Cracking Antarctica’s Iceberg Code
RIFT-TIP is investigating iceberg calving on the Brunt Ice Shelf. It uses field monitoring, lab testing, and modelling to predict when icebergs will form.
Alex Brisbourne
Glacier Geophysicist
As a Glacier Geophysicist I use seismics, radar and GPS techniques to investigate the properties of the ice and what lies beneath it. In order to understand how the icesheets will evolve, and how they will contribute to sea level rise in the future, we need to understand how they are currently behaving and how the bed of the ice streams controls their behaviour.
Since joining BAS in 2012 I have participated in a number of field projects including:
- mapping the bathymetry of Larsen C Ice Shelf
- investigating the bed of the tributary ice streams which form Pine Island Glacier
- monitoring ice quakes and tremor on Vatnajökull in Iceland
- investigating Korff Ice Rise for ice sheet history
- constraining crust and mantle structure with teleseismic earthquake observations
- studying the influence of basal conditions on the flow of Rutford Ice Stream
- measuring the water depth of Subglacial Lake CECs
Collaborations
My research interests lie in using geophysical tools to investigate the ice sheets and glaciers and their role in the Earth System. I have particular interest in basal processes and ice dynamics, ice-ocean interaction and ice mass balance.
Smith, A., Brisbourne, A., Woodward, J., Ross, N., & Siegert, M. (2025). Subglacial Lake Ellsworth seismic reflection profiles, raw seismic and GPS survey data, 2007/2008 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/f7eda2dc-245e-4704-aef8-4a267190c22a
Agnew, R., Brisbourne, A., & Smith, A. (2025). Seismic reflection and refraction shot gathers from Korff Ice Rise, West Antarctica, 2015 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/e9ed7128-eeed-4478-b308-8d1ea347dfa4
Brisbourne, A., Schlegel, R., Jordan, T., & Zeising, O. (2025). Polarimetric radar measurements for the characterization of ice crystal orientation fabric and anisotropic rheology within Rutford Ice Stream, 2016/2017 to 2019/2020 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/b89672c4-22fb-434a-9197-4da39d26782a
Corr, H., Robinson, C., Jordan, T., Nicholls, K., Brisbourne, A., & Bodart, J. (2024). Processed airborne radio-echo sounding data from the FISS 2016 surveys covering the Filchner and Halley Ice Shelves, and the English Coast (western Palmer Land), West Antarctica (2016/2017) – V2 (Version 2.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/e203926b-7a54-4c33-a5df-04df2293d7d3
Schlegel, R., Smith, A., Brisbourne, A., Clark, R., & Booth, A. (2024). Basal Elevation and Reflectivity beneath Rutford Ice Stream from ground-based 3D migrated radar data acquired in 2017/18 within two 3x3km2 areas (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/dbf2e081-b332-4d20-b242-2daa5fed25ae
Schlegel, R., Brisbourne, A., Smith, A., & Booth, A. (2024). 3D radar topography, radar-derived bed reflectivity and seismic acoustic impedance of Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica, December 2005 to January 2017 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/11e5449d-2de7-40d8-8994-094238808625
Brisbourne, A., Rivera, A., Zamora, R., Napoleoni, F., Smith, A., Ortega, M., & Uribe Parada, J. (2023). Seismic bathymetry surveys of Subglacial Lake CECs, West Antarctica, 2016 and 2022 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/768258e0-8719-446f-b20f-587725d55774
Arenas Pingarron, A., Brisbourne, A., Corr, H., Jordan, T., Robinson, C., Martin, C., Nicholls, K., & Smith, A. (2023). Ice-sounding airborne synthetic aperture radar depth profiles from Recovery Ice Stream 2016/17 and Rutford Ice Stream 2019/20 to test the RGB-Doppler-Decomposition method. (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/40c2f86b-1a02-4106-934a-42769682df66
Kufner, S., Brisbourne, A., Smith, A., Wookey, J., Martin, C., Hudson, T., & Kendall, J. (2022). Shear wave splitting catalogue, Rutford Ice Stream (West Antarctica), November 2018 to February 2019 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/6fcc17ad-425b-4367-bd23-c4133a38e359
Corr, H., Robinson, C., Jordan, T., Nicholls, K., & Brisbourne, A. (2021). Processed bed elevation picks from airborne radar depth sounding from the FISS 2016 survey covering the Filchner and Halley Ice Shelves (2016/2017) (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/e7851bba-21ff-4645-b557-d8eafdf89462
Corr, H., Robinson, C., Jordan, T., Nicholls, K., & Brisbourne, A. (2021). Processed airborne radio-echo sounding data from the FISS 2016 surveys covering the Filchner and Halley Ice Shelves, and the English Coast (western Palmer Land), West Antarctica (2016/2017) (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/0cb61583-3985-4875-b141-5743e68abe35
Brisbourne, A., & Kendall, M. (2021). Downhole distributed acoustic seismic profiles at SkyTrain Ice Rise, West Antarctica, January 2020 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/99f0d269-d8fa-48e0-89e6-358486d82330
Napoleoni, F., Jamieson, S., Ross, N., Bentley, M., Rivera, A., Smith, A., Siegert, M., Paxman, G., Gacitúa, G., Uribe, J., Zamora, R., Brisbourne, A., & Vaughan, D. (2020). Subglacial lakes and hydrology across the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands, West Antarctica, 1977-2017 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/72f46ad0-063d-49a7-ba89-45edc5d9aac7
Schlegel, R., Brisbourne, A., King, E., Murray, T., & Smith, A. (2020). Radar-derived bed reflectivity of Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica, December 2016 to January 2017 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/5f68fce1-863e-4173-acdb-0ed03cca1c95
Jordan, T., Martin, C., Brisbourne, A., Schroeder, D., & Smith, A. (2020). Radar characterization of ice crystal orientation fabric and anisotropic rheology within Rutford Ice Stream, 2017-2019 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/d5b7e5a1-b04d-48d8-a440-c010658ec146
Kufner, S., Brisbourne, A., Smith, A., Hudson, T., Murray, T., Schlegel, R., Kendall, J., Anandakrishnan, S., & Lee, I. (2020). Microseismic icequake catalogue, Rutford Ice Stream (West Antarctica), November 2018 to February 2019 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/b809a040-8305-4bc5-baff-76aa2b823734
Booth, A., White, J., Pearce, E., Cornford, S., Brisbourne, A., Luckman, A., & Kulessa, B. (2019). Seismic refraction data from two sites on Antarctica’s Larsen C Ice Shelf, Nov 2017, following the calving of Iceberg A68 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/147baf64-b9af-4a97-8091-26aec0d3c0bb
Brisbourne, A., Hudson, T., & Holland, P. (2019). Seismic bathymetry data, Antarctic Peninsula, Larsen C Ice Shelf, 2016 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/315740b1-a7b9-4cf0-9521-86f046e33e9a
Booth, A., White, J., Pearce, E., Cornford, S., Brisbourne, A., Luckman, A., & Kulessa, B. (2019). Ground penetrating radar common-midpoint gathers from Antarctica’s Larsen C Ice Shelf, Nov 2017, following the calving of Iceberg A68 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. UK Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK Research & Innovation. https://doi.org/10.5285/4e94de3b-e156-4f6f-a854-8edeaa4e8302
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