Kirsteen Jane Tinto is a glaciologist known for her research on the behavior and subglacial geology of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

Early life and education

Kirsteen Tinto spent a lot of time outdoors in her childhood as she grew up hiking and camping. In high school she studied the sciences and was able to connect her passions in college later in life as a field researcher. In 2010, Tinto earned her Geology PhD at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Her thesis is "A geophysical investigation of the Marshall Paraconformity in South Canterbury, New Zealand" with academic advisors Andrew R Gorman and Gary S Wilson.

Career and research

Tinto works at the Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in Palisades, NY as an Associate Research Professor, Marine Geology and Geophysics. She is a member of the university's polar geophysics group that maps and analyses ice sheets to understand global processes and develop mathematical models. Tinto has been involved in several Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory projects, such as GAMBIT: Gamburtsev Aerogeophysical Mapping Of Bedrock And Ice Targets, ICE

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, and ROSETTA: Decoding ice, ocean and tectonic mysteries of the

Ross Ice Shelf The Ross Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf of Antarctica (, an area of roughly and about across: about the size of France). It is several hundred metres thick. The nearly vertical ice front to the open sea is more than long, and between hi ...

. GAMBIT's mission is to explore and understand the

Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains The Gamburtsev Mountain Range (also known as the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains) is a subglacial mountain range located in East Antarctica, just underneath the lofty Dome A, near the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility. The range was discovered by ...

and the overlying ice sheets in East Antarctica and Ice Bridge studies the Antarctic ice sheet to predict sea level rise. ROSETTA focuses on how the Ross Ice Sheet in Antarctica interacts with the ocean and the underlying ocean bed structure in order to predict change in the ice sheet due to climate change. Tinto has been the principal investigator of multiple Columbia University research projects, such as "High-Resolution Gravity for Thwaites Glacier",. She led the airborne geophysical survey field expeditions for the ROSETTA-Ice project. Her research has led to new understandings of the behavior of ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland and how these polar regions interact with the global climate system. Her work includes studying ocean circulation, investigating how warm ocean water destabilizes ice sheets, and mapping ice sheets and geological formations. Dr. Tinto is author of a number of academic publications. Tinto served on the 2019 TAM Science Transantarctic Mountain Science Planning Committee and in 2013, the play "Don't Be Sad, Flying Ace! & Field Trip: A Climate Cabaret" in New York City was inspired by the work of Tinto and fellow female climate scientists.

Grants

* Tinto has received research funding from the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

Publications

*Tankersley, M.D., Horgan, H.J., Siddoway, C.S., Caratori Tontini, F. and Tinto, K., Basement topography and sediment thickness beneath Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf (2022). https://doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10509277.2 *Tinto, K., Padman, L., Siddoway, C.S., Springer, S., Fricker, H.A., Das, I., Caratori Tontini, F., Porter, D.F., Frearson, N. P., Howard, S.L., Siegfried, M., Mosbeux, C., Becker, M., Bertinato, C., Bell, R.B. and ROSETTA-Ice team Ross Ice Shelf response to climate driven by the tectonic imprint on seafloor bathymetry (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0370-2 *Porter, D., Tinto, K., Boghosian, A. ''et al''. Identifying Spatial Variability in Greenland's Outlet Glacier Response to Ocean Heat. ''Columbia University: Academic Commons'' (2018). https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2018.00090 *Bell, R., Tinto, K., Das, I. ''et al.'' Deformation, warming and softening of Greenland's ice by refreezing meltwater. ''Nature Geosci'' 7, 497–502 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2179 *Cochran, J., Tinto, K., Bell, R. Abbot Ice Shelf, structure of the Amundsen Sea continental margin and the southern boundary of the Bellingshausen Plate seaward of West Antarctica. ''AGU'' 16, 1421-1438 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GC005570 *Tinto, K., Bell, R., Cochran, J. ''et al''. Bathymetry in Petermann fjord from Operation IceBridge aerogravity. ''ELSEVIER'' 422, 58-66 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2015.04.009 *Porter, D., Tinto, K., Boghosian, A. ''et al''. Bathymetric control of tidewater glacier mass loss in northwest Greenland. ''ELSEVIER'' 401, 40-46 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2014.05.058

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tinto, Kirsteen Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Glaciologists University of Otago alumni