Mantle dynamics and Antarctic ice-sheet evolution

Last updated: August 2026

About

The Antarctic Ice Sheet responds to climate and ocean forcing, but it also depends on the evolving solid Earth beneath it. Bedrock elevation affects where ice accumulates and how it reaches the coast. Basal heat flow affects melting, sliding, and long-term stability. These solid-Earth controls remain difficult to represent in continental ice-sheet models.

This project will couple evolving bedrock elevation and basal heat-flow histories from mantle-convection models to Icepack simulations. It will examine how uncertainty in the solid Earth affects simulations of Antarctic ice-sheet inception and evolution.

Research questions

• Did mantle-driven topography influence the timing and location of Antarctic ice-sheet inception?
• How do spatial variations in basal heat flow affect ice thickness, velocity, and grounding-line stability?
• Which uncertainties in solid-Earth models matter most for the simulated ice history?

Methods and data

Projects can use Icepack, G-ADOPT outputs, palaeoclimate boundary conditions, bedrock reconstructions, geological records, and sensitivity analysis. Initial studies can focus on the Eocene-Oligocene transition or a later episode of ice-sheet change.

Possible projects

Possible directions include building the model coupling, evaluating the effect of a reconstructed heat-flow field, or testing how evolving topography changes ice-sheet inception.

Essential background

Useful preparation includes glaciology, geophysics, Earth science, physics, applied mathematics, programming, or numerical modelling.