Emeritus Professor Grant Bigg
School of Geography and Planning
Professor in Earth Systems Science
+44 114 222 7905
Full contact details
School of Geography and Planning
C7
Geography and Planning Building
Winter Street
91̽»¨
S3 7ND
- Profile
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Grant Bigg obtained his BSc in physics and applied mathematics from the University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia in 1978, with a BSc (Honours) in applied mathematics the following year. He then became a Tutor in the Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Adelaide, working part-time on a PhD on Diffraction and trapping of waves by cavities and slender bodies. This was completed in 1982, the same year he had a pre-doctoral fellowship at the 1982 Summer Study Program in Geophysical Fluid Dynamics at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
In 1983 he moved overseas to the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge for a postdoctoral position in The sensitivity of inverse methods in oceanography. A year later, he followed his Principal Investigator, Adrian Gill, to the Hooke Institute in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, University of Oxford, where his postdoctoral work broadened to marine climate change.
In 1987 he became a lecturer in the School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1996. He moved to a Chair in Earth Systems Science at 91̽»¨ in 2003, and served as Head of Department from 2006-2012. He currently lectures on oceanography and polar environments.
Grant is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society and the Royal Geographical Society; he is a member of the Quaternary Research Association, the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union. He was a member of the Council of the Royal Meteorological Society in the early 1990s and editor of the Society's journal, Weather, for five years until 2003. He has been an Associate Editor of the Journal of Climate and of the International Journal of Oceanography and is currently Chair of the Editorial Board of the Challenger Society for Marine Science’s Ocean Challenge.
He has acted as external examiner for postgraduate degrees in Britain, the Netherlands, Australia and Jamaica and undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Britain.
Grant is a keen walker, with his border terrier. He has also recorded meteorological data on two continents for almost 40 years.
- Research interests
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Research Interests
Ocean and climate modelling, marine climate change specialising in polar and tropical regions, with special interest in synoptic or meso-scale weather systems. Palaeoceanography: modelling and interpreting observations. Icebergs, and their role in the ocean's freshwater flux, both today and in the Quaternary. The interactions between climate change and society.
Current research
The common theme to all my research until recently has been marine climate change. However, many threads contribute to this theme. A major thread is the use, and development, of ocean circulation models to understand climate change on scales from global and millennial to local and sub-monthly. I use a combination of models and remote sensing, with interpreting oceanographic and lower atmospheric data, to increase our understanding of the climatic interaction between the atmosphere and ocean. I use iceberg trajectories to study glacial freshwater inputs to modern and Quaternary oceans. My primary focii of recent years can be divided into the global thermohaline circulation, icebergs and tropical climate change. More recently, however, there has begun to be an increased emphasis on the role environmental change plays in society.
Global thermohaline circulation
The possibility of future shut-down of convection in the North Atlantic Ocean, and a consequent reduction in the strength of the Gulf Stream, with associated cooling of western Europe has been much in the news in recent years. While the prospects for this occurring remain limited it is clear that the ocean circulation has changed significantly, and rapidly, at times in the past. I use models to explore the regimes under which change can occur, and the consequences of such change.
Highlights of this work include
- Discovery of the impact of opening of the sea connection between the Arctic and Atlantic through the Canadian Seaways. Without the freshening influence of Arctic waters on the Labrador Sea the latter becomes much saltier, and more subject to convection, allowing more northward heat transport. An open connection through the Canadian Archipelago therefore acts as a negative feedback on the North Atlantic overturning circulation.
- Discovery that the location of past injection of massive freshwater or iceberg fluxes to the glacial ocean leads to significantly different climate impact. From this work, it has become clear that a massive iceberg release about 30,000 years ago, known as H3, probably occurred in the European Arctic, rather than from North America, as previously believed.
- Discovery that variation in sea level over the Quaternary has led to dramatic changes in the thermohaline circulation, due to enhancement of tidal mixing during low sea level stands.
