Ruth Mottram
Born (1978-02-09) February 9, 1978
Alma materUniversity of St. Andrews
University of Edinburgh
Scientific career
InstitutionsDanish Meteorological Institute
Shell plc
ThesisProcesses of crevasse formation and the dynamics of calving glaciers : a study at Breiđamerkurjökull (2008)
Websitehttps://sternaparadisaea.net/

Ruth Mottram (born February 9, 1978) is a British climate scientist who is a researcher at the Danish Meteorological Institute. Her research considers the development of climate models and the dynamics of glaciers and ice sheets in the climate system.

Early life and education

Mottram studied geography at the University of Edinburgh. She earned a master's degree in 2000 before starting a master's of research in the natural environment. Her master's research considered tor formation and the exposure history of the Cairngorm Plateau. She made use of Cosmogenic Beryllium-10 and Aluminium-26.[1] Cosmogenic nuclides can be used to date terrestrial landforms. It allowed Mottram to test hypotheses by quantifying rates of bedrock erosion, the formation of regoliths and the ages of bedrock surfaces.[2] She joined Shell, where she was a graduate trainee in exploration, before leaving to start a doctorate in glaciology. Her PhD research tested ideas about crevasse formation on glaciers and led to the development of a widely used parameterisation for the calving of glaciers in ice sheet models.[3]

Research and career

Mottram uses the regional atmospheric climate model HIRHAM5. HIRHAM combines HIRLAM (High Resolution Limited Area Model, a short-range weather forecasting system), and ECHAM, a global climate model. She is based at the Danish Meteorological Institute where she primarily carries out research into the interactions between atnmosphere and ice sheet.[4] but also contributes to the WCRP's CORDEX initiative, making regional climate simulations in the polar regions.

Recently she has been part of the HCLIM consortium, developing one of a new generation of flexible atmospheric climate models that can be applied at scales ranging from tens of kilometres dwon to hundreds of metres.

Mottram is part of the Polar Portal team that carries out near real-time monitoring of the Arctic cryosphere, including live updates of satellite datasets of sea ice, icebergs, permafrost and Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance. She is also part of the European Space Agency's climate change initiative for the Greenland ice sheet, under which she has contributed to IMBIE, a large international initiative aimed at quantifying the loss of the ice sheet, and published several articles comparing satellite data with climate models. Her work also aims to run climate models to assess the likely future evolution of both the Greenland ice sheet,[5][6] and the Antarctic ice sheet. She is frequently cited in the media[7] [8]on topics related to Arctic climate change and the Greenland ice sheet and contributes an annual update on the state of the ice sheet to the Carbon Brief news site. She is also interested in glacier processes and her research testing numerical models of crevasse depths directly led to a well-used technique to estimate the frequency of calving in ice sheet models.

She has said, "The sea ice surrounding Greenland is also changing. It is thinner, it breaks up earlier, and opens up more frequently,".[9] The ice sheet is the world's second largest ice body and has a considerable impact on global climate. Mottram studied the Kangiata Nunaata Sermia, a large tidewater glacier in Greenland, as part of a wider team of scientists. Such glaciers are not constrained to the lab and extend to the ocean or sea, and calve to form icebergs.[10] They made observations of the tidewater glacier, identifying sedimentary sequences and identifying that during the 12th century the glacier advanced 15 km.[10] She looks to understand the long-term glacial dynamics of the Greenland ice sheet.

Selected publications

  • Douglas I. Benn; Charles R. Warren; Ruth H. Mottram (June 2007). "Calving processes and the dynamics of calving glaciers". Earth-Science Reviews. 82 (3–4): 143–179. Bibcode:2007ESRv...82..143B. doi:10.1016/J.EARSCIREV.2007.02.002. ISSN 0012-8252. Wikidata Q59485637.
  • IMBIE Team (10 December 2019). "Mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2018". Nature. 579 (7798): 233–239. doi:10.1038/S41586-019-1855-2. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 31822019. Wikidata Q91848628.
  • Douglas I. Benn; Nicholas R.J. Hulton; Ruth H. Mottram (2007). "'Calving laws', 'sliding laws' and the stability of tidewater glaciers". Annals of Glaciology. 46: 123–130. Bibcode:2007AnGla..46..123B. doi:10.3189/172756407782871161. ISSN 0260-3055. Wikidata Q109916137.

References

  1. ↑ Phillips, William M.; Hall, Adrian M.; Mottram, Ruth; Fifield, L. Keith; Sugden, David E. (February 2006). "Cosmogenic 10Be and 26Al exposure ages of tors and erratics, Cairngorm Mountains, Scotland: Timescales for the development of a classic landscape of selective linear glacial erosion". Geomorphology. 73 (3–4): 222–245. Bibcode:2006Geomo..73..222P. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2005.06.009.
  2. ↑ Desilets, Darin; Zreda, Marek (2001-11-01). "On scaling cosmogenic nuclide production rates for altitude and latitude using cosmic-ray measurements". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 193 (1–2): 213–225. Bibcode:2001E&PSL.193..213D. doi:10.1016/S0012-821X(01)00477-0. ISSN 0012-821X.
  3. ↑ Mottram, Ruth; University of St. Andrews (2008). Processes of crevasse formation and the dynamics of calving glaciers: a study at Breiđamerkurjökull (Thesis). University of St Andrews. hdl:10023/775. OCLC 1064564093.
  4. ↑ "RUM: Research". research.dmi.dk. Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  5. ↑ "Guest post: How the Greenland ice sheet fared in 2021". Carbon Brief. 2021-11-16. Retrieved 2022-07-05.
  6. ↑ "Walloped by heat wave, Greenland sees massive ice melt". AP NEWS. 2021-04-20. Retrieved 2022-07-05.
  7. ↑ "New data reveals extraordinary global heating in the Arctic". the Guardian. 2022-06-15. Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  8. ↑ "Photograph lays bare reality of melting Greenland sea ice". the Guardian. 2019-06-17. Retrieved 2022-09-18.
  9. ↑ "Scientists raise alarm on Greenland's ice-sheet loss". EUobserver. 15 October 2021. Retrieved 2022-07-05.
  10. 1 2 "Rapid glacial advance reconstructed during the time of Norse occupation in Greenland". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 2022-07-05.
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