Department of Geography
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Dr Chris Stokes

Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 41955
Fax: +44 (0)191 33 41801
Room number: 403

Contact (email at c.r.stokes@durham.ac.uk)

Biography

My research interests focus on glaciers and their interaction with the Earth's surface and the climate system. A major area of investigation is on rapidly-flowing corridors of ice (‘ice streams’) embedded within continental ice sheets. Ice streams dominate ice sheet mass balance and stability and are known to play a critical role in their interactions with the ocean-atmosphere system. My research to date has contributed objective criteria to identify palaeo-ice streams in formerly glaciated areas. This work has since progressed with research in three key areas: (a) using the exposed beds of palaeo-ice streams to glean important information relating to ice stream flow mechanisms and subglacial bedforms – such information is crucial for accurate numerical modelling and prediction of ice streams under future climate change; (b) using the location of palaeo-ice streams to build refined ice sheet reconstructions for large sectors of palaeo-ice sheets, e.g. Laurentide Ice Sheet – this helps us understand how continental ice sheets responded to and perturbed palaeo-climates; and (c) linking the location of ice streams in the Canadian Arctic to iceberg and meltwater events in the Arctic Ocean – this is important for understanding the mechanisms of abrupt climate change during the Late Pleistocene.

A second major area of research is monitoring the response of glaciers to climate change and variability. My recent research has focussed on changes in the mass balance and areal extent of mountain glaciers in Eurasia. Such glaciers are a sensitive indicator of climate change and changes in their state will profoundly impact regional water resources and the potential for geohazards. Current projects include assessment of recent areal changes in glaciers in the Caucasus Mountains, western Russia, and examination of the coupling between glacier mass balance, regional atmospheric circulation and recent climate change.

External Supervisions

  • Heather Channon (Queen Mary, University of London)
  • Katie Grant (University of Reading)

External Research Projects

Research Groups

Research Projects

  • Identification and characterisation of ice stream sticky spots: an improved understanding of ice stream basal mechanics and shutdown
  • The terrestrial record of former Arctic ice streams: elucidating the controls on ice stream location and vigour

Selected Publications

Articles: magazine

  • Stokes, C.R. 2008. Ice cores. Physics Review 17(4): 8-11.
  • Stokes, C.R. 2007. Glaciers. Physics Review 16(3): 2-5.

Books: sections

  • Stokes, C.R. & Clark, C.D. 2006. Influence of Ice Streaming on the Ocean-Climate System: Examining the Impact of the M'Clintock Channel Ice Stream, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. In Glacier Science and Environmental Change. Knight, P.G. Oxford.: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 135-136.
  • Stokes, C.R. & Clark, C.D. 2006. What can the 'footprint' of a palaeo-ice stream tell us? Interpreting the bed of the Dubawnt Lake Ice Stream, Northern Keewatin, Canada. In Glacier Science and Environmental Change. Knight, P.G. Oxford.: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 208-209.
  • Stokes, C.R. 2003. 'Ice Sheet' and 'Ice Stream'. In Encyclopedia of Geomorphology. Goudie, A.S. London.: Routledge. 1.
  • Clark, C.D. & Stokes, C.R. 2003. Palaeo-Ice Stream Landsystem. In Glacial Landsystems. Evans, D.J.A. London.: Arnold. 204-227.

