sensing and modelling approaches to assess controls on ice shelf stability, which controls the rate of grounded Antarctic ice flow into the ocean, and therefore sea level rise.
Cumulatively, these research interests aim to answer questions about the future of glaciers and ice sheets in our changing climate and contribute to predictions of ice-climate feedbacks.
See the full list of New Frontiers in Research Funding recipients.