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ABOUT THE ALASKA
SCIENCE CENTER

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Education and/or Training

Ph.D.	2006	Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder	Geophysics
M.S.	2000	Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks	Geophysics
B.A.	1997	University of Montana	Environmental Geology

Areas of Specialization and/or Research Interests

Glacier-climate interactions and sea level rise: Melting of glaciers and ice-sheets provides the largest eustatic contribution to global sea level rise. Terrestrial glaciers respond to temperature changes, but nonlinear dynamic processes at marine-terminating glaciers are important, yet poorly constrained. Such dynamic instabilities allow rapid flow and even faster iceberg calving, complicating estimates of sea level contributions.

Small glaciers: The world’s glaciers and ice caps, not the great ice sheets, are changing most rapidly and will have the largest and most immediate impact on Earth’s population.

Glacier-generated seismicity: Information pertaining to both flow and calving are stored in the seismograms produced by glaciers, yet these signals are poorly understood. Automatic event detection and time-series development, analysis of site and path effects, frequency-magnitude distributions are underway and serve to clarify the source physics of iceberg calving.

Photogrammetry: Dynamical information can be extracted from images acquired from spaceborne, airborne and terrestrial photography. Time-lapse sequences provide robust time series of change, and I am working on automatic processing algorithms to streamline data acquisition.

Professional Experience

2007 - 2008	Postdoctoral Scholar, Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego
2007 - 2008	Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks
2007	Lecturer at University of Colorado Boulder, graduate level glaciology
2001 - 2003	Geodetic Engineer at UNAVCO in Boulder, CO; Assisted NSF research projects with GPS deployment and data processing as a Glacier GPS specialist.

Professional Activities and/or Memberships

Affiliate of University of Colorado Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR)
American Geophysical Union
International Glaciological Society

Significant Recent Publications

Pfeffer, W.T., J.T Harper, S O’Neel (in press), Kinematic constraints on glacier and land ice contributions to 21st century sea level rise, Science, 2008.

O’Neel S. and W.T. Pfeffer (2007), Source mechanisms for monochromatic icequakes produced during iceberg calving at Columbia Glacier, AK, Geophys. Res. Lttrs., 2007.

M. F. Meier, M. B. Dyurgerov, U. K. Rick, S. O’Neel, W. T. Pfeffer, R. S. Anderson, S.P. Anderson and A.F. Glazovsky (2007), Glaciers dominate eustatic sea-level rise in the 21st century, Science, 317(5841), 1064-1067, doi: 10.1126/science.1143906.

O’Neel S., H.P. Marshall, D.E. McNamara and W.T. Pfeffer (2007), Detection and analysis of icequakes at Columbia Glacier, AK, Jour. Geophys. Res., 112, F02S13, doi: 10.1029/2006JF000595.

Harper, J. T., N. F. Humphrey, W.T. Pfeffer, T. Fudge and S. O’Neel (2005), Evolution of subglacial water pressure along a glacier’s length, Ann. Glaciol., 40, 31-36.

O'Neel S., W.T. Pfeffer, R.M. Krimmel and M.F. Meier (2005), Evolving force balance at Columbia Glacier, during its rapid retreat, Jour. Geophys. Res., 110, F03012, doi: 10.1029/2005JF000292.

Anderson, R.S., S.P. Anderson, K.R. MacGregor, S. O’Neel, C.A. Riihimaki, E.D. Waddington and M.G. Loso (2004), Strong feedbacks between hydrology and sliding of a small alpine glacier, Jour. Geophys. Res., 109, F03005.

O’Neel, S., K.A. Echelmeyer and R.J. Motyka (2003), Short-term variations in calving of a tidewater glacier: LeConte Glacier, Alaska. J. Glaciol., 49(167), 587-598.

Motyka R.J., S. O'Neel, C.L. Connor and K.A. Echelmeyer (2003), Twentieth century thinning of Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska, and its relationship to climate, lake calving, and glacier run-off, Global and Planetary Change, 35 (1-2): 93-112.

O'Neel S., K.A. Echelmeyer and R.J. Motyka (2001), Short-term flow dynamics of a retreating tidewater glacier: LeConte Glacier, Alaska, USA J. Glaciol. 47 (159): 567-578.

Websites of Interest

http://ak.water.usgs.gov/glaciology/
http://tintin.colorado.edu/
http://fairweather.gps.alaska.edu/chris/