Journal papers: academic

  • King, E.C., Hindmarsh, R.C.A. & Stokes, C.R. 2009. Formation of mega-scale glacial lineations ovserved beneath a West Antarctic ice stream. Nature Geoscience 2(8): 585-596. (Additional information) (View publication online)
  • Stokes, C.R., Clark, C.D. & Storrar, R. 2009. Major changes in ice stream dynamics during deglaciation of the north-western margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Quaternary Science Reviews 28(7-8): 721-738. (Additional information) (View publication online)
  • Gurney, S.D., Popovnin, V.V., Shahgedanova, M. & Stokes, C.R. 2008. A glacier inventory for the Buordakh Massif, Cherskiy Range, Northeast Siberia, and evidence for recent glacier recession. Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research 40(1): 81-88.
  • Hindmarsh, R.C.A. & Stokes, C.R. 2008. Formation mechanisms for ice-stream shear margin moraines. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 33: 610-626.
  • Ottesen, D., Stokes, C.R., Rise, L. & Olsen, L. 2008. Ice-sheet dynamics and ice streaming along the coastal parts of northern Norway. Quaternary Science Reviews 27: 922-940.
  • O'Cofaigh, C. & Stokes, C.R. 2008. Reconstructing ice-sheet dynamics from subglacial sediments and landforms: introduction and overview. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 33: 495-502.
  • Stokes, C.R., Lian, O.B., Tulaczyk, S. & Clark, C.D. 2008. Superimposition of ribbed moraines on a palaeo-ice-stream bed: implications for ice stream dynamics and shutdown. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 33: 593-609.
  • Storrar, R. & Stokes, C.R. 2007. A Glacial Geomorphological Map of Victoria Island, Canadian Arctic. Journal of Maps 191-210.
  • Stokes, C.R., Clark, C.D., Lian, O. & Tulaczyk, S. 2007. Ice stream sticky spots: A review of their identification and influence beneath contemporary and palaeo-ice streams. Earth Science Reviews 81(3-4): 217-249. (Additional information) (View publication online)
  • Shahgedanova, M. Popovnin, V., Aleynikov, A., Petrakov, D. & Stokes, C.R. 2007. Long-term, interannual and intra-seasonal variability in climate and glacier mass balance in the central Greater Caucaus, Russia. Annals of Glaciology 46: 355-361.
  • Stokes, C.R., Popovnin, V., Aleynikov, Gurney, S.D. & Shahgedanova, M. 2007. Recent glacier retreat in the Caucasus Mountains, Russia, and associated increase in supraglacial debris cover and supra/proglacial lake development. Annals of Glaciology 46: 195-203.
  • Stokes, C.R., Clark, C.D., Lian, O.B. & Tulacztk, S. 2006. Geomorphological Map of Ribbed Moraines on the Dubawnt Lake Palaeo-Ice Stream Bed: A Signature of Ice Stream Shut-Down? Journal of Maps 1-9.
  • Stokes, C.R., Gurney, S.D., Shahgedanova, M. & Popovnin, V. 2006. Late-20th-century changes in glacier extent in the Caucasus Mountains, Russia/Georgia. Journal of Glaciology 52(176): 99-109. (Additional information) (View publication online)
  • Stokes, C.R., Clark, C.D. & Winsborrow, M.C.M. 2006. Subglacial bedform evidence for a major paleo-ice stream and its retreat phases in Amundsen Gulf, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Journal of Quaternary Science 21(4): 399-412.
  • Shahgedanova, M., Stokes, C.R. & Gurney, S.D. 2005. Interactions between mass blanace, atmospheric circulation, and recent climate change on the Djankuat Glacier, Caucasus Mountains, Russia. Journal of Geophysical Research 110: 1-14.
  • Stokes, C.R., Clark, C.D., Darby, D.A. & Hodgson, D.A. 2005. Late Pleistocene ice export events into the Arctic Ocean from the M'Clure Strait Ice Stream, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Global and Planetary Change 49(3-4): 139-162. (Additional information) (View publication online)
  • Stokes, C.R. & Clark, C.D. 2004. Evolution of late glacial ice-marginal lakes on the northwestern Canadian Shield and their influence on the location of the Dubawnt Lake palaeo-ice stream. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 215(1-2): 155-171. (Additional information) (View publication online)
  • Winsborrow, M.C.M., Clark, C.D. & Stokes, C.R. 2004. Ice Streams of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 58(2-3): 269-280.
  • Clark, C.D., Tulaczyk, M., Stokes, C.R. & Canals, M. 2003. A groove-ploughing theory for the production of mega-scale glacial lineations, and implications for ice-stream mechanics. Journal of Glaciology 49(165): 240-256.
  • Stokes, C.R. & Clark, C.D. 2003. Laurentide ice streaming on the Canadian Shield: A conflict with the soft-bedded ice stream paradigm? Geology 31(4): 347-350. (Additional information) (View publication online)
  • Dokken, T., Andrews, J.T., Hemming, S., Stokes, C.R. & Jansen, E. 2003. Researchers Discuss Abrupt Climate Change: Ice Sheets and Oceans in Action. EOS 84(20): 189-193.
  • Stokes, C.R. & Clark, C.D. 2003. The Dubawnt Lake palaeo-ice stream: evidence for dynamic ice sheet behaviour on the Canadian Shield and insights regarding the controls on ice-stream location and vigour. Boreas 32: 263-279.
  • Stokes, C.R. & Clark, C.D. 2002. Are long subglacial bedforms indicative of fast ice flow? Boreas 31(3): 239-249. (Additional information) (View publication online)
  • Stokes, C.R. 2002. Identification and mapping of palaeo-ice stream geomorphology from satellite imagery: implications for ice stream functioning and ice sheet dynamics. International Journal of Remote Sensing 23(8): 1557-1563.
  • Clark, C.D. & Stokes, C.R. 2001. Extent and basal characteristics of the M'Clintock Channel Ice Stream. Quaternary International 86: 81-101.
  • Stokes, C.R. & Clark, C.D. 2001. Identifying Palaeo-Ice Stream Tracks Using Remote Sensing. Solvak Geological Magazine 7(3): 247-262.
  • Stokes, C.R. & Clark, C.D. 2001. Palaeo-ice streams. Quaternary Science Reviews 20: 1437-1457.
  • Stokes, C.R. 2000. Bedform characteristics of the M'Clintock Channel ice stream, Victoria Island, Arctic Canada. Quaternary Newsletter 91: 35-38.
  • Stokes, C.R. & Clark, C.D. 1999. Geomorphological criteria for identifying Pleistocene ice streams. Annals of Glaciology 28: 67-74.