This work has been carried out with Martin Wadley, Richard Levine of the Meteorological Office, and Mattias and Clare Green from Ocean Sciences at Bangor University, Wales, and funded by NERC and the Leverhulme Trust.
Icebergs
Iceberg debris has been used as a tracer for past ocean circulations in the Quaternary since the mid-1970s. However, until the mid-1990s there was little attempt to integrate this information into climate models. I developed a dynamic and thermodynamic model of iceberg movement that can be used in a coupled mode within a larger-scale climate model, or run in a non-feedback mode, to give a dynamical view of how ice-rafted debris distributions came about. This model has been tested in both hemispheres of the modern ocean and used in glacial mode.
Highlights of the work include
- Discovery that iceberg meltwater may contribute as much as the precipitation budget to freshwater inputs to significant regions of the Southern Ocean. As convection around Antarctica is critically dependent on the salinity of waters following sea-ice formation the iceberg signal acts as a negative feedback on deep water formation.
- Use of the model to assist interpretation of glacial iceberg-rafted debris signals. Using various palaeoceanographic indicators ranging from carbon isotopes to magnetic strengths of iron fragments in ocean core sediments the iceberg model has been used with various ocean model circulations to narrow down the characteristics of the glacial ocean circulation state. The most compatible ocean state is one with most deep water formation in the Southern Ocean.
- Discovery of the relationship between large scale iceberg releases Modelling the twentieth century iceberg flux from Greenland, which, from its agreement with observed and marine core data from either side of Greenland, suggests that the dominant calving location of icebergs has shifted north during the century.
Remote sensing has also been used to help validate the iceberg trajectory model, and to move towards an iceberg calving flux for Antarctica, and a sea-ice hazard tool for the Arctic. This work has been carried out in collaboration with Keith Nicholls of the British Antarctic Survey, Barbara Maher of Lancaster University, Rupert Gladstone, Sarah Watkins, Tiago Silva, Richard Levine, Jen King, Clare and Mattias Green from Bangor University, Wales. The work has been funded by NERC and Kongsberg Satellite Services.
Tropical climate change
El Niño dominates work on the tropical climate but is only one aspect. I have been studying interannual variability in the the tropical Atlantic, both links to the Pacific variability of El Niño but also modes of variability that are self-contained within the Atlantic. The latter form an important component of Atlantic climate change. Both observational and modelling work on establishing the mechanisms underlying such change are ongoing.This work has been carried out with Alex Georgiadis, Masamichi Inoue of Lousiana State University, Itsuki Handoh, and Adrian Matthews and Dave Stevens of the University of East Anglia, and funded by NERC, NATO, the Royal Society and the University of 91̽»¨.
- Publications
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Books
- Icebergs: Their Science and Links to Global Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- . Cambridge University Press.
- The Oceans and Climate. Cambridge University Press.
- . Cambridge University Press.
Journal articles
- . Geophysical Research Letters, 50(18).
- . Journal of Quaternary Science.
- . Nature, 589(7841), 236-241.
- . Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 553.
- . Quaternary Science Reviews, 232.
- . Journal of Operational Oceanography.
- . PeerJ, 7.
- . Science Advances, 4(6).
- . Acta Geophysica, 1-13.
- . Natural Hazards.
- . Natural Hazards, 91(2), 447-471.
- . Social Sciences, 6(4), 122-122.
- . Complexity, 2017.
- . Climate Dynamics.
- . Climate Dynamics.
- . Journal of Glaciology.
- . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 374(2077).
- . Global Change Biology, 22(5), 1755-1768.
- . Nature Geoscience, 9(3), 219-221.
- . Cold Regions Science and Technology, 121, 167-178.
- . Progress in Oceanography, 138, 194-210.
- . Geoscientific Model Development, 8(5), 1547-1562.
- . The Holocene, 25(2), 379-390.
- . Annals of Glaciology, 56(69), 445-450.
