INSTAAR: W. Tad Pfeffer

Fellow of INSTAAR; Professor of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, Univ. of Colorado at Boulder.

PhD, University of Washington, 1987.

Tad.Pfeffer@Colorado.EDU
(303) 492-3480

INSTAAR Directorate Members

Specialty: Glaciology, continuum mechanics, heat transfer.

Research Interests: My research interests are broadly focussed on modern glacier physics, including ice mechanics and glacier dynamics, heat and mass transfer in snow and ice, atmosphere/glacier and ocean/glacier interactions. My approaches to these problems include field work in Alaska, Greenland, and the Canadian Arctic, experimental laboratory work, and mathematical and numerical modeling. Applications of this work include estimates of future sea-level change, analysis and modeling of iceberg calving dynamics of tidewater glaciers and ice streams, determination of the internal velocity field in ice, and reconstruction of Late Wisconsin advances of ice in the Hudson Strait region.

Outstanding Award: 1997 American Geophysical Union Editor's Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for JGR-Solid Earth.

Selected Publications:

Marshall, H.P., J.T. Harper, W.T. Pfeffer, and N.F. Humphrey, In Press, Depth-Varying Constitutive Properties Observed in an Isothermal Glacier. Geophysical Research Letters.
Pfeffer, W.T., and Mrugala, R., In Press, Temperature gradient and initial snow density as controlling factors in the formation of hard depth hoar. Journal of Glaciology.
Harper, J.T., N. F. Humphrey, , W.T. Pfeffer, S. V. Huzurbazar, D.B. Bahr, and B.C. Welch, 2001, Spatial variability in the flow of a valley glacier: deformation of a large array of boreholes. Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth, v. 106, n. B5, p. 8547-8562.
Pfeffer, W.T., 2001, Ice dynamics modelling of the Hudson Strait region at late glacial time. In Marine Geology of Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay, Eastern Arctic Canada: Late Quaternary Sediments, Depositional Environments, and late Glacial-Deglacial History Derived from Marine and Terrestrial Studies, (ed.) B. MacLean. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 566.
Pfeffer, W.T., J.Cohn, M.F. Meier, and R.M. Krimmel, 2000, Alaskan glacier beats a rapid retreat. EOS V. 81 No. 48, 28 November.
Pfeffer, W.T., N.F. Humphrey, B. Amadei, J. Harper, J. Wegmann, 2000, 'In-situ stress tensor measured in an Alaska Glacier'. Annals of Glaciology, Vol.31, pp. 229-235. .
Kaplan, M., W.T. Pfeffer, C. Sassolas, and G.H. Miller, 1999, Numerical modeling of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in the Baffin Island region: The role of a Cumberland Sound ice stream, Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences (36)
1315-1326.
Pfeffer, W.T., M. Dyurgerov, M. Kaplan, J. Dwyer, C. Sassolas, A. Jennings, B. Raup, and W. Manley, 1997, Numerical Modeling of late Glacial Laurentide advance of ice across Hudson Strait: Insights into terrestrial and marine geology, mass balance, and calving flux. Paleoceanography, 12(1), 97-110.

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