Helen Amanda Fricker's homepage

Helen Amanda Fricker's webpage


Another photograph of me in Colorado
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Zoe Elise Fricker born 4th September 2003

Pictures of Zoe



Some photographs of our sailboat KARMA
Photograph of KARMA cruising off the breeze
Photograph of KARMA under sail



I am an Assistant Research Geophysicist at the Institute of Geophysics & Planetary Physics, at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, San Diego, California. The project I work on is NASA's Ice, Cloud & land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) program. ICESat will carry the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) , the first spaceborne laser altimeter system dedicated to mapping the ice sheets. See ICESat's home page at NASA & ICESat's home page at University of Texas



Before working here I was at the Institute of Antarctic & Southern Ocean Studies part of the Antarctic CRC at the University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia where I did my PhD. My PhD thesis is called "Applications of ERS satellite radar altimetry on the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica". Click here to see my PhD thesis contents.

As part of my PhD research I took part in an expedition to the Amery Ice Shelf. Have a look! (link to Glaciology, then Amery Ice Shelf Summer 1995/6 Project)


Have a look at my CV

Published work:

  • Results of our Amery Ice Shelf survey are presented in "A comparison of ERS & GPS-derived heights on the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica" (in Annals of Glaciology 27). An early version of this paper was prepared for 3rd ERS Symposium, Florence, Italy, March 1997

  • I used ERS-1 radar altimeter waveforms & other satellite data to locate & time the onset of summer meltstreams on the Amery Ice Shelf surface. The results are in "Surface meltstreams on the Amery Ice Shelf, East Antarctica" (also in Annals 27). Click here for old PDF version or email me for a reprint via snail-mail

  • DEM paper published in Journal of Glaciology February 2001

  • Balance Flux paper published in Journal of Glaciology February 2001

  • Amery marine ice paper published in GRL June 2001

  • Amery-Lambert grounding zone paper published in JGR Solid Earth May 2002

  • ERS-1 tides paper published in GRL June 2002


Recent work in press or submitted:



Recent work prepared for meetings:

  • Poster on Antarctic tides presented at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet meeting or PS version of poster (it's large)

  • Proposal for CAL/VAL of ICESat surface measurements on the Amery Ice Shelf


My parents live in Pembrokeshire, West Wales. Have a look at their beautiful 4-star guesthouse !



Have a look at the weather in San Diego today!

Today's weather forecast for the Amery Ice Shelf!!!

Click here for an excellent tutorial on HTML, here for a complete HTML reference guide.