- . Environment and History, 20(3), 411-445.
- . Weather, 69(4), 100-104.
- . Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 86, 94-111.
- . Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 470(2166).
- . Significance, 11(3), 6-10.
- . Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 128, 52-63.
- . Reviews of Geophysics, 51(3), 523-523.
- . Quaternary Science Reviews.
- . Evolutionary Ecology, 1-15.
- . Global and Planetary Change, 98-99, 153-165.
- Synoptic climatology of cold air drainage in the Derwent Valley, Peak District, UK. Meteorological Applications.
- . Reviews of Geophysics, 50(2).
- . Remote Sensing Letters, 3(4), 295-304.
- . Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 116(D24), n/a-n/a.
- . PALEOCEANOGRAPHY, 26.
- . Reviews of Geophysics, 49(4).
- . JOURNAL OF MARINE RESEARCH, 69(2-3), 221-244.
- . Global and Planetary Change, 79(3-4), 176-192.
- . Ocean Science, 7(4), 471-486.
- Vertical density gradient in the eastern North Atlantic during the last 30,000Â years. Climate Dynamics, 1-10.
- High frequency variability of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. Ocean Science Discussions, 8(1), 219-246.
- . J GEOPHYS RES-ATMOS, 115.
- . GEOCHEM GEOPHY GEOSY, 11.
- . J QUATERNARY SCI, 25(5), 689-699.
- . CLIMATIC CHANGE, 100(3-4), 419-431.
- . Geophysical Research Letters, 37(23).
- . GEOPHYS RES LETT, 36.
- . J GEOPHYS RES-OCEANS, 114.
- . PALEOCEANOGRAPHY, 23(4).
- . J GEOPHYS RES-OCEANS, 113(C10).
- . INT J CLIMATOL, 28(5), 659-666.
- . EARTH PLANET SC LETT, 265(3-4), 559-570.
- . Proc Biol Sci, 275(1631), 163-172.
- . International Journal of Climatology, 27(8), 989-1001.
- . PALAEOGEOGR PALAEOCL, 248(1-2), 233-246.
- . J GEOPHYS RES-ATMOS, 112(D9).
- . GEOLOGY, 35(5), 395-398.
- . PALEOCEANOGRAPHY, 22(2).
- . J GEOPHYS RES-OCEANS, 112(C3).
- . INT J CLIMATOL, 26(14), 1937-1956.
- . INT J CLIMATOL, 26(14), 1957-1976.
- Polar mesoscale cyclones in the northeast Atlantic: Comparing climatologies from ERA-40 and satellite imagery. MON WEATHER REV, 134(5), 1518-1533.
- Are "Great Salinity Anomalies" advective?. J CLIMATE, 19(7), 1080-1088.
- . J GEOPHYS RES-OCEANS, 111(C3).
- . Weather, 60(6), 167-169.
- . Remote Sensing of Environment, 94(3), 287-297.
- . Journal of Atmospheric and Ocean Science, 10(2), 123-143.
- . GEOPHYS RES LETT, 31(18).
- Did the punctuated demise of glacial ice in the north sea affect thermohaline circulation of the ocean?. Eos, 85(31), 293.
- Global ocean circulation modes derived from a multiple box model. J PHYS OCEANOGR, 34(8), 1811-1823.
- . PALAEOGEOGR PALAEOCL, 202(1-2), 31-58.
- The impact of coastline change and urban development on the flushing time of a coastal embayment, Kingston Harbour, Jamaica. B MAR SCI, 73(2), 291-305.
- . INT J CLIMATOL, 23(10), 1127-1159.
- Bimodal distribution of tropical cyclogenesis in the Caribbean: Characteristics and environmental factors. J CLIMATE, 15(20), 2897-2905.
- . Q J ROY METEOR SOC, 128(585), 2187-2203.
- . ANTARCT SCI, 14(3), 278-287.
