![Professor Brice Rea Professor Brice Rea](/img/200x200/staffpages/uploads/geo485/brea.jpg)
Personal Chair
- About
-
- Email Address
- b.rea@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 272339
- Office Address
Geography and Environment School of Geosciences University of Aberdeen St. Mary's Elphinstone Road Aberdeen AB24 3UF Scotland
- School/Department
- School of Geosciences
Biography
- 2018-present: Professor, Geography and Environment, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen.
- 2015-2018: Reader, Geography and Environment, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen.
- 2009-2015: Senior Lecturer, Geography and Environment, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen.
- 2004-2009: Lecturer, Geography and Environment, School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen.
- 2003-2004: Petrophysics Staff Scientist, Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP), Department of Geology University of Leicester.
- 2001-2003: Logging Staff Scientist, Ocean Drilling Programme (ODP), Department of Geology University of Leicester.
- 1998-2001: Research Associate, Department of Earth Sciences, Cardiff University.
- 1995-1998: Research Fellow, School of Geosciences, Queen’s University Belfast.
- 1994-1995: Teaching Assistant, School of Geosciences, Queen’s University Belfast.
- 1990-1994: PhD. Plucking and abrasion beneath temperate plateau icefields. School of Geosciences, Queen’s University Belfast.
- 1987-1990: B.Sc. (Hons) Geography. School of Geosciences, Queen’s University Belfast.
External Memberships
- 2023 - present, NERC Pool of Chairs
- 2016 – present, Chair of the Executive Committee of SAGES
- 2015 – present, Editorial Board of Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria
- 2014 – present, Executive Committee member of SAGES (Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society)
- 2014 – present, NERC Core Panel Member
- 2014 – present, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, invited assessor and selection committee member
- 2014 – present, Editorial Board of arktos, Journal of Arctic Geoscience Research.
- 2010 – present, NERC Peer Review College member
- Research
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Research Overview
- Glacial and periglacial geomorphology/geology
- Glacial tectonics
- Glacier-climate interactions and reconstruction
- Ocean-atmosphere-cryosphere dynamics in region of the North Atlantic
- Centrifuge modelling of earth surface processes
- Basal ice rheology, chemistry, sliding and erosion
- High-latitude -altitude weathering processes and rates
- Long-term landscape evolution in passive glaciated mid- and high-latitude margins
Research Areas
Accepting PhDs
I am currently accepting PhDs in Geography and Environment.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.
Research Specialisms
- Glaciology and Cryospheric Systems
- Quaternary Studies
- Earth Sciences
- Geomorphology
- Climate Science
Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
Current Research
Glacier crevassing
This work has evolved from a long established interest in surging glaciers, their dynamics, geomorphic signature and identification in the palaeo-landform record. A recent publication applied a Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) analysis to crevassing on surging glaciers. This found that Mode 1 (open perpendicular to the principal tensile stress) extensional crevasses, which form a component of crevasse-squeeze ridge networks found in association with extant surging glaciers are most likely to have originated as full-depth bottom-up basal crevasses.
Analogue modelling of crevassing is currently in progress using a geotechnical beam centrifuge located in the University of Dundee. Self weight stresses and stress gradients, key to the formation and penetration of crevasses, can be replicated using a centrifuge and will allow current theories on glacier and ice sheet crevassing to be tested.
This project is funded by a NERC Small Grant.
Greenland Ice Sheet
To date work has focused on the Uummannaq region. Over four field seasons horizontal and vertical transects have been ground-truthed and sampled for terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) exposure analyses in order to establish the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and subsequent retreat geometries and chronologies. A further component of this work is the investigation of the longterm landscape evolution utilising a suite of analytical and modelling techniques. Ultimately, it will focus on determining the complex feedbacks between landscape and ice dynamics as this landscape of selective linear erosion evolved.
Shorter term millennial scale dynamics are also under investigation at Kangiata Nunata Sermia. This calving ice margin has retreated ~20km from its Little Ice Age maximum limit. Quirks of drainage migration, a suite and glacial geomorphology and the presence of Viking settlements all provide the opportunity to constrain the advance and retreat history. These data are being used to constrain/tune a numerical flow-band glacier calving model and this work forms focus of James Lea’s PhD.
These projects have received funding from a number of sources including NERC, The Carnegie Trust and University contributions.
Glacier-climate interactions and reconstructions
Currently this research has a number of foci. The reconstruction of palaeo-glaciers using geomorphological and chronological data to constrain numerical reconstructions has been a longstanding interest. From these reconstructions empirical relationships provide the opportunity to constrain quantitative estimates of palaeo-climate, specifically palaeo-precipitation. Work in this area is currently ongoing in SW Scotland in the Tweedsmuir Hills as the focus of Danni Pearce’s PhD.
A further development of this approach is looking at the reconstruction of small niche glaciers, in areas marginal for glacierization, where radiation shading and headwall avalanching play significant role in mass balance.
