Scripps Glaciologist Awarded 2010 Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica

Helen Amanda Fricker, a glaciologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, has been awarded the prestigious 2010 Martha T. Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica.

Fricker is widely recognized for her discovery of active subglacial lakes, and she has shown that these lakes form dynamic hydrologic systems, where one lake can drain into another in a short period of time. She is also known for her innovative research into Antarctic ice shelf mass budget processes such as iceberg calving and basal melting and freezing.

"I am truly delighted to have been selected for this prestigious award," said Fricker, an associate professor at Scripps' Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics. "I am excited about the opportunities that this gives my research team at Scripps."

The prize is a $100,000 award funded by the Tinker Foundation and managed by the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR), a committee of the Paris-based International Council for Science.

The prize selection committee of leading Antarctic scientists and policymakers cited her leadership in the application of remote sensing techniques using laser altimetry to detect current changes in the Antarctic ice sheet in response to rising sea level and climate variability and her individual activities promoting educational outreach about Antarctic ice sheets.

Fricker will be awarded the prize and deliver the Muse Lecture at the American Geophysical Union meeting to be held in San Francisco in December 2010.