Catherine Ritz | |
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| Nationality | French |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Ice Sheets Climatology |
| Institutions | Centre national de la recherche scientifique Université Grenoble Alpes |
Catherine Ritz is a French Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on ice sheets and their impact on sea level rise. [1]
Catherine Ritz received her master's degree Maîtrise de Physique in physics in France in 1975. [2] She conducted her PhD research leading toward the degree Thèse de 3ème cycle in 1980 from the University of Grenoble, [3] and she received her Thèse de Doctorat d’Etat in 1992. [4]
Ritz is a climatologist and geographer [1] known especially for her contributions to climate change research. She is a Senior Researcher for France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) at the Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Geophysique de l’Environnement, [4] and also is affiliated with the Université Grenoble Alpes. [5] Her research involves modeling polar ice cap evolution; using 3D models to examine changes in the ice sheets and ice shelves of Antarctica and Greenland; ice drilling; and investigation of sub-glacial isostasy. [4] She has published over 70 articles. [6]
Among Ritz's more high-profile contributions is an article published in the journal Nature in December 2015. The article, based on research led by Ritz and Tamsin Edwards from The Open University, created models based on satellite data to examine the potential impact of Antarctic sea ice collapse on global sea levels. Using more comprehensive methods than those used in previous studies, [7] the team found that the collapse of Antarctic ice sheets would have serious consequences for sea level rise (up to a half-meter by 2100 in a high-emissions scenario), [8] but that the effects likely would not be as dramatic as other high-profile studies had predicted. [7] [9] [10] The team found that the most likely outcome is a sea level rise 10 cm by 2100, assuming that greenhouse gases rise at a medium to high rate, [5] and that it will be extremely unlikely for a rise of greater than 30 cm to occur.
Ritz also plays a prominent role in international efforts to monitor Antarctic ice and understand climate change. She is Chair of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Ice Sheet Mass Balance and Sea Level Expert Group; [11] member of the SCAR Antarctic Climate Change in the 21st Century Scientific Research Programme; [12] and member of the International Advisory Board of Ice Sheet Modellers to the BRITICE-CHRONO team, which is studying marine-influenced ice sheet decay of the British-Irish ice sheet [13]
Rirz was awarded the Seligman Crystal by the International Glaciological Society in 2020 for her work on ice sheet modelling and paleoclimate research. [14]
Lake Vostok is the largest of Antarctica's almost 400 known subglacial lakes. Lake Vostok is located at the southern Pole of Cold, beneath Russia's Vostok Station under the surface of the central East Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is at 3,488 m (11,444 ft) above mean sea level. The surface of this fresh water lake is approximately 4,000 m (13,100 ft) under the surface of the ice, which places it at approximately 500 m (1,600 ft) below sea level.
The climate of Antarctica is the coldest on Earth. The continent is also extremely dry, averaging 166 mm (6.5 in) of precipitation per year. Snow rarely melts on most parts of the continent, and, after being compressed, becomes the glacier ice that makes up the ice sheet. Weather fronts rarely penetrate far into the continent, because of the katabatic winds. Most of Antarctica has an ice-cap climate with very cold, generally extremely dry weather.
Vostok Station is a Russian research station in inland Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarctica. Founded by the Soviet Union in 1957, the station lies at the southern Pole of Cold, with the lowest reliably measured natural temperature on Earth of −89.2 °C. Research includes ice core drilling and magnetometry. Vostok was named after Vostok, the lead ship of the First Russian Antarctic Expedition captained by Fabian von Bellingshausen. The Bellingshausen Station was named after this captain.
In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km2 (19,000 sq mi). The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the Last Glacial Period at Last Glacial Maximum, the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered much of North America, the Weichselian ice sheet covered Northern Europe and the Patagonian Ice Sheet covered southern South America.
Claude Lorius was a French glaciologist. He was director emeritus of research at CNRS. He was the director of the Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement in Grenoble from 1983 to 1988.
