Dr William Harcourt

Biography

Will Harcourt is an Interdisciplinary Fellow at the University of Aberdeen leading the development of digital twin technology applied to the Arctic cryosphere. He graduated from the University of Exeter with a 1^st Class Honours degree in Geography before moving to the University of Edinburgh to study for a MSc in Geographical Information Science (GIS). Between 2017 and 2018, he was a Research Assistant at Edinburgh Napier University, leading the first ever national scale analysis of seagrass change in the world. In 2022, he completed a PhD at the University of St Andrews where he developed millimetre-wave radar as a tool for mapping and monitoring glaciers. He then joined the University of Aberdeen in 2022 as a Lecturer before starting the interdisciplinary research fellowship in 2023.

Will's research interests span across multiple disciplines, including glaciology, remote sensing & Earth Observation, data science, artificial intelligence, Arctic science and many more. He works across several international organisations such as the Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) and the Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES), amongst others before. Through these roles, he builds new community tools, organises webinars & workshops and develops future science strategies/priorities. Will also leaves the office to work in the field and has led and participated in several expeditions to locations such as Svalbard, Iceland, the European Alps, the Scottish Highlands and locally within the UK.

External Memberships

• European Geosciences Union (EGU)
• American Geophysical Union (AGU)
• Royal Geographical Society (RGS)
• Remote Sensing & Photogrammetry Society (RSPSoc)

Research Overview

My research is highly interdisciplinary and covers subject areas in geographical sciences, computer sciences, physics and more! My research can be grouped into three main area:

Glaciology

• Glacier Dynamics: Processes influencing ice flow and its changes in a warming climate.
• Ice-Ocean Interactions: The process of iceberg calving and its contribution to mass loss across the Arctic.
• Arctic: I environments across the Arctic, particularly in Greenland and Svalbard, with a focus on glaciers and their interactions with the surrounding environment (terrestrial, marine, atmosphere)

Data Science/AI

• Digital Twins: Developing digital twins for chaotic environment systems such as glaciers (e.g. Svalbard, the Greenland Ice Sheet)
• Machine learning: Application of Artificial Intelligence (e.g. Machine Learning and Deep Learning) to study environmental systems (e.g. glaciers), often using remote sensing data.
• Observing Systems: Construction of inter-connected systems to observe environmental processes and document their changes over time.
• Data Science and Statistics: Development of data processing/analysis techniques for understanding environmental systems, error/uncertainty in environmental data.

Remote Sensing/Earth Observation (EO)

• Remote Sensing: Development of different sensors and techniques for mapping/monitoring environmental systems, particularly glaciers.
• Earth Observation: Harnessing large-scale satellite data for regional/global analysis of the Earth system.
• Database: Cataloguing available data for environmental research, particularly across the cryosphere.

Funding and Grants

Selected grants awarded as PI or Co-I from 2019 are listed below.

[2024] (PI) £500 – SAGES Small Grant Scheme (SSGS): Understanding the drivers of surge activation at Borebreen in Svalbard.

[2024] (Co-I) £15,000 – SIOS SESS Report: Surging glaciers in Svalbard: Current knowledge and perspectives for monitoring (SvalSurge).

[2023] (Co-I) £1,700 (EUR2,000) – IASC: APECS Social Event at ASSW 2024, Edinburgh.

[2023] (Co-I) £2,000 – SAGES Fora: Earth System Modelling & Artificial Intelligence (Earth-MAI).

[2023] (Co-I) £12,102.02 – Research Council of Norway: Diversity & Data – Shaping the Future of Polar Research.

[2023] (PI) £3,500 – Aberdeen Internal Pump-Priming: Comprehensive mapping of glacier discharge using 4D spatio-temporal generative AI modelling.

[2023] (PI) £8,500 – Arctic Field Grant: Linking past and present surge dynamics at Borebreen from drone surveys.

[2023] (PI) £9,600 (In-Kind) – Access to ICEYE Imagery through European Space Agency (ESA):): Assessing tidewater glacier stability using high-resolution ICEYE data.

[2023] (PI) £260,000 (In-Kind) – Access to Planet Imagery through Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS): Drivers of Surge Activation at Borebreen using Planet Imagery.

[2023] (Co-I) £260,000 (In-Kind) – Access to Planet Imagery through Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS): Comprehensive Inventory of Glacier Facies in Svalbard using Planet Satellite Constellations.

[2023] (Co-I) £260,000 (In-Kind) – Access to Planet Imagery through Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS): Hansbreen’s Seismicity.

[2023] (PI) £10,000 – RGS Walters Kundert Fellowship: Uncovering the drivers of glacier surges using geophysics & physics-informed AI.

[2023] (PI) £750 – SAGES Small Grant Scheme (SSGS): Understanding the Drivers of Surge Activation at Borebreen in Svalbard.

[2023] (PI) £15,000 – Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS): Drivers of Surge Activation at Borebreen.

[2022] (PI) £700 – VALIDATE Funding: EGU Conference Attendance.

[2021] (PI) $1,000 – AGU Flash Freeze Competition: Story from the fieldwork on Svalbard facilitated by SIOS infrastructure.

[2021] (PI) EUR3,000 – ENVRI User Story Competition Winner: Story from the fieldwork on Svalbard facilitated by SIOS infrastructure.

[2021] (PI) £1,750 – SAGES International Collaboration Scheme (SICS): Developing high-resolution radar satellites for glaciology studies.

[2021] (PI) £2000 – Royal Geographical Society (RGS) Postgraduate Research Awards (Supported by the Geographical Club Award and Dudley Stamp Memorial Award): Measuring and monitoring glacier calving in Svalbard using a multi-sensor approach.

[2020] (PI) £500 – British Geophysical Association (BGA) Gray-Milne Travel Bursary: Mapping snow cover in the Scottish Highlands.

[2020] (PI) £2,500 – SAGES Small Grant Scheme (SSGS): Radar monitoring of Calving at Hansbreen.

[2020] (PI) £700 – University of St Andrews St Leonards Mobility Grant: Radar Monitoring of Calving at Hansbreen.

[2019] (PI) £7,184.60 – Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS): Radar monitoring of Calving at Hansbreen.

[2019] (PI) £2,500 – SAGES Small Grant Scheme (SSGS): Developing the use of mm-wave radar for 3D mapping of glaciers.