Show all publications

Media Contacts

Available for media contact about:

  • Geography: Glacial landforms
  • Environmental change: Glaciers and climate change

Grants Awarded and Grant Applications

  • 2007: EU INTAS "Evaluating the recent and future climate change and glacier dynamics in the mountains of southern Siberia". PI: M.Shahgedanova (Reading, UK); Co-Is: CR Stokes (Durham, UK), D. Hasell, J. Lowe, S. Gurney (Reading, UK), O. Baume, W. Hagg, C. Mayer (Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Germany), D. Shesternyov, A. Chuprova, S. Tataurov (Laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Chita, Russia), V. Popovnin, A. Aleynikov, N. Kovalenko (Moscow State University, Russia), T. Khromova, S. Kutuzov, A. Muraviev, G. Nosenko (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow), Y. Narozhny (Tomsk State University, Russia) EU150,000
  • 2007: EU INTAS "Modelling climate change, glacier dynamics, and water availability in the Caucasus". PI: M. Shahgedanova (Reading, UK); Co-Is: C. Stokes (Durham, UK), D. Hasell, J. Lowe (Reading, UK), R. Gobidzhishvili, A. Javakhishvili (Georgian Academy of Science, Georgia), V. Popovnin, A. Aleynikov (Moscow State University, Russia), O. Baume, W. Hagg, C. Mayer (Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Germany) EU120,000
  • 2006: NERC (NE/D011175/1) "Testing the instability mechanism for subglacial bedform production" PI: C.Clark (Sheffield, UK); Co-Is: P. Dunlop (Ulster, NI), A. Fowler (Oxford, UK), R. Hindmarsh (BAS, UK), F. Ng (Sheffield, UK), C. Stokes (Durham, UK) £412,000
  • 2006: The Nuffield Foundation Undergraduate Research Bursary, "Ice sheet dynamics at the northern margin of the former North American (Laurentide) Ice Sheet. PI: C. Stokes (Durham, UK) £1290
  • 2005: The Royal Society, "Modelling glacial response to climate change in the Caucasus Mountains". PI: M.Shahgedanova (Reading, UK); Co-Is: C. Stokes (Durham, UK), V. Popovnin, A. Aleynikov, D. Petrakov (Moscow State University, Russia), S. Gurney (Reading, UK) £11,995.
  • 2003: NERC (NER/M/S/2003/00050) "Identification and characterisation of ice stream sticky spots: an improved understanding of ice stream basal mechanics and shut-down". PI: C. Stokes (Durham, UK); Co-Is: C. Clark (Sheffield), S. Tulaczyk (California, Santa Cruz, US), O. Lian (Fraser Valley, Canada) £49,300
  • 2002: The Nuffield Foundation (NAL/00443/G) "The terrestrial record of former Arctic ice streams: Elucidating the controls on ice stream location and vigour". PI: C. Stokes (Reading, UK); Co-I: C. Clark (Sheffield, UK) £5300

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