The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering has a current enrolment of approximately 2,400 students, making it one of the largest faculties of TU Delft. The faculty is one of the highest-ranked internationally and is unique in Europe.
Although the faculty's primary focus is on the development of aerospace systems, the application of such systems plays an equally important role. Research explores subjects ranging from earth observation to wind power and other sustainable energy technology. The working atmosphere at the faculty is friendly, open-minded and dedicated.
The Department of Remote Sensing is one of the six departments that comprise the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. At the Department of Remote Sensing, research is conducted in the areas of (1) Optical, Laser and Acoustic Remote Sensing; (2) Mathematical Geodesy and Positioning; and (3) Physical and Space Geodesy.
Job description
Recent results from the GRACE mission indicate that the ice sheets of Antarctica are experiencing a significant annual loss in ice mass, on the order of tens to hundreds of gigatons per year. The impact of this ice loss on the global climate cycle is substantial, as the resulting change in sea level and ocean currents could have global environmental and societal consequences.
Unfortunately, for Antarctica, the mass change estimates from GRACE have large uncertainties associated with them, with the dominant error coming from the inaccurate knowledge of glacial-isostatic adjustment (GIA). In an effort to reduce these uncertainties and improve the estimates of ice mass changes in Antarctica, this study seeks to combine GRACE gravity data with ancillary data sets, such as satellite altimetry and GPS site displacements.
The project aims to develop new methodologies that will permit the simultaneous solution of GIA and ice mass change, making use of several new (Cryosat-2) and improved data sets (GRACE, ICESat, GPS, climate models). The student involved will focus on three primary tasks: 1) analysis of the altimetry data sets, in particular the new Cryosat-2 data, 2) integration of the various data inputs into the combination approach (including refinement of the methodology), and 3) validation and error analysis of the resulting GIA and ice mass change estimates.
PhD: GIA and Ice Mass Change in Antarctica
