Lake Ice and 
Snow Science 

Martin Jeffries

Research Professor of Geophysics,
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Phone: 907-474-5257
Fax: 907-474-7290
e-mail: martin.jeffries@gi.alaska.edu

I was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and brought up in Manchester, England. After completing a B.A. (Hons.) in Geography at the University of Sheffield, I returned to the Victoria University of Manchester where I was awarded a M.S. degree in Geography for a study of glacier hydrology in Norway. Perhaps the most important decision I have ever made was to move to Canada, where I attended the University of Calgary and received a Ph.D. in Geography for a study of ice shelf growth processes and history in the High Arctic.

At heart and by training I am a geographer, thanks particularly to an inspiring 7th grade geography/geology teacher (David Levy) at Sale Boys Grammar School, and a geography professor (Ron Waters) at the University of Sheffield who brought glacial geomorphology alive. However, since moving to Alaska in 1985 to work at the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, I have been an "accidental geophysicist", too.

In Alaska I initially continued my studies of ice shelves and then the ice islands (icebergs) that calve from them before turning my attention to Antarctic sea ice. I spent a total of over 365 days in frozen southern waters during the 1990s and I’m unlikely to ever forget the many days of seasickness as the ships pitched, heaved and rolled their way across stormy seas. In contrast, lake ice studies are less turbulent. Investigations of lake ice processes on the North Slope of Alaska using radar remote sensing in the early to mid-1990s became field and computer modeling investigations of lake ice growth and decay, and conductive heat flow in the late 1990s in my own backyard at Poker Flat Research Range, about 50 km NE of Fairbanks.

In September 1994, Marge Porter, then an Environmental Science Teacher at Woodstock Academy, CT, participated in one of my Antarctic cruises aboard the research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer. Working together under the auspices of TEA (Teachers Experiencing Antarctica and the Arctic), I don’t think that either of us imagined at the time that we were embarking on a new and exciting voyage of collaboration in teacher professional development. For me, the crucial time was winter 1999-2000 when Marge participated in the first season of the lake ice studies at Poker Flat and suggested that I consider making ice and snow research experiences available to Alaska teachers.

Since March 2001, I have been working with Delena Norris-Tull (School of Education, UAF; now at the University of Montana-Western) and Ron Reihl (Tanana Middle School, Fairbanks; now retired) to turn Marge’s suggestion into reality. ALISON is the result.

Lake Ice Publications

Martin Visits Antarctica