The Western Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is the segment of the continental ice sheet that covers West Antarctica, the portion of Antarctica on the side of the Transantarctic Mountains that lies in the Western Hemisphere. The WAIS is classified as a marine-based ice sheet, meaning that its bed lies well below sea level and its edges flow into floating ice shelves. The WAIS is bounded by the Ross Ice Shelf, the Ronne Ice Shelf, and outlet glaciers that drain into the Amundsen Sea.
Berkner Island is an Antarctic ice rise, where bedrock below sea level has caused the surrounding ice sheet to create a dome. If the ice cap were removed, the island would be underwater. Berkner Island is completely ice-covered and is about 320 kilometres (200 mi) long and 150 kilometres (93 mi) wide, with an area of 44,000 km2 (17,000 sq mi). It is surrounded by the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. The northernmost point of the Berkner is about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the open sea. It lies in the overlapping portion of the Argentine and the British Antarctic territorial claims.
A subglacial volcano, also known as a glaciovolcano, is a volcanic form produced by subglacial eruptions or eruptions beneath the surface of a glacier or ice sheet which is then melted into a lake by the rising lava. Today they are most common in Iceland and Antarctica; older formations of this type are found also in British Columbia and Yukon Territory, Canada.
Dome Fuji, also called Dome F or Valkyrie Dome, is an Antarctic base located in the eastern part of Queen Maud Land at 77°30′S37°30′E. With an altitude of 3,810 metres (12,500 ft) above sea level, it is the second-highest summit or ice dome of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and represents an ice divide. Dome F is the site of Dome Fuji Station, a research station operated by Japan.
Jean-Robert Petit studied chemistry and physics at the University of Grenoble and received a PhD in 1984 in paleoclimatology on the study of the aeolian dust record from Antarctic ice cores.
Timothy Raymond Naish is a New Zealand glaciologist and climate scientist who has been a researcher and lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington and the Director of the Antarctic Research Centre, and in 2020 became a programme leader at the Antarctic Science Platform. Naish has researched and written about the possible effect of melting ice sheets in Antarctica on global sea levels due to high CO2 emissions causing warming in the Southern Ocean. He was instrumental in establishing and leading the Antarctica Drilling Project (ANDRILL), and a Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (2014).
Antarctica is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest continent, being about 40% larger than Europe, and has an area of 14,200,000 km2 (5,500,000 sq mi). Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi).
Louis Lliboutry was a French glaciologist, geophysicist, and mountaineer. While in Chile in the early 1950s, he analysed and explained the formation of snow penitents in the Andes, which marked his first contribution to glaciology. He founded in Grenoble in 1958 the Laboratory of Alpine Glaciology and headed it for 25 years; he also set up at that period a pioneering syllabus in geophysics. His contributions to mechanics of viscous media and to geodynamics are internationally acknowledged.
André Léon Georges Chevalier Berger is a Belgian climatologist and professor. He is best known for his significant contribution to the renaissance and further development of the astronomical theory of paleoclimates and as a cited pioneer of the interdisciplinary study of climate dynamics and history.
Carlota Escutia Dotti is a Spanish geologist, best known for her work on the geologic evolution of Antarctica and the global role of the Antarctic ice cap. Escutia is based at the Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad de Granada and the High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC).
Frank Jean-Marie Léon Pattyn is a Belgian glaciologist and professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles. He is best known for developing ice-sheet models and leading model intercomparisons.
Sophie Marie Jeanne Nowicki, is a physical scientist at the Nasa Goddard Space Flight Centre. She led work investigating ice sheet changes and is Deputy Chief for the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory where she researches ice sheet dynamics and leads the Interdisciplinary Science Team.
Jérôme Chappellaz is a French glaciologist, geochemist and paleoclimatologist who is director of the French Polar Institute. A senior researcher at France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), he is a co-founder and chairman of the Ice Memory Foundation.
Françoise Vimeux is a French climatologist. She is Director of Scientific Research at the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), works at the Laboratoire des sciences du climat et de l'environnement (LSCE) and at the Laboratoire HydroSciences Montpellier (HSM).
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