Irina Overeem

DepartmentOrganizationEmail

Location

United States

Science Specialties

Numerical modeling of river and coastal processes, stratigraphy

Current Research

1) River Plumes as indicators for Greenland ice sheet meltWe study Greenlandic Rivers as integrated signals of a rapidly changing arctic hydrological cycle. Observed increased rates of melt on the Greenland Ice Sheet are expected to have a profound impact on the runoff of numerous rivers draining the ice sheet margin. We use an innovative methodology to infer river discharges around Greenland from the characteristics of river plumes draining in the fjords, visible on remote-sensing imagery. Plume dimensions and reflectance characteristics can be mapped > 10+ years. Inverted process-based numerical model of river plumes in fjords use the mapped plume parameters to then quantify the associated river runoff.2) Arctic Coastal Erosion ModelingA collaborative effort to study the rates of arctic coastal erosion along the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. We make process and environmental observations of sea-ice, meteorology, coastal bluff characteristics, bathymetry and oceanographic conditions and develop a process-based, numerical bluff retreat model.