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Eric Rignot

Professor, Earth System Science
School of Physical Sciences

Senior Research Scientist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Radar Science and Engineering


Ph.D., University of Southern California, 1991, Electrical Engineering


M.S., University of Southern California, 1988, Electrical Engineering


M.S., University of Southern California, 1987, Aerospace Engineering


Engr., Ecole Centrale Arts et Manufactures Paris, 1985


M.S., University Paris VI, 1986, Astronomy and Astrophysics

Phone: 949 824 3739
Fax: 818 393 5184
Email: erignot@uci.edu

University of California
Croul Hall
Irvine, CA 92697

 picture of Eric Rignot
Research
Interests 		Glaciology, climate change, radar remote sensing, ice sheet modeling, interferometry, radio echo sounding, ice-ocean interactions
   
Academic
Distinctions 		NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, 2007.
JPL Edward Stone Award for Outstanding Research Publication in 2004.
JPL Level A Award for Technical Achievement, 2004.
NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, 2003.
Nomination of "Rignot Glacier, Antarctica" by U. S. Board Geogr. Names, 2003.
JPL Edward Stone Award for Outstanding Research Publication in 2002.
JPL Director Lew Allen Award for Excellence in 1998.
IEEE Geos. Rem. Sens. Soc. Award for Best Journal Paper published in 1994.
IEEE Geos. Rem. Sens. Soc. Award for Best Oral Paper at IGARSS'90 Symposium.
11 NASA Certificates of Recognition between 1988 and 1993.
   
Research
Abstract 		I am interested in understanding the interactions of ice and climate, and in particular in determining how the ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland will respond to climate warming in the coming century.

My research work combines satellite remote sensing techniques, airborne surveys, field work and numerical modeling and spans from the vast, dry interior regions of Antarctica to the wet, narrow, dynamic glaciers of Patagonia.

Glaciology mixes many different scientific and engineeering disciplines and is at the corner stone of Earth System Science. Ice interacts with the atmosphere, but also with the surrounding ocean and has its own internal dynamics. Most of what governs the flow of ice eludes observation because it takes place at the glacier beds, far below the surface. With the advent of satellites, we can look at ice sheets at an unprecedented level of spatial details over vast areas. This is an exciting time of exploration, discovery and scientific advances, with plenty of opportunities to go out in the field and gather information impossible to get some space.
   
Publications E. Rignot and P. Kanagaratnam, Changes in the velocity structure of the Greenland Ice Sheet, Science, 311, 986-989 (2006).
   
  E. Rignot, J. Bamber, M. van den Broeke, C. Davis, Y. Li, W. van de Berg, E. van Meijgaard (2008) Recent mass loss of the Antarctic Ice Sheet from dynamic thinning, Nature Geoscience, doi: 10.1038/ngeo102
   
Professional
Societies 		American Geophysical Union
International Glaciological Society
   
Link to this profile http://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=5467
   
Last updated 01/15/2008