Profile

Biography

David joined the the Environment Department in October 2010.  Prior to that, he did his first degree at the University of Birmingham (B.Sc. 1st Class Hons.), before gaining a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge.  He then worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Universities of Bristol and Leeds, before becoming an RC-UK (Research Councils of the United Kingdom) Academic Fellow at the University of Hull, and then moving to York.

David is a glaciologist, and his research interests are focussed on the controls on the dynamics of glaciers and ice-sheets, and the use of ground-based and airborne radio-echo sounding (RES) techniques in exploring englacial and subglacial environments.  He also works on the thermal evolution of small Arctic glaciers, and is increasingly interested in supraglacial environments, and devising approaches for monitoring change in these locations.

David has carried out fieldwork in Antarctica, Svalbard (Norwegian High Arctic), Northern Sweden, Iceland and various alpine locations.  He is has been a Scientific Editor of the Journal of Glaciology since 2009, and has been a member of the NERC Peer Review College since 2010.

Research

Overview

David was an RC-UK (Research Councils of the United Kingdom) Academic Fellow at the University of Hull Geography Department before coming to York in 2010.  His research interests are focussed on the controls on the dynamics of glaciers and ice-sheets, and the use of ground-based and airborne radio-echo sounding (RES) techniques in exploring englacial and subglacial environments.  He is also increasingly interested in supraglacial environments – specifically the role of supraglacial debris on energy and mass balance (and the use of remote techniques for assessing debris thickness) and the role of surface water on energy balance.  He is editor of the Journal of Glaciology.

Current projects

Airborne geophysical investigation targets basal boundary conditions for the Institute and Moller ice streams, West Antarctica

Co-investigator on this NERC Antarctic Funding Initiative (NERC-AFI; ref: NE/G013098/2).  Other investigators include Martin Siegert (Edinburgh; PI), Fausto Ferraccioli (British Antarctic Survey) and Rob Bingham (Aberdeen).

Testing hypotheses on the response of small Arctic Glaciers to climate change

Funded by the International Network for Terrestrial Research and Monitoring in the Arctic (INTERACT); FP7.

Arctic glacier motion from repeated high-resolution stereo photography

Funded by a Royal Society Research Grant (ref: RG100335).

Dynamical responses of small, cold Arctic glaciers to climate change

Funed by The Royal Geographical Society Peter Fleming Award 2010 (ref: FLEM 03.10).

The Geometry and Dynamics of Cold Arctic Glaciers – Kårsaglaciären, Northern Sweden

Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council Airborne Research & Survey Facility (NERC-ARSF) (award no. EU11-01).

Mapping glacier debris cover thickness and extent using aerial photography, LiDAR and spectral emissivity

Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council Airborne Research & Survey Facility (NERC-ARSF) (award no. EU09-02).

Using radio-echo sounding (RES) data to investigate the role of bed roughness in controlling areas of fast flow in Antarctica and Greenland

I am interested in using radio-echo sounding (RES) data to investigate the role of bed roughness in controlling areas of fast flow in Antarctica and Greenland.  Bed roughness is important because the degree of coupling between ice and bed is of fundamental significance in controlling the amount of basal motion taking place.  This coupling is controlled by bed roughness and subglacial water pressure, but bed roughness is often overlooked because of difficulties in measuring this quantity.  Deriving roughness measurements however, can prove to be a useful approach for identifying regions of current and relict fast flow, with implications for ice sheet stability.

The impact of climate change on the thermal regime, dynamics and hydrology of polythermal glaciers, and implications for rates of sediment and fresh-water delivery to Arctic rivers and fjords

Publications

Selected publications

Carrivick, Rippin, Bingham and Quincey. (in review). Arctic glaciation: a Quaternary perspective on style, timing and controls. Quaternary Science Reviews.

Le Brocq, Ross, Griggs, Bingham, Corr, Ferraccioli, Jenkins, Jordan, Payne, Rippin & Siegert. (in review). Ice shelves record the channelized water flow beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Nature Geoscience.

Siegert, Ross, Corr, Smith, Jordan, Bingham, Ferraccioli, Rippin, Le Brocq and Wright. (in review). Detailed airborne radar inspection of an active subglacial Lake beneath the Institute Ice Stream, West Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters.

Rippin. (in press). Bed Roughness Beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet – Large-scale controls on ice dynamics. Journal of Glaciology.

Ross, Bingham, Corr, Ferraccioli, Jordan, Le Brocq, Rippin, Siegert and Wright. (in press).  The Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands: inception and retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Geological Society of America Bulletin.

Fretwell, Pritchard, Vaughan, Bamber, Barrand, Bell, Bianchi, Bingham, Blankenship, Casassa, Catania, Callens, Conway, Cook, Corr, Damaske, Damm, Ferraccioli, Forsberg, Fujita, Gogineni, Griggs, Hindmarsh, Holmlund, Holt, Jacobel, Jenkins, Jokat, Jordan, King, Krabill, Riger-Kusk, Langley, Leitchenkov, Leuschen, Luyendyk, Matsuoka, Nogi, Nost, Popov, Rignot, Rippin, Riviera, Ross, Roberts, Siegert, Smith, Steinhage, Studinger, Sun, Tinto, Xiangbin, Young, Kohler and Zirizzotti. 2013. Bedmap2: improved ice bed, surface and thickness datasets for Antarctica. The Cryosphere, 7, 375-393.

