Linda Welzenbach is responsible for the Education and Outreach plans for the THOR project. She is a geologist and veteran of two expeditions to collect meteorites from Antarctica. She will communicate science activities during the first scientific cruise in 2019-NBP19-02 and serves as the project webmaster.
James Smith is a co-investigator on the THOR project. His focus for THOR is reconstructing ice shelf history together with the drivers of change. Part of this work involves the recovery of sediment cores from beneath the floating portion of Thwaites, which will be achieved through collaboration with the MELT project.
Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand is the UK principal investigator on the THOR project. His research focuses on reconstructing past glacier changes and their drivers from analysing marine sediments.
Alastair Graham is a co-investigator on the THOR project. For THOR, his work will focus on the mechanistic understanding of Thwaites Glacier retreat involving survey using shipborne geophysics, and (ii) via a related but unfunded collaboration with TARSAN which will obtain high-resolution bathymetry near Thwaites Glacier using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV).
John Anderson is a co-investigator on THOR and a veteran of 24 scientific expeditions to study various aspects of Antarctic marine geology and the historical behavior of ice sheets to inform future changes that may result from climate forcing.
Beginning in late November of 2018, a huge effort started to place fuel and materiel at key locations in West Antarctica and on Thwaites Glacier, in preparation for the main ITGC field science effort set to begin less than a year from now. Exploratory field work and landings at the key research sites have established preliminary field camps and surveyed the ice there. Major equipment depots, and vast amounts of fuel for aircraft and vehicles are now in place for the coming multi-year program.
Lauren Simkins is a co-investigator on the THOR project. She studies past ice sheet and ocean change. Specifically for THOR, she assessing paleo-subglacial meltwater activity beneath Thwaites Glacier, and meltwater discharge into the ocean.
Frank Nitsche is a co-investigator on the THOR project. He studies the seafloor around Antarctica and the coastal areas of the US using acoustic mapping techniques and data integration through GIS to reconstruct past ice stream flow and marine processes.
Rebecca Minzoni is a co-investigator on the THOR project. Her primary field area is offshore of Antarctica, where she reconstructs the behavior of tidewater glaciers from sediment cores, diatom microfossils, and geophysical data.
Kelly Hogan is a co-investigator on the THOR project. She specializes in providing past and contemporary records of climate and environmental change from high latitude regions.