Multiple palaeo-glacier reconstructions provide the opportunity to develop regional-scale palaeo-climates which may elucidate the location and intensity of major atmospheric circulation components e.g. the Polar Frontal Jet Stream and track of mid-latitude depressions. Empirical data sets recording North Atlantic Ocean energy flux and glacier mass balance have been shown to be linked (Marie Porter’s PhD). It is hoped to develop this further to link palaeoceangraphic, palaeo-glacier and palaeo-atmospheric circulations for climate perturbations e.g. the Little Ice Age and Younger Dryas under the University funded “Fragility, Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change in the North” programme under “The North” research theme.
This resarch area has expanded further recently into an investigation "Using glacier-climate proxies to model the Younger Dryas climate in Europe". This work is funded by a Leverhulme Trust Internatonal Network Grant. It aims to improve our understanding the coupled ocean-atmosphere-cryosphere-climate system in response North Atlantic Ocean forcing. The focus is on the North Atlantic freshening event which occurred during the Younger Dryas period, ~12.9-11.7 ka BP. This Network will investigate the timing and magnitude of the climate response to the ocean focing using palaeo-glacier derived climate proxy data. The International Network comprises glaciologists, geochronologists and climate modellers from seven European Institutions.
- Publications
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Page 1 of 3 Results 1 to 50 of 112
The deglacial history of 79N glacier and the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream
Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 336, 108770Contributions to Journals: ArticlesGeomorphological signature of topographically controlled ice flow-switching at a glacier margin: Breiðamerkurjökull (Iceland) as a modern analogue for palaeo-ice sheets
Geomorphology, vol. 454, 109184Contributions to Journals: ArticlesSurge initiation at the terminus of Borebreen (Svalbard): Drivers and impact on calving
Contributions to Conferences: Oral Presentations- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu24-1505
Responses of small mountain glaciers in the Maritime Alps (south-western European Alps) to climatic changes during the Last Glacial Maximum
Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 325, 108484Contributions to Journals: ArticlesIcy thermometers: quantifying the impact of volcanic heat on glacier elevation
Geology, vol. 51, no. 12, pp. 1143-1147Contributions to Journals: Articles94 GHz Radar Backscatter Characteristics of Alpine Glacier Ice
Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 50, no. 21, e2023GL104721Contributions to Journals: ArticlesThe evolution and preservation potential of englacial eskers: an example from Breiðamerkurjökull, SE Iceland
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, vol. 48, no. 14, pp. 2864-2883Contributions to Journals: ArticlesGlaciers can give us clues about when a volcano might erupt
Contributions to Specialist PublicationsThe geomorphological record of an ice stream to ice shelf transition in Northeast Greenland
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, vol. 48, no. 7, pp. 1321-1341Contributions to Journals: ArticlesGlacier monitoring using real-aperture 94 GHz radar
Annals of Glaciology, vol. 63, no. 87-89, pp. 116-120Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDirect measurement of warm Atlantic Intermediate Water close to the grounding line of Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden (79°N) Glacier, Northeast Greenland
The Cryosphere, vol. 17, no. 5, pp. 1821–1837Contributions to Journals: ArticlesHolocene history of the 79° N ice shelf reconstructed from epishelf lake and uplifted glaciomarine sediments
The Cryosphere, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 1247-1270Contributions to Journals: ArticlesHolocene history of 79°N ice shelf reconstructed from epishelf lake and uplifted glacimarine sediments
The Cryosphere, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 1247-1270Contributions to Journals: ArticlesEffect of bathymetric data resolution on the understanding of sediment mobility: implications for offshore infrastructure projects on deglaciated continental shelves
EGU General Assembly 2023Contributions to Conferences: AbstractsGlaciers have existed on Earth for at least 60 million years – far longer than previously thought
Contributions to Specialist Publications60 million years of glaciation in the Transantarctic Mountains
Nature Communications, vol. 13, 5526Contributions to Journals: ArticlesMultitemporal glacier inventory revealing four decades of glacier changes in the Ladakh region
Earth System Science Data, vol. 14, no. 9, pp. 4171–4185Contributions to Journals: ArticlesControls on the altitude of Scandinavian cirques: what do they tell us about palaeoclimate?
Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, vol. 600, 111062Contributions to Journals: ArticlesMillimetre-wave radar observations of glacier calving at Hansbreen (Svalbard) correlated with TLS, time-lapse camera images and seismic records
Contributions to Conferences: Oral PresentationsRapid sediment re-deposition may limit carbon release during catastrophic thermokarst lake drainage
GSA Today, vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 60-61Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDeep-water sedimentation processes on a glaciated margin: the Foula Wedge trough mouth fan, West of Shetland.
