The Cryosphere and Sea Level Rise

We employ an interdisciplinary approach to understand the interactions between ice and climate. We combine observations from remote sensing platforms and field data with numerical modeling to understand the physical processes controlling the response of the ice sheets to climate change, and to reduce the uncertainties of projections of the future contributions of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets to sea level rise regionally and globally over the coming centuries.

Research Groups
Ice Remote Sensing Group
Faculty
Eric Rignot

Uses satellite remote sensing techniques (imaging radar, laser altimetry, radio echo sounding), airborne geophysical surveys (icebridge), field surveys (radar, GPS, bathymetry, CTD), and numerical modeling

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Sea Level and Gravimetry
Faculty
Isabella Velicogna

Employs advanced multi-sensor geophysical techniques, including satellite time-variable gravity (GRACE), to study the mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets and glaciers worldwide

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Ice Sheet Modeling Group
Faculty
Mathieu Morlighem

Combines modeling techniques and remote sensing to improve our understanding of ice dynamics and how they affect the climate system.

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Faculty & Researchers
Eric Rignot
Professor of Earth System Science
erignot@uci.edu
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Isabella Velicogna
Professor of Earth System Science
isabella@uci.edu
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Mathieu Morlighem
Associate Professor of Earth System Science
mathieu.morlighem@uci.edu
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News

What happens when you keep a plot of land in permanent drought?
In the Santa Ana foothills high above Irvine, you'll find some small patches of land beneath hoop houses that've been deliberately kept in drought for the past 17 years.
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The two stories of Miranda Botello
The UCI Earth system science grad student recounts the stories of how she fell into science, and how they discovered their queer identity.
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Radar Data Show Thwaites Gets a Daily Bath of Warm Seawater
The Doomsday Glacier, predicted to raise global sea level by more than half a meter, could be exposed to more warm ocean water than previously thought.
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The Department of Earth System Science acknowledges our presence on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Acjachemen and Tongva peoples, who still hold strong cultural, spiritual and physical ties to this region.