Liu Yan () is a Chinese

Antarctic The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antar ...

researcher best known for her work on iceberg calving. She is an associate professor of

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

in the College of Global Change and Earth System Science (GCESS) and Polar Research Institute,

Beijing Normal University Beijing Normal University (BNU) () is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education of China, and co-funded by the Ministry of Education and the B ...

Early life and education

Liu received her B.Sc., as an outstanding graduate, in

photogrammetry Photogrammetry is the science and technology of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment through the process of recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images and patterns of electromagnetic radiant ima ...

and remote sensing from

Wuhan University Wuhan University (WHU; 武汉大学) is a key comprehensive public university in Wuhan, Hubei, China. It is directly affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Education of China. The un ...

in 2003, her M.Sc. in

cartography Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

and geographical information system from the Institute of Remote Sensing Application,

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

in 2006, and her Ph.D. in global environmental change from

in 2013. She carried out post-doctoral research work at the GCESS between 2013 and 2015 and took charge of NSFC project: Mass balance and its change of Antarctic ice shelves in 2014.

Career and impact

Liu began her Antarctic research in 2009 after working as a technical manager in the field of

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

applications for three years. Her research focuses on

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 ...

in Antarctica and their responses to

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 ...

. She uses a combination of satellite radar and

altimetry An altimeter or an altitude meter is an instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. The measurement of altitude is called altimetry, which is related to the term bathymetry, the measurement of depth under water. T ...

and other remote sensed data to understand ice shelf dynamic processes. She is known for high impact research into Antarctic ice shelf mass loss, especially iceberg calving and basal melting. She published the dataset of Antarctic iceberg calving in Chinese National Arctic and Antarctic Data Center. Liu is one of core members of Xiao Cheng's polar remote sensing research group at

. This group has used remote sensed data to contribution extensively to Antarctic land cover mapping and to provide the monitoring and supporting for navigation of icebreaker in the Chinese Antarctic expeditions since 2011. They provided the efficient data for XUELONG icebreaker successfully getting out of the trouble after Antarctica rescue in January 2014. Liu's work on iceberg calving and ice shelf retreat in Antarctica used satellite images to measure all icebergs larger than 1 km² calving from the entire Antarctic coastline, and the state of health of all the ice shelves. Some large ice shelves are growing while many smaller ice shelves are shrinking. They found high rates of iceberg calving from Antarctic ice shelves that are undergoing basal melt-induced thinning, which suggests the fate of ice shelves may be more sensitive to ocean forcing than was previously thought.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Yan Chinese women geologists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Women Antarctic scientists Chinese Antarctic scientists Chinese glaciologists Wuhan University alumni Beijing Normal University alumni Academic staff of Beijing Normal University Women glaciologists