My past and present research focuses on modeling how glaciers interact with their climate on long (millennial) and short (annual to decadal) time scales. This research involves direct modeling of the mass balance of glaciers using models ranging from empirical relationships between temperature, precipitation, and mass balance to process-based models that calculate energy fluxes to and from the glacier surface.

In my current position, my research is part of a collaborative effort to develop a model for glaciation of the Canadian Cordillera for use in investigating changes in ice volume that have occurred during the holocene as well as those that will occur under anthropogenic climate change. My area of focus in this effort is combining glacier mass balance models with an ice dynamical model. Our approach uses a combination of dynamic downscaling froma 32 km resolution mesoscale climate reanalysis dataset with topographic downscaling of precipitation and temperature. More details on this work will follow.

Finally, an area of research that remains of interest to me is the glacial history of the Pacific Coast of North America during the Holocene. Ample evidence for glacial advances through the mid and late-holocene are preserved in detrital wood deposits adjacent to glaciers throughout the Canadian Cordillera and Washington Cascades, USA. Our modeling efforts may shed light on climatic conditions required for glaciation during these intervals.