This week’s instalment of ‘Dissertation Diaries’ looks at Laura-Jane Buckley’s dissertation. Laura is a third year Geographer at Corpus Christi College, with her research focused on glaciology and GIS.
What is your dissertation about?
In my dissertation I investigate spatial and temporal changes in the surface characteristics (i.e. debris extent and supraglacial lakes) of Eastern Pamir glaciers between 1989 and 2019. I then consider the extent to which these changes can be correlated with the spatially heterogeneous glacier area changes of the region. This is all achieved by analysing multitemporal satellite imagery in Google Earth Engine.
“Follow your intrests. Read some examples of dissertations from previous years from the Geography Library for inspiration on what is feasible”
Laura-Jane Buckley
Why is your dissertation important?
The lack of accurate regional supraglacial lake and debris cover inventories in High Mountain Asia means many distributed glacier melt models fail to constrain the role of surface cover characteristics and consequently future glacier change and water resource predictions are often underestimated (King et al., 2019). My findings will provide an updated quantification of supraglacial lake and debris cover occurrence in Eastern Pamir and add to growing literature which considers the role of lakes and debris in regulating ablation.
How did you find conducting your fieldwork remotely?
Getting accustomed with Google Earth Engine (which I had no prior experience with) required lots of resilience, time and initiative. I found however that the internet almost always has an answer. It just takes a little more effort to seek it out rather than immediately falling back on your supervisor.
And Laura’s advice for second years? “Follow your interests. Read some examples of dissertations from previous years from the Geography Library for inspiration on what is feasible”.
Photo/Image Credits: Sophie John (Banner) and Laura-Jane Buckley.
DISCLAIMER: THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR ONLY AND DO NOT REPRESENT THE VIEWS OR OPINIONS OF COMPASS MAGAZINE AS A WHOLE OR THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY