Eric J. Rignot is the Donald Bren, Distinguished and 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"—atmosp ...

at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

, and a 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 federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) in La Cañada Flintridge, California, Crescenta Valley, United States. Founded in 1936 by Cali ...

. He studies the interaction of the polar ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica with global climate using a combination of satellite remote sensing (synthetic-aperture radar interferometry), airborne remote sensing (depth sounding radar, gravity), understanding of physical processes controlling glacier flow and ice melt in the ocean, field methods (multibeam echo sounding, CTD, AWS), and climate modeling (ISSM, MITgcm). He was elected at the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 2018.

Education

Rignot had elementary school in

Le Chambon-sur-Lignon Le Chambon-sur-Lignon (, literally "Le Chambon on Lignon"; ) is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France. Residents have been primarily Huguenot or Protestant since the 17th century. During World War II these Huguenot ...

, France where he was born in 1961 and completed his French Baccalaureat at Le Collège-Lycée Cévenol International in 1979. In 1985, Rignot studied an engineering degree at the

École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures École or Ecole 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 * Éco ...

, 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 The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. 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 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 ...

of the Greenland ice sheets and

Antarctic ice sheet The Antarctic ice sheet is a continental glacier covering 98% of the Antarctic continent, with an area of and an average thickness of over . It is the largest of Earth's two current ice sheets, containing of ice, which is equivalent to 61% of ...

s by using

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

interferometry Interferometry is a technique which uses the ''interference (wave propagation), interference'' of Superposition principle, superimposed waves to extract information. Interferometry typically uses electromagnetic waves and is an important inves ...

and other methods; the interactions of

ice shelves An ice shelf is a large platform of glacial ice floating on the ocean, fed by one or multiple tributary glaciers. Ice shelves form along coastlines where the ice thickness is insufficient to Displacement (fluid), displace the more dense surround ...

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, clim ...

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, radar remote sensing, ice sheet numerical modeling,

interferometric synthetic-aperture radar Interferometric synthetic aperture radar, abbreviated InSAR (or deprecated IfSAR), is a radar technique used in geodesy and remote sensing. This geodetic method uses two or more synthetic aperture radar (SAR) radar imaging, images to generate maps ...

, radio echo sounding, 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 the Antarctic ice sheet and the Greenland ice sheet. Ice sheets ...

to sea level change. He was a member of NASA's Program for Arctic Regional Climate Assessment (PARCA) since its inception in 1993 to unravel for the first time the mass budget of the Greenland Ice Sheet. He participated in the first deployment of a NASA airborne survey of the Amundsen Sea Embayment sector of West Antarctica in Fall 2002 in collaboration with the Chilean Navy. He was the Science Lead for land ice of the NASA airborne mission

Operation IceBridge Operation IceBridge (OIB) was a NASA mission to monitor changes in polar ice by utilizing airborne platforms to bridge the observational gap between the ICESat and ICESat-2 satellite missions. The program, which ran from 2009 to 2019, employed v ...

which provide comprehensive and repeat surveys of Greenland and Antarctica for thickness, elevation, and gravity between 2009 and 2019. He was the Deputy Lead of NASA's Earth Venture Mission "Ocean Melting Greenland" (OMG) from 2015 to 2020 to survey the fjords of Greenland and the ocean temperature and salinity of the coastal waters around Greenland for the first time. Since 2007 until present and at least 2028, he led the NASA MEaSUREs program to generate Earth Science Data Record of Ice Motion and Grounding Lines in Antarctica. 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 soci ...

WGI (Working Group I) which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the name of all authors and co-authors, along with VP Al Gore. In 2014, he was a Lead Author of the

IPCC Fifth Assessment Report The Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the fifth in IPCC#Assessment reports, a series of such reports and was completed in 2014.IPCC (2014The IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report (A ...

WGI (Working Group I).

Awards

Rignot has received several awards and honors during his career. *Fellow of

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

(2019) *Member of

, 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 headq ...

(2017) *Fellow of

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, Atmospheric science, atmospheric, Oceanography, ocean, Hydrology, hydrologic, Astronomy, space, and Planetary science, planetary scientists and enthusiasts that ...

(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 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the U ...

, IceBridge Mission (2011) *

, Ice Sheet System Model (2011) *

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

'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 (abbrv. ESAM) was established by NASA on September 15, 1961, when the original ESM was divided into three separate awards. Under its guidelines, the ESAM is awarded for unusually significant scien ...

(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 (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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