Alex Robel
Ice sheets, climate, math, coasts, community resilience. Associate Professor
Georgia Tech EAS. Miami born 🇧🇴-🇦🇷-🇺🇸 he/him
- Reposted by Alex RobelNew postdoc opportunities in my group at Rutgers-New Brunswick, working on sea-level rise projections and/or coastal climate risk assessment & management
- Our neighbors in Minnesota are standing up for the rest of us. Let's stand up with them.
- I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com
- Reposted by Alex RobelWe knew the NSF letter about NCAR would come. I think this is an occasion that will require great coordination and strategical thinking. UCAR should respond as a block, coordinating a response across universities (especially in the South, and large public universities that use NCAR data a lot)
- Reposted by Alex RobelThey refer to the section of the national climate assessment i led as “stomach churning” and I’m proud to have caused physical discomfort
- Ugh. Is the Administration illegally undermining climate work in America…? www.edf.org/media/newly-...
- Reposted by Alex RobelAn open letter organized by US-based researchers working in Greenland opposes any takeover of the territory go.nature.com/3YBbU7d
- New year, new paper out in JGR:Oceans! Led by PhD Candidate Madeline Mamer - she updates a 40-year old theory for the rate of iceberg erosion by waves, to include the effect of local ocean stratification by meltwater ❄️🥼🧊🌊 doi.org/10.1029/2025...
- Know an undergraduate looking for an opportunity to get paid to do cryospheric or other geoscience research this summer? Let them know about the GT EAS Broadening Participation REU here in Atlanta. Now accepting applications through ETAP! easreu.eas.gatech.edu
- Reposted by Alex RobelIt was a pleasure to be able to share my research this year at #AGU2025 @agu.org @agucryo.bsky.social
- Reposted by Alex RobelAwesome turnout in support of @ncar-ucar.bsky.social at #AGU25. Take a look at how many people use our products!
- Reposted by Alex RobelIt is hard to overstate how critical @ncar-ucar.bsky.social is to climate science in the US and around the world. It's the beating heart of our field. Generations of scientists have trained there, and almost everyone I know relies on deep collaborations with NCAR scientists. It's end is unthinkable.
- 🚨 Job alert! My colleague @asarhadi.bsky.social is advertising a two-year postdoctoral fellowship coastal resilience and machine learning for flood modeling through the Georgia Tech for Georgia’s Tomorrow program. See link for details: sarhadi.eas.gatech.edu/opportunities/
- Friends old and new from the GT Ice & Climate Group at #AGU25
- Monday afternoon poster: Brian Kyanjo walks you through ICESEE - our new open-source library to assimilate (just about) any observations into (just about) any model agu.confex.com/agu/agu25/me...
- Monday 15:06: Madeline Mamer gives you an analytical solution to a model for better simulations of wave erosion of icebergs and calving fronts agu.confex.com/agu/agu25/me...
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View full threadTuesday morning! Aminat Ambelorun ties calving to local sea level and finds a new positive feedback on ice sheet retreat agu.confex.com/agu/agu25/me...
- Reposted by Alex RobelGrad student Tanner May has a new fun paper out in the Journal of Glaciology that is kind of magical. The magic trick that Tanner performs is that he manages to estimate thickness of glaciers using only surface elevations and nothing else. This shouldn't work, but it does. Let me tell you why.
- Reposted by Alex RobelThe Miami Herald tracked 16,569 flood complaints from over 12,000 locations in Miami-Dade and Broward over the last 11 years, and found 32% were outside the newly-expanded 500-year flood zones scheduled to go into effect as early as 2026: www.miamiherald.com/news/local/e...
- Really interesting new paper showing ice "sliding mechanically destroys the ordered crystal lattice of ice, creating an amorphous layer that thickens as the sliding goes on". Maybe this explains some things related to subtemperate sliding?
- Will be taking some personal time to process scientists not really knowing why ice is slippery. Please respect my privacy unless see me sprawled out on an icy sidewalk yelling, "No one knows why this happened to me!" www.quantamagazine.org/why-is-ice-s...
- Paper here: doi.org/10.1103/1plj...
- Reposted by Alex RobelWill be taking some personal time to process scientists not really knowing why ice is slippery. Please respect my privacy unless see me sprawled out on an icy sidewalk yelling, "No one knows why this happened to me!" www.quantamagazine.org/why-is-ice-s...
- The GT Polar crew for Icegiving 2025! A great potluck spread and a great time with members old and new.
- Reposted by Alex RobelBoiling mud & Frozen Flows! Write up from GT on our new paper: cos.gatech.edu/news/boiling... Paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
- Reposted by Alex RobelHuge fractures opening at the Thwaites Glacier Eastern Ice Shelf grounding line
- Interesting new preprint from @colinrmeyer.bsky.social and colleagues -> “we perform transient model experiment…to determine the effects of water extraction on glacier velocity. With continuous pumping, we simulate a modest impact on velocity…” egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...
