Application Deadline: 31 March 2025
Details
PROJECT OVERVIEW
An exciting opportunity to develop a new instrument to study water storage in glaciers. You should have either a background in engineering, physics or environmental science, but with a keen enthusiasm to design, build and field-test an instrument that will need to work in a harsh environment. You’ll work within a friendly group who will support you to develop your skills and deliver a successful result.
SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND
The project aims to study glacier hydrology, and in particular how meltwater travels within the ice through moulins. Moulins are tunnels within the ice with water flowing inside them, and they transport meltwater from the surface to the bed of the glacier. On the surface, moulins appear as a large hole with a stream or river flowing in, but their structure within the glacier is often extremely complex, with large networks of tunnels, plunge pools and even large caverns within the ice. They are similar to limestone caves, but they evolve much more quickly. Because moulins are extremely dangerous to explore, they are not well-studied. For this project, you will attempt to quantify how much water is stored within moulins, how long it remains resident within the moulin, and how it is connected to the drainage channels in the bed of the glacier. This has important implications for understanding how glaciers will respond to climate warming.
PROJECT DETAILS
Your project will be to design, test and deploy an instrument for studying moulins. This will be a sturdy, pressure-proof device that can survive in the harsh environment of moulins, with their fast-flowing water and potential for impact onto hard ice surfaces. The instrument will carry sensors to measure dissolved oxygen, water pressure and electrical conductivity. These will give insights into how the moulins behave: water pressure helps estimate the volume of water present, whilst oxygen and electrical conductivity measurements can tell us if the water is newly-arrived from the surface or if it has been stored in the moulin for a lengthy period. The instrument will report its data live using a radio link capable of communicating through the ice and water.
Whilst this is ambitious, you won’t be starting from scratch. You’ll be part of the Cryospheric & Hydrological Instrumentation Laboratory in the School of Earth & Environmental Science, where we have considerable previous experience with developing instruments for studying glaciers. We have existing proven mechanical and electronics designs, including the radio link, (from our “Cryoegg” instrument) that you can quickly adapt to begin developing the moulin instrument. Our collaboration with Dr Liz Bagshaw at Bristol, who is an expert on moulin formation, will give you the necessary understanding of how moulins behave, and you will have access to recent field test results showing how adjusting the shape and buoyancy of an instrument will help it to transit through moulin plunge pools. In Cardiff’s School of Engineering, you will have support and resources to help with numerical modelling and laboratory testing of the instrument, helping you develop a design that is robust, waterproof, and hydrodynamic.
You’ll primarily be supervised by Dr Mike Prior-Jones in the School of Earth & Environmental Science, and work with his two research associates, Dr Lisa Craw (glaciologist) and Dr Jonathan Hawkins (electronic engineer and radio expert). In Engineering, you’ll be supervised by Dr Allan Mason-Jones, an expert on modelling of mechanical structures and fluid flow, and with particular expertise in designing robust equipment used in fast-flowing water. Dr Liz Bagshaw and her group will provide supervision and expert support on glacier hydrology, and you will be a visiting student at the University of Bristol for part of the project so that you can spend time getting to know their team and using their facilities.
SKILL REQUIREMENTS
Since the project calls for a wide range of skills, we do not expect any one candidate to have all of the desirable skills listed here. You will have access to support from experienced colleagues to help you learn and develop the skills that you will need for this project. We also have existing instrument designs intended for similar environments that you can draw on to develop your instrument.
Desirable skills include:
• Mechanical engineering: design; FEM and CFD simulation; development of pressure-proof seals; laboratory and field testing and evaluation
• Electronics and software engineering: use of microcontrollers; radio communications on VHF frequencies; interfacing to analogue and digital sensors
• Fieldwork: experience of glacial environments; camping in cold climates
• Management and logistics: time management; project management; logistics skills for organising fieldwork and lab test campaigns.
PROJECT PARTNERS
The project is jointly supervised between the School of Earth & Environmental Science in Cardiff, the School of Engineering in Cardiff, and the School of Geographical Sciences in Bristol. You will have the opportunity to work in all three Schools. Some of the funding comes from NASA/JPL, and we hope that you would have the opportunity to visit their labs in California.
TRAINING
Project-specific training will include training for fieldwork (first aid, crevasse rescue, polar bear defence) and you will have access to a wide range of training opportunities available through Cardiff’s Doctoral Academy programme.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
First-class or 2:1 BSc, MSci or relevant MSc degree in Engineering, Earth/Environmental Sciences or related disciplines. Engineers could be from any engineering discipline; Earth or Environmental Scientists would need to additionally demonstrate some skills and knowhow in designing and making things (perhaps through hobbies or past work experience).
HOW TO APPLY
In order to formally apply for the PhD you will need to go to the following web page:
https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/programmes/programme/earth-sciences
In the black box on the right of the page, please select the following options:
Doctor of Philosophy
Full or Part Time
1st October 2025
Click on ‘Apply Now’ and either create a new account or use an existing username and password if you have applied to us in the past.
Please ensure that you include the Project Title and Supervisor, and for source of funding please write ‘EPSRC’.
Funding Notes
The studentship includes fees and stipend for 3.5 years at the UKRI rates (present ÂŁ20,780/year tax-free), and total of ÂŁ4K Research Training Support Grant (RTSG). Additional funding for consumables and fieldwork will be available from other budgets.