- On modelling present-day and last glacial maximum oceanic delta O-18 distribution. GLOBAL PLANET CHANGE, 32(2-3), 89-109.
- Climatology of cyclogenesis mechanisms in the Mediterranean. MON WEATHER REV, 130(3), 549-569.
- . Weather, 57(1), 47-48.
- Use of a reduced-gravity model to evaluate present and past primary productivity in the tropical open ocean. LIMNOL OCEANOGR, 46(7), 1632-1641.
- Modelling and the monitoring of mesocosm experiments: two case studies. J PLANKTON RES, 23(10), 1081-1093.
- Iceberg trajectory modeling and meltwater injection in the Southern Ocean. J GEOPHYS RES-OCEANS, 106(C9), 19903-19915.
- The origin and flux of icebergs released into the Last Glacial Maximum Northern Hemisphere oceans: the impact of ice-sheet topography. J QUATERNARY SCI, 16(6), 565-573.
- Millennial-scale variability in the oceans: an ocean modelling view. J QUATERNARY SCI, 16(4), 309-319.
- . Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, 48(4-5), 1019-1042.
- . Weather, 56(6), 204-204.
- . Weather, 56(9), 296-304.
- . Weather, 56(1), 36-36a.
- Decline in Mediterranean rainfall caused by weakening of Mediterranean cyclones. GEOPHYS RES LETT, 27(18), 2913-2916.
- Glacial thermohaline circulation states of the northern Atlantic: the compatibility of modelling and observations. J GEOL SOC LONDON, 157, 655-665.
- Modelling the sensitivity of Mediterranean Outflow to anthropogenically forced climate change. CLIM DYNAM, 16(5), 355-368.
- An oxygen isotope data set for marine waters. J GEOPHYS RES-OCEANS, 105(C4), 8527-8535.
- A self-sustaining climate mode in the tropical Atlantic, 1995-97: Observations and modelling. Q J ROY METEOR SOC, 126(564), 807-821.
- . Weather, 55(1), 2-2.
- Mesocyclone activity over the Northeast Atlantic. Part 2: An investigation of causal mechanisms. INT J CLIMATOL, 19(12), 1283-1299.
- Mesocyclone activity over the North-East Atlantic. Part 1: Vortex distribution and variability. INT J CLIMATOL, 19(11), 1187-1204.
- Objective climatology of cyclones in the Mediterranean region. J CLIMATE, 12(6), 1685-1696.
- . Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 31(2), 174-178.
- An estimate of the flux of iceberg calving from Greenland. ARCT ANTARCT ALP RES, 31(2), 174-178.
- An ocean modeling study of the Cenomanian Atlantic: equatorial paleo-upwelling, organic-rich sediments and the consequences for a connection between the proto-North and South Atlantic. GEOPHYS RES LETT, 26(2), 223-226.
- . Ocean Modelling, 1(2-4), 71-80.
- Pollution history of a tropical estuary revealed by combined hydrodynamic modelling and sediment geochemistry. J MARINE SYST, 18(4), 333-343.
- Simulations of two last glacial maximum ocean states. PALEOCEANOGRAPHY, 13(4), 340-351.
- . International Journal of Climatology, 18(5), 579-579.
- Paleosalinity and delta O-18: A critical assessment. J GEOPHYS RES-OCEANS, 103(C1), 1307-1318.
- Paleosalinity and δ18O: A critical assessment. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 103(C1), 1307-1318.
- A modelling study of environmental influences on bivalve settlement in The Wash, England. MAR ECOL-PROG SER, 172, 197-214.
- Modelling the dynamics and thermodynamics of icebergs. COLD REG SCI TECHNOL, 26(2), 113-135.
- . Atmospheric Environment, 31(10), 1583-1583.
- . Weather, 52(2), 64-64.
- . Weather, 52(3), 72-77.
- . Weather, 52(8), 258-261.
- Prediction of iceberg trajectories for the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. GEOPHYS RES LETT, 23(24), 3587-3590.
