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Elizabeth Mary Morris, OBE (born 7 September 1946), also known as Liz Morris, is a glaciologist and Senior Associate at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge. [1] She has been a visiting professor at the University of Reading since 1995. She was head of the ice and climate division at the British Antarctic Survey, from 1986 to 1999, and president of the International Glaciological Society, from 2002 to 2005.
Morris was among the first women scientists to work in Antarctica. Her research focused on accumulation and loss of ice and snow from the continent. This required measuring snowfall and ambient temperature. As a consequence, she went on several land crossings of the southern Antarctic Peninsula and the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf. As satellite mapping and measurement remote sensing replaced human recording, her measurements were important to ground truth satellite observations of the ice sheet. [2] While she was head of the ice and climate division at the British Antarctic Survey from 1986-1999 the importance of Antarctic research to understanding the ozone hole and climate change became apparent and she led development of research directions to meet this need. [3]
Morris was brought up in Chiswick, near London. Her parents taught English, but while they were studying at University of Bristol, they had become friends with Cecil Powell, a physicist. She was inspired to study physics, and also to follow her interest in mountains. [4] She studied physics as an undergraduate and for her Ph.D. (awarded 1972) at University of Bristol modelled how ice flowed over mountains, supervised by John Nye. After working briefly in X-ray crystallography at University of Dundee, and then as a researcher at the University of East Anglia with Geoffrey Boulton, she joined the Institute of Hydrology for 11 years from 1975. She enjoyed fieldwork and was able to carry it out in mountains in Scotland, Norway, Austria and Canada. However, until the late 1980s only men were permitted at the UK station in Antarctica or distant arctic field sites. [4]
Morris's next post was as head of the Ice and Climate Division at the British Antarctic Survey in 1986, and then its Research Activities Coordinator from 1999-2000. [5] She was subsequently seconded to the Scott Polar Research Institute as their NERC Arctic Science Adviser from 2000- 2006, and was simultaneously a visiting professor at University of Reading from 1995 until 2010. She was able to do seven traverses of the Greenland ice sheet between 2004 and 2011 and made temperature and snow-depth measurements essential for calibrating satellite remote sensing. [4] She continued to have academic appointments at University of Reading and the Scott Polar Research Institute, becoming an Emeritus Associate in 2016. [5]
She was president the International Commission on Snow and Ice from 1995-2001 and president of the International Glaciological Society from 2002-05 [6] the two major scientific societies involved in her area of science. [4] She has also been extensively involved in the organisation of the latter society. [3]
She was awarded an OBE in 2000 and the Polar Medal in 2003 for her services to Antarctic science. She was awarded the Richardson Medal of the International Glaciological Society in 2016. [2] [5] In 2015 she was awarded D.Sc. by University of Bristol. [5]
In 2020 the Antarctic Place-names Committee announced that a glacier in Antarctica had been named after her. [2]
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 extremely cold and dry weather.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) is a United States information and referral center in support of polar and cryospheric research. NSIDC archives and distributes digital and analog snow and ice data and also maintains information about snow cover, avalanches, glaciers, ice sheets, freshwater ice, sea ice, ground ice, permafrost, atmospheric ice, paleoglaciology, and ice cores.
The Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center (BPCRC) is a polar, alpine, and climate research center at The Ohio State University founded in 1960.
The Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) is a centre for research into the polar regions and glaciology worldwide. It is a sub-department of the Department of Geography in the University of Cambridge, located on Lensfield Road in the south of Cambridge.
Troll is a Norwegian research station located at Jutulsessen, 235 kilometres (146 mi) from the coast in the eastern part of Princess Martha Coast in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. It is Norway's only all-year research station in Antarctica, and is supplemented by the summer-only station Tor. Troll is operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute and also features facilities for the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and the Norwegian Institute for Air Research.
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on behalf of the UK. It is part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). With over 400 staff, BAS takes an active role in Antarctic affairs, operating five research stations, one ship and five aircraft in both polar regions, as well as addressing key global and regional issues. This involves joint research projects with over 40 UK universities and more than 120 national and international collaborations.
Tavi Murray, FLSW is a glaciologist, the eighth woman to be awarded the Polar Medal.
Dame Jane Elizabeth Francis, is the Director of the British Antarctic Survey. She previously worked as Professor of Palaeoclimatology at the University of Leeds where she also was Dean of the Faculty of Environment. In 2002 she was the fourth woman to receive the Polar Medal for outstanding contribution to British polar research. She is currently the Chancellor of the University of Leeds.
The Centre for Polar Observation & Modelling (CPOM) is a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Centre of Excellence that studies processes in the Earth's polar environments. CPOM conducts research on sea ice, land ice, and ice sheets using satellite observations and numerical models.
RRS Shackleton was a Royal Research Ship operated by the British scientific research organisations the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) in the Antarctic from 1955 to 1983. She was subsequently operated as a seismic survey vessel under the names Geotek Beta, Profiler and finally Sea Profiler before being scrapped in 2011.
The Antarctic Automatic Weather Station (AWS) Project is an Antarctic research program at the Space Science and Engineering Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison that is funded by the Office of Polar Programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF). The AWS project was started in 1980 by UW-Madison atmospheric sciences Professor Charles R. Stearns.
Ellen Mosley-Thompson is a glaciologist and climatologist. She is a Distinguished University Professor at The Ohio State University and director of their Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center. She is known as a pioneer in the use of ice cores from the Polar Regions for paleoclimatic research and is an influential figure in climate science. She is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Julian A. Dowdeswell ScD FLSW is a British glaciologist and a Professor of Physical Geography in the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge, and from 2002 to 2021 was the Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute.
Helen Amanda Fricker is a glaciologist and professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego where she is a director of the Scripps Polar Center. She won the 2010 Martha T. Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica.
Catherine Ritz is a French Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on ice sheets and their impact on sea level rise.
Julie Michelle Palais is an American polar glaciologist who has made significant contributions to climate change research studying volcanic fallout in ice cores from both Greenland and Antarctica. For many years, starting in 1990, she played a pivotal role working at the National Science Foundation (NSF) as Program Director of the Antarctic Glaciology Program in the Division of Polar Programs, including many trips to both North and South Polar regions. Both the Palais Glacier and Palais Bluff in Antarctica were named in her honor and she has received many further recognitions for her distinguished career.
Burcu Özsoy is a Turkish scientist who works with sea ice remote sensing in Antarctica. Özsoy is head of the first Turkish polar research center, ITU PolReC.
David Edward Sugden FRSE, FRSGS is an emeritus professor and senior research fellow at the University of Edinburgh. He is a glaciologist and glacial geomorphologist. His research focuses in particular on glacial and polar landforms, Antarctic ice sheet stability, and the dynamics of the Patagonian ice cap under a changing climate. He has served as President of the Geography Section of the British Association, Vice President of the Royal Geographical Society, President of the Institute of British Geographers, and Director of SAGES. At the University of Edinburgh, Sugden has twice been Department Head of Geography and was also the inaugural Head of the School of Geosciences.
Martin J. Siegert is a British glaciologist, and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Cornwall) at the University of Exeter.
Isabella Velicogna is a geoscientist known for her work using gravity measurements from space to study changes in the polar ice sheets and water storage on Earth.
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