- “…8,150 properties that were listed as being at high risk of flooding […] reduced their total sales prices by about 1 percent of their value” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/c...
- “We have observational evidence and ocean modeling results to document that kilometer-scale seawater intrusions beneath grounded ice generate a high melt in the [grounding zone of Thwaites Glacier].” www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
- Reposted by Alex Robel👋 Meet Assistant Professor @asarhadi.bsky.social. Sarhadi's research focuses on a growing threat: hurricanes fueled by a warming climate. He uses physics-based computational modeling to understand and mitigate hurricane risk in the age of climate change. Learn more⤵️
- “…submesoscales account for one-fifth of the total submarine melt variance in the area and highlight a positive feedback loop between submesoscale motions and submarine melting.” doi.org/10.1038/s415...
- Reposted by Alex RobelThe #ISMIP7 ice-ocean Antarctic focus group is recruiting a 2.5 year postdoc on ice-shelf basal melting at Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK. A great way to develop international collaborations and contribute to the improvement of sea level projections! work4.northumbria.ac.uk#en/sites/CX_...
- Reposted by Alex RobelNew paper alert ! 🙂 Happy to share our new study published in The Cryosphere ! doi.org/10.5194/tc-1... We modelled the evolution of the Greenland Ice Sheet from the LGM (24 ka) to the present and learned a lot on its former history and dynamics ! @jeremyely.bsky.social @chrisdclark.bsky.social
- Excited to be visiting LDEO for the first time in a decade!
- Reposted by Alex RobelCongratulations to @winnie-polargeo.bsky.social for earning an NSF CAREER grant to map temperatures at the base of the Antarctic ice sheet — the first project of its kind. This research will refine climate models and help predict future melt, protecting coastal communities. b.gatech.edu/3LyaveA
- Reposted by Alex Robel6,000,000 year old ice & plenty of wind and cold! What folks go through for old ice. Team is headed back to Allan Hills now, follow more at COLDEX.org Support via the incredible National Science Foundation and US Antarctic Program. PNAS 6Myr results: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- A new and improved parameterization of the subgrid-scale effects of icebergs will enable realistic simulations of the future of the ocean around ice sheets. Led by postdoc Paul Summers and in collab with Rebecca Jackson, as part of the GLACIOME project! tc.copernicus.org/articles/19/...
- Reposted by Alex Robel🌊🧊🇦🇶 I am happy and proud to present our #platformist team effort out in @nature.com! www.nature.com/articles/s41... We examine if, when, and why #Antarctic #ice shelves will no longer be viable, at the latest, due to changes in #atmosphere and #ocean conditions. A little 🧵 for the experts... 1/7
- Reposted by Alex RobelPNAS: Six-million-year-old ice discovered in Antarctica offers unprecedented window into a warmer Earth via our NSF COLDEX & US Antarctic Program. ❄️ www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- A great explainer on @dgrau13.bsky.social’s recent paper finding simple equations describing the size of melt lakes on ice sheets doi.org/10.1038/s414...
- New Paper Alert | Georgia Tech researchers developed a mathematical formula to predict the size of lakes that form on melting ice sheets. They discovered that lake depth and span are linked to the topography of the ice sheet. Their findings were published in @natcomms.nature.com.
- Reposted by Alex RobelCareer update: I’m excited & honored to be @igsoc.bsky.social's new Secretary General! I’m particularly excited to return to my roots as a glaciologist in this community-facing role. As I’m getting up to speed, feel free to reach out & see you at IGS meetings and publishing in IGS journals soon?!
- Reposted by Alex RobelIcebergs are big. Researchers made mini versions in a lab to better understand what moves them. eos.org/articles/mel...
- Reposted by Alex RobelNew paper drop led by former postdoc Jacob Adler now at ASU. www.nature.com/articles/s43... Pressure, temperature, & composition affect the transport and morphology of sedimentary flows on Mars - in space and time! ☠️ beware of using earth analogs to interpret Hesperian and Amazonian deposits☠️
- A great piece on work being done around flood prediction and resilience at GT making the connection with fundamental glacier physics 🌊🐝
- Georgia Tech researchers are developing solutions to monitor and forecast flooding, as well as restore ecosystems to prevent future flooding. These efforts support communities’ resilience in the face of climate change and keep the U.S. secure. b.gatech.edu/47BcWW0 f
- Reposted by Alex RobelI was interviewed for this great piece about sea level rise. Solid reporting here on the scientific controversy, but I like that Evan ended with my bigger picture quote that a lot of the controversy doesn't really matter because by 2100, we will be talking about a radically different coastline.