- A statistical study of environmental influences on bivalve recruitment in the Wash, England. MAR ECOL-PROG SER, 143(1-3), 121-129.
- . International Journal of Climatology, 16(9), 1077-1077.
- Sensitivity of the North Atlantic to surface forcing in an Ocean general circulation model. J PHYS OCEANOGR, 26(7), 1129-1141.
- Climatic change over the mediterranean and links to the more general atmospheric circulation. INT J CLIMATOL, 16(6), 651-661.
- Eddy formation behind the tropical island of Aldabra. DEEP-SEA RES PT I, 43(4), 555-&.
- The stability of passively nested ocean general circulation models. GEOPHYS ASTRO FLUID, 82(3-4), 207-219.
- Abyssal channel flow in ocean general circulation models with application to the Vema Channel. J PHYS OCEANOGR, 26(1), 38-48.
- . International Journal of Climatology, 15(5), 587-587.
- ARIDITY OF THE MEDITERRANEAN-SEA AT THE LAST GLACIAL MAXIMUM - A REINTERPRETATION OF THE DELTA-O-18 RECORD. PALEOCEANOGRAPHY, 10(2), 283-290.
- A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE FRAM (FINE RESOLUTION ANTARCTIC MODEL) RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS IN THE DRAKE PASSAGE. DEEP-SEA RES PT I, 42(3), 365-388.
- . Weather, 50(4), 117-124.
- TRENDS IN WIND AND SEA-LEVEL PRESSURE IN THE TROPICAL PACIFIC-OCEAN FOR THE PERIOD 1950-1979. INT J CLIMATOL, 15(1), 35-52.
- AN OCEAN GENERAL-CIRCULATION MODEL VIEW OF THE GLACIAL MEDITERRANEAN THERMOHALINE CIRCULATION. PALEOCEANOGRAPHY, 9(5), 705-722.
- INTERBASIN EXCHANGE OF BOTTOM WATER IN OCEAN GENERAL-CIRCULATION MODELS. J PHYS OCEANOGR, 24(10), 2209-2214.
- . Atmospheric Environment, 28(15), 2555-2556.
- THE BERNOULLI INVERSE METHOD - THEORY AND PRACTICE. DEEP-SEA RES PT I, 41(5-6), 767-785.
- . Weather, 49(1), 40-41.
- . Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 173(1), 155-156.
- COMPARISON OF COASTAL WIND AND PRESSURE TRENDS OVER THE TROPICAL ATLANTIC - 1946-1987. INT J CLIMATOL, 13(4), 411-421.
- MODELING THE LATE QUATERNARY INDIAN-OCEAN CIRCULATION. PALEOCEANOGRAPHY, 8(1), 23-46.
- . Weather, 48(11), 381-384.
- VALIDATION OF TRENDS IN THE SURFACE WIND-FIELD OVER THE MOZAMBIQUE CHANNEL. INT J CLIMATOL, 12(8), 829-838.
- . Paleoceanography, 7(1), 119-135.
- ROSSBY WAVES AND EL-NINO DURING 1935-46. Q J ROY METEOR SOC, 118(503), 125-152.
- KRIGING AND INTRAREGIONAL RAINFALL VARIABILITY IN ENGLAND. INT J CLIMATOL, 11(6), 663-675.
- A QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE ARABIAN SEA SEDIMENT RECORD USING GCM SIMULATED UPWELLING. QUATERNARY RES, 35(3), 464-468.
- INVERSIONS OF OBSERVATIONS NEAR THE AZORES FRONT. J MAR RES, 48(4), 661-675.
- EL-NINO, LA-NINA, AND THE SOUTHERN OSCILLATION - PHILANDER,SG. NATURE, 344(6268), 720-720.
- . Endeavour, 14(2), 101-101.
- . Weather, 45(1), 2-8.
- THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SHORT-TERM WIND INDUCED MIXING EVENTS FOR NEW PRIMARY PRODUCTION IN SUBTROPICAL GYRES. OCEANOL ACTA, 12(4), 437-442.
- . Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 115(489), 1039-1069.
- THE EQUATORIAL PACIFIC-OCEAN PRIOR TO AND DURING EL-NINO OF 1982/83 - A NORMAL MODE MODEL VIEW. Q J ROY METEOR SOC, 115(489), 1039-1069.
- RECENT DECADAL CLIMATE VARIATIONS IN THE TROPICAL PACIFIC. INT J CLIMATOL, 9(3), 221-242.
- AN INTERCOMPARISON OF INVERSE METHODS USING AN EDDY-RESOLVING GENERAL-CIRCULATION MODEL. J PHYS OCEANOGR, 18(7), 987-1008.
- CONSERVATIVE TRACERS AND THE OCEAN CIRCULATION. PHILOS T ROY SOC A, 325(1583), 177-187.
- . Weather, 43(6), 222-228.
- LONG-TERM CHANGES IN THE TROPICAL PACIFIC SURFACE WIND-FIELD. NATURE, 327(6119), 216-219.
- SENSITIVITY STUDIES OF A SIMPLE INVERSE METHOD APPLIED TO THE COX AND BRYAN MODEL. J GEOPHYS RES-OCEANS, 91(C8), 9639-9654.
- THE ANNUAL CYCLE OF SEA-LEVEL IN THE EASTERN TROPICAL PACIFIC. J PHYS OCEANOGR, 16(6), 1055-1061.
- THE BETA-SPIRAL METHOD. DEEP-SEA RES, 32(4), 465-484.
- . Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 144, 466-467.
- A NOTE ON THE TEMPORAL EVOLUTION OF TAYLOR-COLUMNS OVER TOPOGRAPHY. DYNAM ATMOS OCEANS, 8(1), 87-94.
- SCATTERING AND THE PARABOLIC APPROXIMATION FOR SLENDER BODIES. SIAM J APPL MATH, 44(3), 568-586.
- DIFFRACTION AND TRAPPING OF WAVES BY CAVITIES AND SLENDER BODIES. B AUST MATH SOC, 27(3), 473-474.
- . International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 13(4), 463-465.
- THE 3-DIMENSIONAL CAVITY RESONATOR. J SOUND VIB, 85(1), 85-103.
- TWO-DIMENSIONAL RESONATORS WITH SMALL OPENINGS. J AUST MATH SOC B, 24(JUL), 2-27.
- . Boreas.
- . Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, 7(4), 5661-5698.
- . Global Journal of Geological Sciences, 3(1).
- . International Journal of Climatology, 11(8), 924-925.
- . International Journal of Climatology, 11(8), 923-924.
- . Sustainability, 13(14), 7705-7705.
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Chapters
- , From Sources to Solution (pp. 579-583). Springer Singapore
- (pp. 1-7). John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
- , Issues in Environmental Science and Technology (pp. 13-32). Royal Society of Chemistry
- , Encyclopedia of World Climatology (pp. 540-546). Springer Netherlands
Conference proceedings papers
- . PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY, Vol. 236(1-2) (pp 135-150)
- . Weather, Vol. 45(7) (pp 286-287)
- CONSERVATIVE TRACERS AND THE OCEAN CIRCULATION. TRACERS IN THE OCEAN (pp 177-187)
Preprints
- Teaching interests
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While my specialist teaching is in the fields of oceanography and meteorology, throughout what I teach at both undergraduate and postgraduate level I try to convey the importance of thinking of subjects from an interdisciplinary perspective, using a range of tools students pick up in our skills modules.
This is very much a research-led teaching style, exposing students to current ideas about my specialist subjects as well as the other areas I teach, or the wide range of dissertation topics I supervise. While this involves large-scale lectures when necessary, it also involves tutorial groups and individual supervision, particularly at Masters level.