Eric J. Rignot is a chancellor professor of

Earth system science Earth system science (ESS) is the application of systems science to the Earth. In particular, it considers interactions and 'feedbacks', through material and energy fluxes, between the Earth's sub-systems' cycles, processes and "spheres"— atmo ...

at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

, and senior research scientist for the Radar Science and Engineering Section at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

Education

In 1985, Rignot studied an engineering degree at the

École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

, Paris, France, where he took classes in physics, chemistry, math, and economics. After a year, he took Master of Science in Astronomy at the University of Paris VI Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. In 1987 and 1988 he took Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering, consecutively, in the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

. It is also in the University of Southern California where he pursued Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering in 1991.

Work

He is a

principal investigator In many countries, the term principal investigator (PI) refers to the holder of an independent grant and the lead researcher for the grant project, usually in the sciences, such as a laboratory study or a clinical trial. The phrase is also often us ...

on several NASA-funded projects to study the

mass balance In physics, a mass balance, also called a material balance, is an application of conservation of mass to the analysis of physical systems. By accounting for material entering and leaving a system, mass flows can be identified which might have b ...

of the Greenland ice sheets and Antarctic ice sheets by using

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

interferometry and other methods; the interactions of

ice shelves An ice shelf is a large floating platform of ice that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface. Ice shelves are only found in Antarctica, Greenland, Northern Canada, and the Russian Arctic. The b ...

with the ocean; and the dynamic retreat of Patagonian glaciers. In particular, Rignot's primary research interests are

glaciology Glaciology (; ) is the scientific study of glaciers, or more generally ice and natural phenomena that involve ice. Glaciology is an interdisciplinary Earth science that integrates geophysics, geology, physical geography, geomorphology, c ...

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

, radar remote sensing, ice sheet numerical modeling, interferometric synthetic-aperture radar,

radio echo sounding Radioglaciology is the study of glaciers, ice sheets, ice caps and icy moons using ice penetrating radar. It employs a geophysical method similar to ground-penetrating radar and typically operates at frequencies in the MF, HF, VHF and UHF porti ...

, and ice-ocean interactions. His research group focuses on understanding the interactions of ice and climate, ice sheet

, ice-ocean interactions in Greenland and Antarctica, and current/future contributions of

ice sheets In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the Last Glacial Period at La ...

sea level change Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryo ...

. In 2007 he contributed to the

IPCC Fourth Assessment Report ''Climate Change 2007'', the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was published in 2007 and is the fourth in a series of reports intended to assess scientific, technical and socio ...

WGI (Working Group I) which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with VP Al Gore.

Awards

Rignot received several awards and honors. *Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (2019) *Member of National Academy of Sciences, USA (2018) *Louis Agassiz Medal of the

European Geosciences Union The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a non-profit international union in the fields of Earth, planetary, and space sciences whose vision is to "realise a sustainable and just future for humanity and for the planet." The organisation has hea ...

(2017) *Fellow of

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's a ...

(2013) *

NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal The NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal is awarded to US government employees only for notably outstanding leadership which affects technical or administrative programs of NASA. The leadership award may be given for an act of leadership, for sustain ...

(2012) *

NASA Group Achievement Award The NASA Group Achievement Award (GAA) is an award given by NASA to groups of government or non-government personnel in recognition of group accomplishments contributing to NASA's mission. The criteria for earning the Group Achievement Award are ...

, IceBridge Mission (2011) *

, Ice Sheet System Model (2011) *

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 ...

's Antarctic Service Medal (2009) *

, Warm Ice Sounding Explorer Team (2009) *Bowie Lecture,

(2008) *

NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal The NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (abbreviated ESAM) was established by NASA on September 15, 1961, when the original ESM was divided into three separate awards. Under the current guidelines, the ESAM is awarded for unusually sign ...

(2007) * NASA JPL Edward Stone Award for Outstanding Research Publication (2004) * NASA JPL Level A Award for Technical Achievement (2004) *

(2003) *Nomination of ” Rignot Glacier, Antarctica” by U. S. Board Geogr. Names (2003) * NASA JPL Edward Stone Award for Outstanding Research Publication (2002) * NASA JPL

Lew Allen Award for Excellence Lew Allen Award for Excellence is a medal of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Established in 1986 as the ''Director’s Research Achievement Award;'' it was then renamed in honor of JPL's Director Lew Allen when he retired in 1990. This award recogn ...

(1998) *Prize Paper Award IEEE Geos. Rem. Sens. Soc. (1994)

Publications

An overview of Rignot's research publications can be obtained via hi
Google Scholar profile
Based on study findings, he noted that the observed speed at which glaciers in Greenland are melting is considerably faster than he had anticipated. In 2014 Rignot was the lead author on a widely publicized study which based on grounding line retreat, found that the melting of glaciers in the Amundsen Sea appears to be unstoppable. Rignot said that these glaciers have "''passed the point of no return.''"

References

External links

Preview of HBO Vice: Our Rising Oceans with Eric Rignot
(2015)
AGU 2015: Eric Rignot - Ice Sheet Systems and Sea Level Change (Sea level rise)NASA Operation IceBridgeNASA Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG)
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