Associate ProfessorHeather Purdie
Qualifications
Research Interests
My research expertise is in the field of glaciology, specifically glacier mass balance, dynamics, and climate change, with a focus on mountain glaciers in Te Tiritiri-o-te-moana, the New Zealand Southern Alps. I am very interested in glaciological change that occurs over short temporal scales; that which impacts utilization of the glacier resource, for example glacier-tourism. I also focus on interactions and feedbacks between all aspects of glacier mass balance from snow accumulation processes to ablation processes, including the role of avalanche nourishment to glacier resilience. Most recently, I have been exploring rapid change at lake-calving glaciers, and the impact that crevasses have on glacier mass balance...
Current research projects:
* The role of crevasses on surface energy balance of alpine glaciers
* Bathymetric and terminus evolution at lake calving glaciers
* Morphological evolution and feedbacks at retreating glacier termini
* Characteristics of alpine snowpacks - managing snow in a warming world
* Implications of glacier retreat on tourism and recreation
Recent Publications
- Gomez-Fell R., Marsh OJ., Rack W., Wild CT. and Purdie H. (2023) Basal mass balance and prevalence of ice tongues in the Western ross sea. Frontiers in Earth Science 11 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/feart.2023.1057761.
- Purdie H. (2023) On thin ice; mountaineering in a warming world. Vertical Life Magazine 42: 42-46.
- Purdie H., Zawar-Reza P., Katurji M., Schumacher B., Kerr T. and Bealing P. (2023) Variability in the vertical temperature profile within crevasses at an alpine glacier. Journal of Glaciology 69(274): 410-424. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2022.73.
- Carrivick JL., Sutherland JL., Huss M., Purdie H., Stringer CD., Grimes M., James WHM. and Lorrey AM. (2022) Coincident evolution of glaciers and ice-marginal proglacial lakes across the Southern Alps, New Zealand: Past, present and future. Global and Planetary Change 211 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2022.103792.
- Gomez-Fell R., Rack W., Purdie H. and Marsh O. (2022) Parker Ice Tongue Collapse, Antarctica, Triggered by Loss of Stabilizing Land-Fast Sea Ice. Geophysical Research Letters 49(1) http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2021GL096156.