Jordan, Ferraccioli, Ross, Corr, Leat, Bingham, Rippin, Le Brocq and Siegert. 2013. Inland extent of the Weddell Sea Rift imaged by new aerogeophysical data. Tectonophysics, 585, 137-160.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2012.09.010

Karlsson, Rippin, Bingham & Vaughan.  2012.  A "continuity-index" for assessing ice-sheet dynamics from radar-sounded internal layers.  Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 335-336, 88-94.

Ross, Bingham, Corr, Ferraccioli, Jordan, Le Brocq, Rippin, Young, Blankenship and Siegert.  2012.  Weddell Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet on the threshold of change.  Nature Geoscience, DOI: 10.1038/NGEO1468

Rippin, Carrivick & Williams. 2011.  Evidence towards a thermal lag in the response of Kårsaglaciären, Northern Sweden, to climate change.  Journal of Glaciology, 57(205), 895-903.

Rippin, Vaughan & Corr.  2011.  The basal roughness of Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology, 57(201), 67-76.

Karlsson, Rippin, Vaughan and Corr.  2009.  The internal stratigraphy of Pine Island Glacier from airborne radar sounding data.  Annals of Glaciology, 51, 141-150.

Chandler, Hubbard, Hubbard, Murray and Rippin.  2008.  Optimising ice flow law parameters using borehole deformation measurements & numerical modelling.  Geophysical Research Letters, 35, L12502, doi:10.1029/2008GL033801.

Murray, Booth & Rippin.  2007.  Water-content of glacier-ice: limitations on estimates from velocity analysis of surface ground-penetrating radar surveys.  Journal of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics, 12(1), 87-100, doi: 10.2113/JEEG12.1.87.

West, Rippin, Murray, Mader & Hubbard. 2007.  Dielectric permittivity measurements on ice cores: implications for interpretation of radar to yield glacial unfrozen water content.  Journal of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics, 12(1), 37-46, doi: 10.2113/JEEG12.1.37.

Bamber, Ferraccioli, Joughin, Shepherd, Rippin, Siegert and Vaughan.  2006.  East Antarctic ice stream tributary underlain by major sedimentary basin.  Geology, 34, 33-36.

Kulessa, Murray & Rippin.  2006.  Active seismoelectric exploration of glaciers. Geophysical Research Letters, 33(L07503), doi:10.1029/2006GL025758.

Rippin, Bamber, Siegert, Vaughan and Corr.  2006.  Basal conditions beneath enhanced-flow tributaries of Slessor Glacier, East Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology, 52(179), 481-490.

Rippin, Siegert, Bamber, Vaughan and Corr.  2006.  Switch-off of a major enhanced ice flow unit in East Antarctica.  Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L15501, doi:10.1029/2006GL026648.

Wadham, Kohler, Hubbard, Nuttall & Rippin.  2006.  Superimposed ice regime of a high arctic glacier inferred using GPR, flow modelling, & ice-cores. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111(F01007), doi:10.1029/2004JF000144.

Rippin, Willis & Arnold.  2005.  Seasonal patterns of velocity & strain across the tongue of the polythermal glacier Midre Lovénbreen, Svalbard. Annals of Glaciology, 42, 445-454, doi: 10.3189/172756405781812781.

Rippin, Willis, Arnold, Hodson and Brinkhaus.  2005.  Spatial and temporal variations in surface velocity and basal drag across the tongue of the polythermal Midre Lovénbreen, Svalbard.  Journal of Glaciology, 51(175), 588-600.Rippin & 4 others. 2004. The role of ice thickness & bed properties on the dynamics of the enhanced flow tributaries of Bailey Ice Stream & Slessor Glacier, East Antarctica. Annals of Glaciology, 39, 366-372, doi: 10.3189/172756404781814375.

Rippin Bamber, Siegert, Vaughan and Corr.  2004.  The role of ice thickness & bed properties on the dynamics of the enhanced flow tributaries of Bailey Ice Stream & Slessor Glacier, East Antarctica.  Annals of Glaciology., 39, 366-372, doi: 10.3189/172756404781814375.

Rippin, Bamber, Siegert, Vaughan and Corr.  2003.  Basal topography & ice flow in the Bailey/Slessor region of East Antarctica.  Journal of Geophysical Research, 108(F1), 6008, doi:10.1029/2003JF000039.

Rippin, Siegert & Bamber. 2003. The englacial stratigraphy of Wilkes Land, East Antarctica, as revealed by internal radio-echo sounding layering, & its relationship with balance velocities. Annals of Glaciology, 36, 189-196, doi: 10.3189/172756403781816356.

Rippin, Willis, Arnold, Hodson, Moore, Kohler and Björnsson.  2003.  Changes in geometry & subglacial drainage of Midre Lovénbreen, Svalbard, determined from digital elevation models.  Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 28(3), 273-298, doi: 10.1002/esp.485

External activities

Memberships

Member of the International Glaciological Society.

Member of the American Geophysical Union.

Member of the British Society for Geomorphology.

Editorial duties

Scientific Editor for the Journal of Glaciology since 2009.

NERC Peer Review College member since 2010.