Marine Geology, vol. 446, 106769Contributions to Journals: ArticlesTesting the Area-Altitude Balance Ratio (AABR) and Accumulation Area Ratio (AAR) methods of calculating glacier equilibrium-line altitudes
Journal of Glaciology, vol. 68, no. 268, pp. 357-368Contributions to Journals: ArticlesGreenland tidewater glacier advanced rapidly during era of Norse Settlement
Geology, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 704–709Contributions to Journals: ArticlesThe (mis)conception of average Quaternary conditions Quaternary Research
Quaternary Research, vol. 105, pp. 235–240Contributions to Journals: ArticlesCool deltas: Sedimentological, geomorphological and geophysical characterization of ice-contact deltas and implications for their reservoir properties (Salpausselkä, Finland)
Sedimentology, vol. 68, no. 7, pp. 3057-3101Contributions to Journals: Articles94 GHz radar mapping of terrestrial snow cover
vEGU21, pp. EGU21-2747Contributions to Conferences: AbstractsHow mapping the weather 12,000 years ago can help predict future climate change
Contributions to Specialist PublicationsAtmospheric circulation over Europe during the Younger Dryas
Science Advances, vol. 6, no. 50, eaba4844Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aba4844
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/15649/1/eaba4844.full.pdf
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
A conceptual model for glaciogenic reservoirs: from landsystems to reservoir architecture
Marine and Petroleum Geology, vol. 115, 104205Contributions to Journals: ArticlesObserving the cryosphere with millimetre wave radar: The case study of Rhône Glacier
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-595
Climatic controls on the equilibrium-line altitudes of Scandinavian cirque glaciers
Geomorphology, vol. 352, 106986Contributions to Journals: ArticlesPushing the Limits: Palynological Investigations at the Margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Norse Western Settlement
Environmental Archaeology, pp. 1-15Contributions to Journals: ArticlesUncertainty in geomorphological responses to climate change
Climatic Change, vol. 156, no. 1-2, pp. 69-86Contributions to Journals: ArticlesMorphological evidence for marine ice stream shutdown, central Barents Sea
Marine Geology, vol. 414, pp. 64-76Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.margeo.2019.05.001
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/12403/1/1_s2.0_S0025322719300544_main.pdf
- [ONLINE] View publication in Mendeley
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Glaciology in Aberdeen
Scottish Geographical Journal, vol. 135, no. 3-4, pp. 236-256Contributions to Journals: ArticlesBiodiversity of Kelp Forests and Coralline Algae Habitats in Southwestern Greenland
Diversity, vol. 10, no. 4, 117Contributions to Journals: ArticlesInfluences of salinity on the physiology and distribution of the arctic coralline algae, Lithothamnion glaciale (Corallinales, Rhodophyta)
Journal of Phycology, vol. 54, no. 5, pp. 690-702Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jpy.12774
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/12921/1/15874229_accepted.pdf
Progressive ductile shearing during till accretion within the deforming bed of a palaeo-ice stream
Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 193, pp. 1-23Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.06.009
Extensive marine-terminating ice sheets in Europe from 2.5 million years ago
Science Advances, vol. 4, no. 6, eaar8327Contributions to Journals: ArticlesNovel sedimentological fingerprints link shifting depositional processes to Holocene climate transitions in East Greenland
Global and Planetary Change, vol. 164, pp. 52-64Contributions to Journals: ArticlesAviat: a Lower Pleistocene shallow gas hazard developed as a fuel gas supply for the Forties Field
Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Conference Proceedings- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1144/PGC8.16
The glacial geomorphology of upper Godthåbsfjord (Nuup Kangerlua) in southwest Greenland
Journal of Maps, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 45-55Contributions to Journals: ArticlesClimate patterns during former periods of mountain glaciation in Britain and Ireland: Inferences from the cirque record
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, vol. 485, pp. 466-475Contributions to Journals: ArticlesUsing UAV acquired photography and structure from motion techniques for studying glacier landforms: application to the glacial flutes at Isfallsglaciären
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 877-888Contributions to Journals: ArticlesACME, a GIS tool for Automated Cirque Metric Extraction
Geomorphology, vol. 278, pp. 280-286Contributions to Journals: ArticlesGlare, a GIS tool to reconstruct the 3D surface of palaeoglaciers
Computers & Geosciences, vol. 94, pp. 77-85Contributions to Journals: ArticlesCrevasse-squeeze ridge corridors: Diagnostic features of late-stage palaeo-ice stream activity
Geomorphology, vol. 258, pp. 40-50Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.01.017
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Glacial landscape evolution in the Uummannaq region, West Greenland
Boreas, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 220-234Contributions to Journals: ArticlesIce stream motion facilitated by a shallow-deforming and accreting bed
Nature Communications, vol. 7, pp. 1-11Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10723
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/5839/1/ncomms10723.pdf
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
A GIS tool for automatic calculation of glacier equilibrium-line altitudes
Computers & Geosciences, vol. 82, pp. 55-62Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2015.05.005