The Science
Laura's research explores the recent and long-term history of Greenland’s mountain glaciers. Her work documents changes in glacier length over the past ~120 years using a combination of early 20th century air photos from Danish mapping expeditions of Greenland, declassified Cold War-era spy satellite imagery, and imagery from modern satellites. In addition, Laura evaluates glacier fluctuations over the Holocene (the geologic epoch spanning the past ~10,000 years) using lake sediment records. Sediment accumulates in lakes continuously year after year, piling up in pristine layers which act as a record of the local environmental conditions at the time of deposition. The physical and geochemical properties of the lake sediments reveal when glaciers were present in the past, when they were melted away, and more subtle variations in their size over time. This approach allows Laura to reconstruct long-term fluctuations in glacier extents in understudied regions of Greenland; to assess glacier status during past periods of sustained warmth; and to provide improved estimates of the timing and magnitude of regional climate changes across Greenland.
The Artist
Laura Larocca is a climate scientist and painter from New York. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at Northwestern University in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Laura holds an MS in earth and atmospheric science from City College of the City University of New York and a BFA from New York University. Connect with her on Twitter @the_blu_dot or visit her website.
The Theme
Laura's work explores Earth's polar regions, and the interplay between climate, glaciers, and ice sheets. Her work also utilizes the erosive power of glaciers and how ice moulds the landscape. Ultimately, her research will help to place the recent retreat of Greenland’s glaciers into a longer-term perspective, and to improve the forecasting of future ice loss in the Arctic.
Copyright statement. This work is published under the CC BY-NC-SA license