Glacial water supply
How does changing water supply from glaciers affect drought risk?
Posts by Collection
portfolio
Ice fracture
Material conditions that permit fracture in glacier ice
Global sea level rise
How fast can glaciers shed mass to icebergs?
publications
The future is Nye: An extension of the perfect plastic approximation to tidewater glaciers
Published in Journal of Glaciology, 2016
Foundational description of the idea behind the numerical model I developed for mass loss from calving glaciers.
Recommended citation: Ultee, L. and Bassis, J. N. (2016). "The future is Nye: an extension of the perfect plastic approximation to tidewater glaciers." Journal of Glaciology. 62(236): 1143-1152. doi: 10.1017/jog.2016.108 http://ehultee.github.io/files/jog-2016_108.pdf
A plastic network approach to model calving glacier advance and retreat
Published in Frontiers in Earth Science, 2017
Description and validation of my model's applicability to interacting glacier tributary networks.
Recommended citation: Ultee, L. and Bassis, J.N. (2017). "A plastic network approach to model calving glacier advance and retreat." Frontiers in Earth Sciences. 5(24). doi: 10.3389/feart.2017.00024 http://ehultee.github.io/files/feart-2017_00024.pdf
Collaborative creation and implementation of a Michigan Sustainability Case on urban farming in Detroit
Published in Case Studies in the Environment, 2018
Summary of a multimedia case study I co-authored for use in environmental studies courses. The corresponding case won an award for meaningful community impact, and is available for instructors at teachmsc.org.
Recommended citation: Boone, L., Ultee, L., Waisanen, E., Newell, J., Thorne, J.A. and Hardin, R. (2018). "Collaborative creation and implementation of a Michigan Sustainability Case on urban farming in Detroit." Case Studies in the Environment 2(1): 8-13. doi: 10.1525/cse.2017.000703 http://ehultee.github.io/files/cse-2017_000703_full.pdf
From ice sheets to main streets: Intermediaries connect climate scientists to coastal adaptation
Published in Earth's Future, 2018
Commentary on avenues to productive public engagement for climate researchers. A collaboration with scholars of science usability.
Recommended citation: Ultee, L., Arnott, J. C., Bassis, J. N., and Lemos, M. C. (2018). "From ice sheets to main streets: Intermediaries connect climate scientists to coastal adaptation." Earth's Future 6(3): 299-304. doi:10.1002/2018EF000827 http://ehultee.github.io/files/2018EF000827.pdf
A thin film viscoplastic theory for calving glaciers:toward a bound on the calving rate of glaciers
Published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 2019
Is there a fastest possible glacier retreat by calving?
Recommended citation: Bassis, J. N. and Ultee, L. (2019). "A thin film viscoplastic theory for calving glaciers:toward a bound on the calving rate of glaciers." Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 124. doi:10.1029/2019JF005160 http://ehultee.github.io/files/BassisUltee-thin_film_viscoplastic-2019.pdf
Tensile strength of glacial ice deduced from observations of the 2015 eastern Skaftá cauldron collapse, Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland
Published in Journal of Glaciology, 2020
How much stress can glacier ice sustain before breaking?
Recommended citation: Ultee, L., Meyer, C. R. and Minchew, B. M. (2020). "Tensile strength of glacial ice deduced from observations of the 2015 eastern Skaftá cauldron collapse, Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland." Journal of Glaciology FirstView. doi:10.1017/jog.2020.65 http://ehultee.github.io/files/jog-2020_65.pdf
SERMeQ model produces a realistic upper bound on calving retreat for 155 Greenland outlet glaciers
Published in Geophysical Research Letters, 2020
How does our theoretical speed limit on glacier retreat hold up in Greenland?
Recommended citation: Ultee, L. and Bassis, J. N. (2020). "SERMeQ model produces a realistic upper bound on calving retreat for 155 Greenland outlet glaciers." Geophysical Research Letters 47(21): e2020GL090213. doi:10.1029/2020GL090213 http://ehultee.github.io/files/2020GL090213.pdf
Glacial runoff buffers droughts through the 21st century
Published in Earth System Dynamics, 2022
To what extent can we expect that retreating glaciers will continue to moderate droughts around the world?
Recommended citation: Ultee, L., Coats, S., and Mackay, J. (2022). "Glacial runoff buffers droughts through the 21st century." Earth System Dynamics 13: 935-959. https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-13-935-2022 http://ehultee.github.io/files/gSPEI-esd-13-935-2022.pdf
Helheim Glacier ice velocity variability responds to runoff and terminus position change at different timescales
Published in Nature Communications, 2022
What is forcing observed velocity changes at Helheim Glacier - atmosphere or ocean? It depends on the time scale.
Recommended citation: Ultee, L., Felikson, D., Minchew, B., Stearns, L.A., and Riel, B. (2022). "Helheim Glacier ice velocity variability responds to runoff and terminus position change at different timescales." Nature Communications. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33292-y http://ehultee.github.io/files/Ultee_et_al-2022-Nature_Communications.pdf
The Stochastic Ice-Sheet and Sea-Level System Model v1.0 (StISSM v1.0)
Published in Geoscientific Model Development, 2022
Adding stochastic forcing options to ISSM to facilitate large-ensemble simulations
Recommended citation: Verjans, V., Robel, A., Seroussi, H., Ultee, L., and Thompson, A. (2022). "The Stochastic Ice-Sheet and Sea-Level System Model v1.0 (StISSM v1.0)." Geoscientific Model Development Article accepted. Preprint online: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-699 https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2022/egusphere-2022-699/
teaching
Knowing Climate Change
Undergraduate course, University of Michigan, Residential College, 2018
I was instructor of record for this upper-level seminar on multidisciplinary climate literacy, using Community-Based Learning pedagogy. I conceived of the course, created a syllabus, identified community partner organizations, pitched the course to the curriculum committee of U-M’s Residential College, and taught it for the first semester it was offered.
Glaciología y recursos hídricos
Workshop, Clubes de Ciencia, Sede Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, 2019
Weeklong intensive workshop (in Spanish) on the topic of glacial water resources. Students explored glacier physics through lab experiments, reading scholarly articles, proposing field campaigns, and simulating glaciers with the Open Global Glacier Model.
Glaciology
Undergraduate course, Middlebury College, 2021
An upper-level undergraduate elective in glaciology, focusing on ice dynamics and numerical modelling.
Natural Hazards
Undergraduate course, Middlebury College, 2022
A broad introductory course on the mechanisms and societal impacts of natural hazards. Includes introduction to important topics from both geology and climate science, including: plate tectonics, seismic hazards, volcanism, extreme weather, modern climate change, and management of risk. Focus is on demonstrating the broad interdisciplinary foundation of geosciences while imparting practical hazard awareness for an audience of students who may not take any other science course.
Climate Dynamics
Undergraduate course, Middlebury College, 2022
A new course, required for Geology majors, on the dynamics of Earth’s climate system. Emphasis on developing quantitative skills, including simple mathematical modelling and using Python through a Jupyter interface.