@amherst.eduProfessional and Biographical Information
Degrees and Professional Experience
Postdoctoral Scholar, The University of Washington
Ph.D., Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, 2016
B.A., Geology and Economics, Carleton College, 2011
Teaching Interests
My courses are split between two major themes: (1) what we know about Earth's climate (past, present, and future), and (2) how we know what we know about Earth's climate.
Much of our understanding of the climate is built on observations -- observations of processes acting at both local and global scales, that last from seconds to centuries. But measuring the atmosphere, ocean, crysophere, and solid earth has tested the ingenuity of natural scientists for centuries. For that work, the physicists tool-kit is essential. My courses bring together modern geophysical observations with natural, geologic archives. Together, these tools help us understand climate dynamics, geologic hazards, and the wide range of natural processes that affect the health and well-being of humans in the Earth system.
My courses are also designed to highlight the new challenges of twenty-first-century Earth Science. The field used to be data-limited, with remote areas inaccessible, and every field observation hard-fought. But, as we advance our efforts for global Earth monitoring, we must embrace new ways of distilling and interpreting the petabytes of data collected each day. My classes are designed to help students develop skill in computational methods, data analytics, and data visualization, motivated by problems of geologic interest and social relevance.
Research Interests
My research examines the physical processes that govern glacier change from the equator to the poles. Glaciers in the mid-latitudes are the capacitors of the hydrologic system, accumulating snow in the wet season and discharging it in the dry season, providing critical water resources to water-stressed communities in Asia and South America. Ice Sheets at the poles buffer global sea-level, and future rapid ice loss from the ice sheets represents the largest source of uncertainty in coastal hazards over the next century. Independent of our unknown future emissions and the uncertain climate sensitivity to those emissions, there are huge gaps in our understanding of how and why glaciers behave the way they do. I use geophysical observations to characterize the modern state, the integrated history, and the likely future behavior of glaciers around the world.
Selected Publications
- Holschuh, N., Christianson, K., Paden, J., Alley, R.B., and Anandakrishnan, S., "Linking postglacial landscapes to glacier dynamics using swath radar at Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica." Geology, 48 (2020): 1–5.
- Alley, K. E., Scambos, T. A., Alley, R. B., & N. Holschuh, "Troughs developed in ice-stream shear margins precondition ice shelves for ocean-driven breakup." Science Advances, 5 (2019): 1–7.
- Smith, B., Fricker, H. A., N. Holschuh, Gardner, A. S., Adusumilli, S., Brunt, K. M., Csatho, B., Harbeck, K., Huth, A., Neumann, T., Nilsson, J., Siegfried, M. R., "Land ice height-retrieval algorithm for NASA’s ICESat-2 photon-counting laser altimeter." Remote Sensing of Environment, (2019): 1–17.
- N. Holschuh, Lilien, D., and Christianson, K. "Thermal Weakening, Convergent Flow, & Vertical Heat Transport in the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream Shear Margins." Geophysical Research Letters, 46 (2019): 8184–8193.
- Koellner, S., Parizek, B. R., Alley, R. B., Muto, A., & Holschuh, N., "The impact of spatially-variable basal properties on outlet glacier flow." Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 550 (2019): 200-208.
- Riverman, K., Alley, R. B., Anandakrishnan, S., Christianson, K., Holschuh, N., Medley, B., Muto, A. and Peters, L., "Enhanced Firn Densification in High-Accumulation Shear Margins of the NE Greenland Ice Stream." Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface (2019): 1-18.
- Alley, R. B., Pollard, D., Parizek, B. R., Anandakrishnan, S., Pourpoint, M., Stevens, N. T., MacGregor, J., Christianson, K., Muto, A., & Holschuh, N., "Possible Role for Tectonics in the Evolving Stability of the Greenland Ice Sheet." Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface (2019): 1-19.