I am a Reader in Polar Geodesy & RCUK Academic Fellow in the geodesy group of the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University (UK). 

My principal research interests (see also the tabs above for publications)

•  Improving our understanding of Antarctic ice mass balance using data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)
   

•  Using GPS measurements of 3d crustal movements to understand 1) changes in the Antarctic ice sheet since Last Glacial Maximum; and 2) the structure of Earth (lithosphere & mantle)
   

•  Absolute sea level change over past few centuries using tide gauge data and GPS measurements of their vertical movement
   

•  Ice sheet dynamics (ice streams and ice shelves), such as vertical tidal motion, tidal modulation of flow, long-term changes in elevation and velocity
   

•  Improving the accuracy and precision of GPS/GNSS time series to enable further advances in our understanding of the solid earth, ice sheets and tropospheric water vapour, including the Detection of Offsets in GPS timeseries Experiment (DOGEx)

PhD opportunities: Thinking of undertaking a PhD? See a list of suggested topics and feel free to discuss ideas with me.

I work most closely with my colleagues in the Newcastle geodesy group (part of a wider geomatics group). Together the Newcastle geodesy group uses geodetic tools to work on problems relating to Earth geophysics, notably Earth's global water cycle, sea level change and polar ice mass balance. We also seek to advance the accuracy and precision of those geodetic tools (e.g., Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS/GPS), GRACE and SLR). The group consists of:

Philip Moore, Professor of Space Geodesy: orbit determination, gravity fields, real-time GNSS orbit and clock determination

Peter Clarke, Professor of Geophysical Geodesy: Earth deformations (from tidal to secular periods), tectonics, reference frames

Stuart Edwards, Senior Lecturer: Water vapour from altimeters, engineering deformations

Nigel Penna, Lecturer in Geomatics: GPS error modelling and mitigation, tidal effects in geodetic studies, precipitable water vapour estimation using GPS

Rory Bingham, School Fellow: Consistent multi-technique geodetic estimates of present-day contributions to regional sea level change

Ian Thomas, Research Associate: GPS-based estimates of precipitable water in Antarctica, GPS-based ocean tide loading displacements and global GPS reprocessing (1995-present; GAMIT and GIPSY)

Sophie Bassett, Research Associate: Secular geocentre motion, glacial isostatic adjustment

Maxim Keshin (now at Trimble Terrasat), Research Associate: Precise Point Positioning, Troposphere, Earth deformation at tidal timescales

Liz Petrie, Research Associate: Effects on GPS of higher order ionospheric terms, elastic rebound in Antarctica, global GPS reprocessing

Kirill Palamartchouk, Research Associate: High precision GPS for deformation and reservoir compaction monitoring, effects on GPS of higher order ionospheric terms

Ian Martin, Junior Research Associate: GPS geodesy, GPS software/algorithm development, glacial dynamics, networks of sensors

Visiting members of staff: Geoff Blewitt, Visiting Professor: GPS Geodesy; David Lavallée, Visiting Fellow: GPS Geodesy

The remainder of our Geodesy team is made up of our current PhD students: Craig Hancock, Dave Booker, Matthew Goode, Matthias Kunz, Mohammed Assiadi, Etim Eyo, Sam Webb, Stuart Andrews and Grace Nield

My wife, Julia, and I have been living in the UK on 'Tyneside' since September 2001, in Newcastle upon Tyne until 2007 and now over the River Tyne in Gateshead, after moving from Tasmania, Australia. Julia now looks after our three (!) daughters, Lara (5), April (3) and Chloe (1) on a full-time basis. We recently shifted to a brand new church in Gateshead. A number of Christian lecturers and researchers recently wrote an open letter to the students of Newcastle University to encourage them to consider the Christian faith. The Christian faith may be summarised briefly: there are two ways to live ...