Geography

Dr Anne Le Brocq

Dr Anne Le Brocq

Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography

 A.LeBrocq@exeter.ac.uk

 3833

 Amory C420

 

Amory Building, University of Exeter, Rennes Drive, Exeter, EX4 4RJ , UK

Overview

Anne obtained her undergraduate degree in Geography at the University of Bristol, she then moved to the University of Edinburgh where she gained an MSc in GIS.  She returned to Bristol for her PhD, before embarking on postdoctoral research at Durham University.  She moved to the University of Exeter in March 2010 for a NERC fellowship, and is now a Senior Lecturer in Physical Geography.

Broad research specialisms:

Ice sheet modelling, ice sheet subglacial hydrology, Remote Sensing & GIS applications in glaciology, currently dabbling in computer games and game-based learning.

Research group links

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Research

Research interests

Research Interests
Ice sheet modelling, ice sheet subglacial hydrology, Remote Sensing & GIS applications in glaciology & currently dabbling in computer games and game-based learning.

Research projects

Current Projects:

Ice Flows Game

"Ice Flows" is a game is built on a simple representation of how ice flows in Antarctica and how it responds to changes in the environment - through changes in snowfall and ocean temperature.  It allows players to impose climatic changes to control the extent of the ice sheet to guide penguins to fish; if they get it wrong, the penguin may meet its doom in the jaws of a Leopard Seal. 

The aim is to promote understanding of the complexity of the ice sheet system by enabling the player to carry out their own ice sheet model experiments, much like the scientists working on the research. The game has a number of levels relating to unique ways different parts of the Antarctic will respond to climate change.

The game has been developed in collaboration with games developers Inhouse Visuals and Questionable Quality, and the British Antarctic Survey, who are leading the research project. 

...being developed as part of: Ice shelves in a warming world: Filchner Ice Shelf system, Antarctica

This project aims to investigate what will happen in the near-future to the Weddell Sea region of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, and the impact changes here could have on global sea-level by the end of this century. The project combines field data collection and modelling, covering the atmosphere, oceanography and glaciology of the Weddell Sea Sector.

In order to facilitate public understanding of the complex system under investigation in this research, we are proposing a novel approach, employing “Game Based Learning” to allow people to become immersed in the environment, and learn how the system functions and responds to change through playing a game.  We aim to develop a game – called “Ice Flows” which would allow players to interact with the climate-ocean-ice system and learn the controls on the system as well as the outcomes of changing environmental factors.  The game would be both fun and educational, so could be used in schools as a resource, but also be made available online for anyone to play. 

The project is being funded by a NERC large grant, led by Hugh Corr (British Antarctic Survey) involving researchers at BAS, University of Exeter, NOC, The UK Met Office and UCL.

A new approach to West Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution using blue-ice moraines on nunataks

Did the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) survive the last interglacial? This project will use nunataks as dipsticks of ice-sheet elevation change to help answer this question. Blue-ice areas result from strong downslope winds which are often funnelled in the vicinity of nunataks and ablate the ice surface. In response the ice flows into such ablation areas, sometimes bringing basal debris to the surface which is then deposited at the ice margin. Relict moraines occur on certain nunatak slopes above the present ice surfaces and are over 400,000 years old, suggesting that there is the potential to obtain a long record of ice elevation change. This project brings together glaciologists, geomorphologists and geophysicists to work in the Heritage Range, a group of nunataks which protrude through the central WAIS dome. We will examine the processes of blue-ice moraine formation today firstly using field survey and radar, and secondly by establishing the form and sediment characteristics of the moraines and their age. The latter will employ exposure-age dating, a technique that measures the time a rock has been at the surface and exposed to cosmic rays. In this way we will assess if the WAIS remained intact, or disappeared during the last interglacial.

The project is being funded by a NERC standard grant, led by David Sugden (Edinburgh) and John Woodward (Northumbria) and includes a host of researchers at Edinburgh, Northumbria, Exeter and Newcastle.

Previous funded projects:

Investigating the potential contribution of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet to future sea level change.

My NERC fellowship project aimed to assess and investigate the stability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS), in light of recent observations of surface thinning and retreat of ‘marine’  sectors of the ice sheet (grounded below sea level). This research is still ongoing.
The stability of the ice sheet is highly important, as large scale retreat will have a large impact on the potential contribution of the ice sheet to sea level change over short (decadal) and long term (millennial) timescales.  Much research effort has been expended previously on investigating the sensitivity of the marine based West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), neglecting the significantly large parts of the EAIS that are similarly marine based and currently exhibiting surface thinning and grounding line retreat. The contribution of Antarctic ice dynamics to future sea level change is still little understood, as highlighted by the recent IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report (Meehl et al., 2007), despite the large potential contribution it could make (on the order of a number of metres), even without significant climate warming in the region.

