PhD Studentship: The role of icebergs in heat, freshwater and nutrient exchanges in Greenland’s fjords

Doctorat / PhD Département : Geography and Planning Type de contrat : Full Time,Fixed-Term/Contract Date limite de candidature : 2027-01-07T00:00:00+00:00

We have an exciting opportunity to support a 3.5 PhD project as part of the UKRI-funded “Fjords Exchange Heat, Freshwater and Nutrients between the Greenland Ice Sheet and the North Atlantic Ocean (FEISO)” project. The successful candidate will join a growing team investigating Greenland ice-ocean interactions. Background Mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet has accelerated rapidly, especially at marine-terminating glaciers, which flow into fjords. These fjords are a natural bottleneck between the ice sheet and the ocean, through which warm ocean water and fresh meltwater must transit. The fjords and nearby coastal waters also host productive fisheries that form the backbone of Greenland’s economy. Therefore, fjords are key to understanding Greenland ice-ocean interactions. This PhD project will investigate how icebergs, which are abundant in Greenland’s fjords, affect the transfer of ocean heat to the ice sheet, the export of freshwater to the ocean and the productivity of Greenland’s fisheries. Icebergs act as mobile heat sinks and localised freshwater sources, which alter fjord circulation and have poorly-constrained impacts on marine-terminating glaciers. Furthermore, iceberg melting releases nutrients and drives localised upwelling, which draws nutrient-rich deep water into sunlit surface waters. This stimulates phytoplankton blooms, sustaining the rich marine ecosystems and local fisheries upon which Greenlandic communities rely. Modelling of icebergs in fjords is in its infancy, with some processes poorly represented or underexplored; therefore, coastal primary production, freshwater export, and up-fjord heat transport may be misrepresented in these models or poorly characterised in our conceptual understanding of these systems. Objectives This PhD project will use an ocean circulation model and remote sensing to quantify the impacts of iceberg deterioration on Ilulissat Kangerlua, an iceberg-congested fjord in west Greenland that hosts one of the world’s fastest glaciers and connects to highly productive fisheries. Potential objectives are: 1. Quantify iceberg-induced changes to glacier melt rates: simulate the feedbacks between iceberg melt and fjord circulation to quantify how icebergs have influenced oceanic heat delivery to marine-terminating glaciers over the past three decades. 2. Determine the fate of freshwater from iceberg melt: use tracer experiments to characterise the timing, distribution and modification of iceberg meltwater as it transits and eventually exits fjords. 3. Quantify nutrient upwelling dynamics: examine how changes in iceberg concentration, depth and distribution over the past three decades has affected the primary productivity of Ilulissat Kangerlua and nearby coastal waters. The successful candidate will have the freedom and support to focus on one or…