Andreas Alexander

The Hunt for Water: glacier hydrology on Svalbard

My name is Andreas and my research focus is within glacier hydrology with an interdisciplinary approach. Originally from Germany, I did my masters in mechanical engineering in Germany and at UNIS working on thermodynamical FEM glacier modelling. Afterwards I did my PhD at the Department of Geosciences at the University of Oslo about glacier channel hydrology on Svalbard, as a combination of field-based observations (summertime surface work and speleological investigations in wintertime) and the development of drifter technology. As I finished my PhD early, I could spend the last year of my contract in Oslo, building up several field-based projects on Svalbard, investigating marine ecosystem and glacier dynamic impacts of a glacier lake outburst flood, the rapid disintegration of a tidewater glacier tongue based on bathymetric data and ice-ocean interactions at Austfonna.
During the past year, I worked part-time at the Centre of Biorobotics at Tallinn University of Technology, continuing the work on my own projects and working on several proposals to increase monitoring capabilities at ice-ocean interfaces.
I have just joined UiB as an outgoing SEAS Postdoctoral Fellow to work on nutrient transport by buoyant meltwater plumes to fjord ecosystems in Greenland. This work will be part of the Climate Narratives project with Kerim. The outgoing phase will be one year at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in California and one year in Greenland.
Besides my scientific work, I’m heavily involved in scientific outreach and guiding in both the Arctic and Antarctica. Especially my work as expedition leader of small expedition vessels (e.g. National Geographic) has given me access to and insights into some of the remotest places in the polar regions. You can find Andreas in his office on the second floor.