The project is being carried out in collaboration with Tony Payne (Bristol), Martin Siegert (Imperial), Andy Shepherd (Leeds) and Andreas Vieli (ETH) and researchers at the Institute of Geophysics at the University of Texas.

Airborne geophysical investigation targets basal boundary conditions for the Institute and Möller ice streams, West Antarctica

This project used radio-echo sounding, magnetic and gravity techniques to measure ice thickness, englacial/basal conditions and underlying geology at the Institute and Möller ice streams, West Antarctica.  In combination with numerical modelling, the data was be used to understand the region’s flow regime, both now and in the past.

This research was led by Martin Siegert (Imperial), in collaboration with Dave Rippin (York) and Fausto Ferraccioli (British Antarctic Survey), Rob Bingham (Edinburgh), Neil Ross (Newcastle), Hugh Corr (BAS) and Tom Jordan (BAS).  It is funded by a NERC AFI grant.

Reconstructing former ice sheets, in order to understand: 1) former ice sheet dynamics and their contribution to sea level change since deglaciation, and 2) ongoing rates of Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA).

Reconstructing and understanding past ice sheet behaviour is critical for putting current changes into context, and helps us understand ice sheet behaviour more fully.  In particular, we are interested in former ice sheets’ contribution to sea level rise since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and their role in ‘meltwater pulses’, periods of rapid sea level rise.  Satellite observations of Antarctic Mass Balance give us an indication of current thinning rates, however the signal must be corrected for Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA), occurring since the LGM, due to unloading of ice during deglaciation.

This research is carried out in collaboration with Mike Bentley (Durham), Pippa Whitehouse (Durham), and David Sugden (Edinburgh).

Ice2sea

Ice2sea was a collaborative research programme involving 24 institutional partners, specifically focussed on the contribution to sea-level rise that will arise from loss of continental glaciers and ice sheets and which give rise to the largest part of the uncertainty in the projections. The ice2sea programme received funding from the European Commission and from the many national agencies funding the institutional partners.

The programme ran for four years, (2009-2013) with a schedule designed to provide input to the next Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment of climate change and its impacts.

