Samantha Hansen
University of Alabama, AL·Earth & Environmental Science
What lies deep beneath our feet shapes both the ice on Earth's surface and the planet's long-term evolution. One project asks how the rock layers under Greenland control how its ice sheet grows and shrinks.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Physics
- Topics
seismology
Greenland Ice Sheet
GrIS
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Dec 2029
What they work on
- Build self-consistent models of the crust and mantle beneath Greenland by combining data from several seismic networks with a new seismic deployment in central-eastern Greenland.
- Test whether solid-Earth structure strongly controls the Greenland Ice Sheet's long-term evolution, using a coupled model that links the ice sheet, atmosphere and underlying rock.
- Identify the critical thresholds for ice-sheet recovery under different warming scenarios, and test whether rock-controlled feedbacks prevent full retreat over 10,000–20,000 years.
- Map ultra-low velocity zones (ULVZs), slow patches at the core-mantle boundary, beneath the southern hemisphere by analyzing core-reflected seismic waves recorded at Antarctic stations.
- Determine the origin of ULVZs by comparing seismic maps with mineral physics experiments and mantle-flow simulations that predict what different possible sources would look like.
More about the research
The other looks nearly 2,900 km down, where Earth's rocky mantle meets its molten iron core. Both rely on seismic waves recorded at polar stations to image hidden structures, then use computer models to work out what those structures mean.
Why it matters
Better models of how Greenland's ice responds to the ground beneath it could improve estimates of past and future global sea-level change. This information matters to coastal communities and planners who must prepare for rising seas. The deep-Earth work adds basic understanding of the structures at the core-mantle boundary and their role in how the planet evolves.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Robert DeConto
University of Massachusetts, MA·Earth & Environmental Science
Test whether the northern Greenland Ice Sheet is more sensitive to Arctic warming than the southern ice sheet, by drilling through the ice and measuring cosmogenic nuclides such as beryllium-10 and aluminum-26 in the bedrock below to find past ice-free periods.
Zachary Eilon
University of California-Santa Barbara, CA·Earth & Environmental Science·Early-career
Test predicted signatures of dynamic upwelling beneath mid-ocean ridges using surface- and body-wave tomography from roughly 80 ocean-bottom seismometers deployed across the Pacific-Cocos and Cocos-Nazca spreading centers.
Lucy Flesch
Purdue University, IN·Earth & Environmental Science
Build a regionally consistent, multi-plate velocity field for the Arctic by combining GPS measurements with mid-ocean ridge spreading rates that record motion over hundreds of thousands of years.
The school
University of Alabama: 22 labs on PI Pages, $221M a year on research, 235 research doctorates a year.
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