Lauren Rawlins
PhD Researcher
Profile
Biography
Lauren is a PhD researcher interested in the impacts of contemporary climate change on glaciated environments, in particular the Greenland Ice Sheet. Before starting her PhD, Lauren completed an MEnv in Environmental Geography at the University of York (2017) with her Masters thesis focussed on investigating glacio-seismic signals from seasonal mass balance changes at Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland. She then went on to work as a GIS Technician for a geospatial solutions company before starting her PhD in October 2018. Lauren has carried out fieldwork across the UK and overseas, including Iceland and Greenland. Her main research interests include glacier and ice sheet change, ice sheet hydrology and the use of remote sensing and photogrammetric techniques to explore ice surface change.
Lauren is also passionate about science communication and is actively involved in outreach education. In 2020, Lauren also became an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA).
Orcid ID: 0000-0001-7538-7228
Research
Overview
Evolution of Supraglacial Channels on the Greenland Ice Sheet
Projects
Throughout the satellite era, there has been an increasingly positive trend in the extent and duration of surface melt across the Greenland Ice Sheet in response to climatic change. The hydrological processes operating on the ice sheet surface are not well understood, yet have significant implications on the wider hydrologic system, ice sheet dynamics and Greenland’s ongoing contribution to sea level rise. This project aims to utilise both remote sensing techniques and UAV photogrammetry to investigate the evolution of surface meltwater channels (supraglacial channels) on the Greenland Ice Sheet. High resolution mapping of such channels across a multitude of timescales (multi-annual, seasonal, daily, hourly) will help provide better understanding of meltwater transport and drainage across different regions of the Greenland Ice Sheet, as well as further explore the controlling mechanisms behind drainage development and behaviour in a warming climate.
Supervision
Dr David Rippin (University of York), Dr Andrew Sole (University of Sheffield), Dr Stephen Livingstone (University of Sheffield)
Funding: NERC ACCE DTP
Contact details
@Lauren_Rawlins1
Publications
Full publications list
Rippin, D.M. and Rawlins, L.D. (2021). Supraglacial River Networks. In International Encyclopedia of Geography (eds D. Richardson, N. Castree, M.F. Goodchild, A. Kobayashi, W. Liu and R.A. Marston). https://doi.org/10.