For more information see www.ice2sea.eu/

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Publications

Journal articles

Jeofry H, Ross N, Le Brocq A, Graham A, Li J, Gogineni P, Morlighem M, Jordan T, Siegert MJ (In Press). Hard rock landforms generate 130 km ice shelf channels through water focusing in basal corrugations. Nature Communications
Matsuoka K, Skoglund A, Roth G, de Pomereu J, Griffiths H, Headland R, Herried B, Katsumata K, Le Brocq A, Licht K, et al (2021). Quantarctica, an integrated mapping environment for Antarctica, the Southern Ocean, and sub-Antarctic islands. Environmental Modelling and Software, 140 Abstract.
Mansell DT, Palmer S, Le Brocq A (2019). Subglacial controls on dynamic thinning at Trinity-Wykeham Glacier, Prince of Wales Ice Field, Canadian Arctic. International Journal of Remote Sensing
Mills SC, Le Brocq AM, Winter K, Smith M, Hillier J, Ardakova E, Boston CM, Sugden D, Woodward J (2019). Testing and application of a model for snow redistribution (Snow Blow) in the Ellsworth Mountains, Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology, 65(254), 957-970. Abstract.
Siegert MJ, Ross N, Le Brocq AM (2016). Recent advances in understanding Antarctic subglacial lakes and hydrology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 374(2059). Abstract.
Rose KC, Ross N, Jordan TA, Bingham RG, Corr HFJ, Le Brocq AM, Ferraccioli F, Rippin DM, Siegert MJ (2015). Ancient pre-glacial erosion surfaces preserved beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Earth Surface Dynamics, 3, 139-152.
Cornford SL, Martin DF, Payne AJ, Ng EG, Le Brocq AM, Gladstone RM, Edwards TL, Shannon SR, Agosta C, van den Broeke MR, et al (2015). Century-scale simulations of the response of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to a warming climate. Abstract.
Cornford SL, Martin DF, Payne AJ, Ng EG, Le Brocq AM, Gladstone RM, Edwards TL, Shannon SR, Agosta C, Van Den Broeke MR, et al (2015). Century-scale simulations of the response of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to a warming climate. Cryosphere, 9(4), 1579-1600. Abstract.
Bingham RG, Rippin DM, Karlsson NB, Corr HFJ, Ferraccioli F, Jordan TA, Le Brocq AM, Rose KC, Ross N, Siegert MJ, et al (2015). Ice-flow structure and ice dynamic changes in the Weddell Sea sector of West Antarctica from radar-imaged internal layering. Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface Abstract.
Rose KC, Ross N, Bingham RG, Corr HFJ, Ferraccioli F, Jordan TA, Le Brocq AM, Rippin DM, Siegert MJ (2014). A temperate former West Antarctic ice sheet suggested by an extensive zone of subglacial meltwater channels. Geology, 42(11), 971-974. Abstract.
Death R, Wadham JL, Monteiro F, Le Brocq AM, Tranter M, Ridgwell A, Dutkiewicz S, Raiswell R (2014). Antarctic ice sheet fertilises the Southern Ocean. Biogeosciences, 11(10), 2635-2643. Abstract.
Rippin DM, Bingham RG, Jordan TA, Wright AP, Ross N, Corr HFJ, Ferraccioli F, Le Brocq AM, Rose KC, Siegert MJ, et al (2014). Basal roughness of the Institute and Möller Ice Streams, West Antarctica: Process determination and landscape interpretation. Geomorphology
Siegert MJ, Ross N, Corr H, Smith B, Jordan T, Bingham RG, Ferraccioli F, Rippin DM, Le Brocq A (2014). Boundary conditions of an active west antarctic subglacial lake: Implications for storage of water beneath the ice sheet. Cryosphere, 8(1), 15-24. Abstract.
Siegert MJ, Ross N, Corr H, Smith B, Jordan T, Bingham RG, Ferraccioli F, Rippin DM, Le Brocq A (2014). Erratum: Corrigendum to "boundary conditions of an active West Antarctic subglacial lake: Implications for storage of water beneath the ice sheet" published in the Cryosphere, 8, 15-24, 2014. Cryosphere, 8(1).
Favier L, Durand G, Cornford SL, Gudmundsson GH, Gagliardini O, Gillet-Chaulet F, Zwinger T, Payne AJ, Le Brocq AM (2014). Retreat of Pine Island Glacier controlled by marine ice-sheet instability. Nature Climate Change, 4(2), 117-121. Abstract.
Wright AP, Le Brocq AM, Cornford SL, Bingham RG, Corr HFJ, Ferraccioli F, Jordan TA, Payne AJ, Rippin DM, Ross N, et al (2014). Sensitivity of the Weddell Sea sector ice streams to sub-shelf melting and surface accumulation. Cryosphere, 8(6), 2119-2134. Abstract.
Ross N, Jordan TA, Bingham RG, Corr HFJ, Ferraccioli F, Le Brocq A, Rippin DM, Wright AP, Siegert MJ (2014). The Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands: Inception and retreat of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA BULLETIN, 126(1-2), 3-15.  Author URL.
Cornford SL, Martin DF, Graves DT, Ranken DF, Le Brocq AM, Gladstone RM, Payne AJ, Ng EG, Lipscomb WH (2013). Adaptive mesh, finite volume modeling of marine ice sheets. Journal of Computational Physics, 232(1), 529-549. Abstract.
Le Brocq AM, Ross N, Griggs JA, Bingham RG, Corr HFJ, Ferraccioli F, Jenkins A, Jordan TA, Payne AJ, Rippin DM, et al (2013). Evidence from ice shelves for channelized meltwater flow beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Nature Geoscience, 6(11), 945-948.
Jordan TA, Ferraccioli F, Ross N, Corr HFJ, Leat PT, Bingham RG, Rippin DM, le Brocq A, Siegert MJ (2013). Inland extent of the Weddell Sea Rift imaged by new aerogeophysical data. Tectonophysics, 585, 137-160. Abstract.
Whitehouse PL, Bentley MJ, Le Brocq AM (2012). A deglacial model for Antarctica: geological constraints and glaciological modelling as a basis for a new model of Antarctic glacial isostatic adjustment. QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS, 32, 1-24.  Author URL.
Gladstone RM, Lee V, Rougier J, Payne AJ, Hellmer H, Le Brocq A, Shepherd A, Edwards TL, Gregory J, Cornford SL, et al (2012). Calibrated prediction of Pine Island Glacier retreat during the 21st and 22nd centuries with a coupled flowline model. EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS, 333, 191-199.  Author URL.
Wright AP, Young DA, Roberts JL, Schroeder DM, Bamber JL, Dowdeswell JA, Young NW, Le Brocq AM, Warner RC, Payne AJ, et al (2012). Evidence of a hydrological connection between the ice divide and ice sheet margin in the Aurora Subglacial Basin, East Antarctica. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-EARTH SURFACE, 117  Author URL.
Ross N, Bingham RG, Corr HFJ, Ferraccioli F, Jordan TA, Le Brocq A, Rippin DM, Young D, Blankenship DD, Siegert MJ, et al (2012). Steep reverse bed slope at the grounding line of the Weddell Sea sector in West Antarctica. NATURE GEOSCIENCE, 5(6), 393-396.  Author URL.
Bentley MJ, Sugden DE, Fogwill CJ, Le Brocq AM, Hubbard AL, Dunai TJ, Freeman SPHT (2011). Deglacial history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Weddell Sea embayment: Constraints on past ice volume change: REPLY. GEOLOGY, 39(5), E240-E240.  Author URL.
Le Brocq AM, Bentley MJ, Hubbard A, Fogwill CJ, Sugden DE, Whitehouse PL (2011). Reconstructing the Last Glacial Maximum ice sheet in the Weddell Sea embayment, Antarctica, using numerical modelling constrained by field evidence. QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS, 30(19-20), 2422-2432.  Author URL.
Timmerman R, Le Brocq AM, Deen T, Domack E, Dutrieux P, Galton-Fenzi B, Hellmer H, Humbert A, Jansen D, Jenkins A, et al (2010). A consistent data set of Antarctic ice sheet topography, cavity geometry, and global bathymetry. Earth System Science Data, 2, 261-273.
Le Brocq AM, Payne AJ, Vieli A (2010). An improved Antarctic dataset for high resolution numerical ice sheet models (ALBMAP v1). Earth System Science Data, 2, 247-260.
Bentley MJ, Fogwill CJ, Le Brocq AM, Hubbard AL, Sugden DE, Dunai TJ, Freeman SPHT (2010). Deglacial history of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Weddell Sea embayment: Constraints on past ice volume change. GEOLOGY, 38(5), 411-414.  Author URL.
Le Brocq AM, Payne AJ, Siegert MJ, Alley RB (2009). A subglacial water-flow model for West Antarctica. JOURNAL OF GLACIOLOGY, 55(193), 879-888.  Author URL.
Bamber JL, Riva REM, Vermeersen BLA, LeBrocq AM (2009). Reassessment of the Potential Sea-Level Rise from a Collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. SCIENCE, 324(5929), 901-903.  Author URL.
Wright AP, Siegert MJ, Le Brocq AM, Gore DB (2008). High sensitivity of subglacial hydrological pathways in Antarctica to small ice-sheet changes. GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 35(17).  Author URL.
Le Brocq AM, Hubbard A, Bentley MJ, Bamber JL (2008). Subglacial topography inferred from ice surface terrain analysis reveals a large un-surveyed basin below sea level in East Antarctica. GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 35(16).  Author URL.
Le Brocq AM, Payne AJ, Siegert MJ (2006). West Antarctic balance calculations: Impact of flux-routing algorithm, smoothing algorithm and topography. COMPUTERS & GEOSCIENCES, 32(10), 1780-1795.  Author URL.