- Reposted by Alex Robel🚨 New paper alert! Research by postdoc Maaike Izeboud from the bglacier group in Nature Climate Change 🎉 Using 20 years of satellite data, she mapped Antarctic ice shelf fractures and showed how damage rises under high emissions but stabilises in low-emission futures www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Alex RobelWe have a new paper out! Work with @leighstearns.bsky.social, @laserglaciers.bsky.social, and Sid Shankar studying the potential of new ICEYE SAR satellite imagery to study the dynamic behaviour of ice mélange around the margins of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Read more here: tinyurl.com/mtc94juu
- Reposted by Alex Robel🌊🌊JOB ALERT!! Are you an ice sheet modeler looking for a postdoc that does not rely on federal funding? Come join our research team at University of Wisconsin-Madison to study the physical and human dynamics of sea-level rise. www.linkedin.com/posts/andrea...
- Reposted by Alex RobelWe’ve made our results into an interactive map showing which infrastructure across the Global South is exposed to rising seas. It shows how exposure varies with topography & development + what’s possible to protect with swift action. sea-level-submergence.projects.earthengine.app/view/sea-lev...
- 🌊 New study in npj Urban Sustainability: Sea level rise could put >100M buildings across the Global South at risk if fossil fuels keep burning. Even w/ ambitious cuts, ~3M buildings face flooding. 📄 Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s42...
- Reposted by Alex RobelTidewater glacier calving events inspire awe and remind us to be humble. Turns out they also stir up fjord waters and amplify melt. New paper "Calving as a Source of Acute and Persistent Kinetic Energy to Enhance Submarine Melting..." ❤️glaciology agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
- Reposted by Alex Robel[This post could not be retrieved]
- Presenting Dr. Ziad Rashed!! 🧊❄️🍾🎉
- Reposted by Alex RobelEqually as important, please check out the accompanying AWS public dataset for all the cloud-optimized point cloud files and COGs in this S3 bucket (s3://atlas-lidar-helheim/). An 8-year record of daily and sub-daily ATLAS elevations and velocities when operational. The first of its kind!
- Reposted by Alex Robel🚨 New Publication 🚨 I’m excited to share our new paper out in @jgrearthsurface.bsky.social! Read more about calving mechanisms at Helheim Glacier from two autonomous terrestrial laser scanners (ATLAS) results here doi.org/10.1029/2024...
- Reposted by Alex RobelWill landscape responses reduce glacier sensitivity to climate change in High Mountain Asia? 🧪⚒️❄️⛰️ New paper in @egu-cr.bsky.social The Cryosphere tc.copernicus.org/articles/19/...
- Reposted by Alex RobelLed by Chris Bézu, with co-authors @bradlipovsky.bsky.social, Daniel Shapero & myself, our @igsoc.bsky.social pre-print presents a new open-source model that couples ice-shelf flow, flexure & fracture 🧊 🧪 @cires.colorado.edu @cpom-uk.bsky.social #glaciology www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
- My second-year student delayed her submission to this year so she could get preliminary results for her proposal. We were discussing her proposal plan today when this was announced. This is a shit way to bring up the next generation of scientists…
- Reposted by Alex RobelLast week I published my first PhD paper on the sources of freshwater for Greenland's fjords (tc.copernicus.org/articles/19/...)
- What humans do to change climate matters much, much more than natural climate variations in determining future ice loss from Greenland 👉 Read about the results of the Greenland Ice Sheet Large Ensemble (GrISLENS) Project in our paper out now in The Cryosphere doi.org/10.5194/tc-1...
- This paper was co-led by Vincent Verjans and myself, and included important contributions from the whole Stochastic Ice Sheet Project (including Lizz Ultee, Helene Seroussi and Andy Thompson), which recently wrapped up after 5 years of work funded by @heisingsimonsfdn.bsky.social
- This paper is the culmination of 5 years of work developing the first realistic and large-scale stochastic simulations of ice sheet evolution, and millions of core-hours of high-res Greenland simulations
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View full threadIf you'd like to see how we got here, the development of Stochastic ISSM and parameterizations therein has been documented across a number of papers: doi.org/10.5194/gmd-... doi.org/10.1029/2023... doi.org/10.5194/gmd-... doi.org/10.1017/jog....
- Reposted by Alex RobelAs a postdoc on the job market, I've been worried about the impact of ongoing funding/policy uncertainties on faculty positions. So I decided to compare the progression of faculty jobs this cycle to previous years based on positions posted to eswnonline.org/online/earth...
- A really nice piece to explain climate “tipping points” (and their history) at an undergrad level www.quantamagazine.org/the-math-of-...
- New paper from GLACIOME project: laboratory experimental constraints on iceberg mélange rheology led by Kavinda Nissanka from @emoryuniversity.bsky.social doi.org/10.1029/2024...
- Cool new library for physics-informed neural networks for glaciology problems, led by Gong Cheng @dartmouthears.bsky.social gmd.copernicus.org/articles/18/...
- 🚨🚨 We are recruiting a PhD student to start in Fall 2026 on the NeuCIM Project funded by @heisingsimonsfdn.bsky.social. Please send this opportunity to any candidates with interests related to ice sheet modeling, projections and/or machine learning iceclimate.eas.gatech.edu/opportunities/