Chapters

Bentley MJ, Christoffersen P, Hodgson DA, Smith AM, Tulaczyk S, Le Brocq AM (2011). Subglacial Lake Sediments and Sedimentary Processes: Potential Archives of Ice Sheet Evolution, Past Environmental Change, and the Presence of Life. In Siegert MJ, Kennicutt MC, Bindschadler RA (Eds.) Antarctic Subglacial Aquatic Environments.
Siegert MJ, Le Brocq A, Payne AJ (2009). Hydrological Connections between Antarctic Subglacial Lakes, the Flow of Water beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and Implications for Sedimentary Processes. In  (Ed) Glacial Sedimentary Processes and Products, Wiley, 3-10.
Siegert MJ, Le Brocq AM, Payne AJ (2007). Hydrological connections between Antarctic subglacial lakes and the flow of water beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. In Hambrey MJ, Christoffersen P, Glasser NF, Hubbard B (Eds.) Glacial sedimentary processes and products, Wiley-Blackwell, 3-10.

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External Engagement and Impact

Committee/panel activities

President of the International Glaciological Society British Branch (2019-2021)

Committee member of Royal Geographical Society SW Region (2013-2022)

Contributor to Working Group of IPCC 5th Assessment (2013-2014) on Climate Science

Member of the Climate Research Group (CRG) for the European Space Agency's Ice Sheets Climate Change Initiative (CCI)


External Examiner Positions

External Examiner, MSc in Geographical Information Science, University of Manchester (Jan 2016 - Dec 2019)


Invited lectures & workshops

Research seminars given at Edinburgh, British Antarctic Survey, Northumbria, Durham, Swansea, Exeter, Met Office, Cambridge, Kingston, Sheffield and Portsmouth.

Invited talks at AGU Fall Meeting, QRA Symposium and NYU, Abu Dhabi, Sea Level Workshop.


Media Coverage

Interviews on South African Talk Radio 702 and BBC Radio Devon.

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Office Hours:

For a 15 minute office hour slot (Term 1: usually 2-3pm Mondays and 10-11am Wednesdays)

Booking link

(MS Teams appt also available if you cannot attend in person, please email me once you have made the booking)

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