Staff Profile

I am a physical geographer with a broad research interest in reconstructing past environmental change since the Last Glacial Maximum through to present day. Since my PhD, my research has evolved from an initial focus on reconstructing past vegetation change using terrestrial archives to the use of marine archives to reconstruct late Quaternary ice-sheet behaviour and sea-level change.

Interests: Sea-level change, ice-sheets and ice-shelf reconstructions, foraminifera, marine sedimentology, marine geophysics

Biography

2019 -          Lecturer in Physical Geography, Newcastle University, UK

2012-2019   Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Geography, Durham University, UK

2011-2012   Research Assistant at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

2007-2011   PhD, School of Geography, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand 

2006-2007   M.Res. Global Environmental Change, Plymouth University, UK

2003-2006   B.Sc.(Hons) Geography, Plymouth University, UK

Research Projects

Greenland in a Warmer Climate: What Controls the Advance & Retreat of the NE Greenland Ice Stream? (NEGIS)

Together with colleagues from Durham University, University of Aberdeen and British Antarctic Survey and in partnership with the Alfred Wegener Institute, we aim to understand the impacts of climate change on the NE Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS). This ice stream holds the sea-level equivalent of ~1.4 m and is predicted to be vulnerable to future climatic change. This project aims to reconstruct the past behaviour of NEGIS in order to calibrate and validate 3D numerical models that can predict ice-stream dynamics over 100-1000 yr timescales. Click here to access the project website

BRITICE‐CHRONO: Constraining Rates and Style of Marine‐Influenced Ice Sheet Decay (2014-2018)

This  NERC-consortium project combined the efforts of over 40 researchers comprising glaciologists, marine and terrestrial Quaternary scientists and ice-sheet modellers to constrain the timing and style of retreat of the British Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS). To do this, a systematic and directed campaign to collect and date material to constrain the timing and rates of change of the collapsing British Irish Ice Sheet occurred. BRITICE-CHRONO generated 639 new ages and by combining these with existing geochronology has led to the BIIS now being the world's most well constrained retreating ice sheet. A series of 23 BRITICE-CHRONO publications report on these new dates and their stratigraphic and glaciological contexts. These build regional reconstructions of the glacial history of the BIIS with this empirical data constraining and validating ice-sheet and ice-stream models. This project has now completed, with a recent open-access special issue in the Journal of Quaternary Science providing state of the art benchmark statements on what is currently known.

Click here to access the project website

Click here to access the BRITICE-CHRONO special issue

Late Glacial Sea Level Minima in the Western British Isles (2012-2014

As part of a large NERC funded project, seven areas around the Irish Sea were investigated in order to provide offshore field data on the depth and age of the relative sea-level (RSL) minimum since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). This project used geophysical data and core material reconstructions of past glacial and sea-level history from offshore the Island of Ireland were produced. Such evidence is currently sparse and this new empirical data provides valuable data points to constrain ice-sheet and glacial isostatic adjustment models.

Undergraduate Teaching

Stage 1:

GEO1005: Environmental Issues

GEO1019: Physical Geography Field Course

Stage 2:

GEO2127: Doing Physical Geography Research: Theory and Practice

GEO2037: Key Methods for Physical Geography (Module leader)

GEO2136: Global Environmental Change

Stage 3:

GEO3147: Palaeoclimates 

GEO3099: Dissertations

Postgraduate teaching:

GEO8021: Cold Environments

GEO8025: Environmental Geophysics

• Benetti S, Chiverrell RC, ÓCofaigh C, Burke M, Medialdea A, Small D, Ballantyne C, Bateman MD, Callard SL, Wilson P, Fabel D, Clark CD, Arosio R, Bradley S, Dunlop P, Ely JC, Gales J, Livingstone SJ, Moreton SG, Purcell C, Saher M, Schiele K, VanLandeghem K, Weilback K. Exploring controls of the early and stepped deglaciation on the western margin of the British Irish Ice Sheet. Journal of Quaternary Science 2021, 36(5), 833-870.
• Scourse JD, Chiverrell RC, Smedley RK, Small D, Burke MJ, Saher M, VanLandeghem KJJ, Duller GAT, OCofaigh C, Bateman MD, Benetti S, Bradley S, Callard L, Evans DJA, Fabel D, Jenkins GTH, McCarron S, Medialdea A, Moreton S, Ou X, Praeg D, Roberts DH, Roberts HM, Clark CD. Maximum extent and readvance dynamics of the Irish Sea Ice Stream and Irish Sea Glacier since the Last Glacial Maximum. Journal of Quaternary Science 2021, epub ahead of print.
• Bradwell T, Fabel D, Clark CD, Chiverrell RC, Small D, Smedley RT, Saher MH, Moreton SG, Dove D, Callard SL, Duller GAT, Madialdea A, Bateman M, Burke MJ, McDonald N, Gilgannon S, Morgan S, Roberts DH, OCofaigh C. Pattern, style and timing of British–Irish Ice Sheet advance and retreat over the last 45 000 years: evidence from NW Scotland and the adjacent continental shelf. Journal of Quaternary Science 2021, ePub ahead of Print.
• Evans DJA, Roberts DH, Bateman MD, Clark CD, Medialdea A, Callard L, Grimoldi E, Chiverrell RC, Ely J, Dove D, O Cofaigh C, Saher M, Bradwell T, Moreton SG, Fabel D, Bradley SL. Retreat dynamics of the eastern sector of the British–Irish Ice Sheet during the last glaciation. Journal of Quaternary Science 2021, 36(5), 723-751.
• OCofaigh C, Callard SL, Roberts DH, Chiverrell RC, Ballantyne CK, Evans DJA, Saher M, VanLandeghem KJJ, Smedley R, Benetti S, Burke M, Clark CD, Duller GAT, Fabel D, Livingstone SJ, Mccarron S, Medialdea A, Moreton SG, Sacchetti F. Timing and pace of ice‐sheet withdrawal across the marine–terrestrial transition west of Ireland during the last glaciation. Journal of Quaternary Science 2021, 36(5), 805-832.
• Tarlati S, Benetti S, Callard SL, Cofaigh CO, Dunlop P, Georgiopoulou A, Edwards R, Van Landeghem K, Saher M, Chiverrell R, Fabel D, Moreton S, Morgan S, Clark CD. Final deglaciation of the malin sea through meltwater release and calving events. Scottish Journal of Geology 2020, 56(2), 117-133.
• Syring N, Lloyd JM, Stein R, Fahl K, Roberts DH, Callard L, O'Cofaigh C. Holocene interactions between glacier retreat, sea ice formation, and Atlantic Water advection at the inner Northeast Greenland continental shelf. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology 2020, 35(11), e2020PA004019.
• Roberts DH, Ó Cofaigh C, Ballantyne CK, Burke M, Chiverrell RC, Evans DJA, Clark CD, Duller GAT, Ely J, Fabel D, Small D, Smedley RK, Callard SL. The deglaciation of the western sector of the Irish Ice Stream from the inner continental shelf to its terrestrial margin. Boreas 2020, 49(3), 438-460.
• Scourse JD, Saher M, VanLandeghem KJJ, Lockhart E, Purcell C, Callard SL, Roseby Z, Allinson B, Pienkowski AJ, ÓCofaigh C, Praeg D, Ward S, Chiverrell RC, Moreton S, Fabel D, Clark CD. Advance and retreat of the marine-terminating Irish Sea Ice Stream into the Celtic Sea during the Last Glacial: Timing and maximum extent. Marine Geology 2019, 412, 53-68.
• ÓCofaigh C, Weilbach K, Lloyd JM, Benetti S, Callard SL, Purcell C, Chiverrell RC, Dunlop P, Saher M, Livingstone SJ, VanLandeghem KJJ, Moreton SG, Clark CD, Fabel D. Early deglaciation of the British-Irish Ice Sheet on the Atlantic shelf northwest of Ireland driven by glacioisostatic depression and high relative sea level. Quaternary Science Reviews 2019, 208, 76-96.
• Bradwell T, Small D, Fabel D, Smedley RK, Clark CD, Saher M, Callard SL, Chiverrell RC, Dove D, Moreton SG, Roberts DH, Duller GA, ÓCofaigh C. Ice-stream demise dynamically conditioned by trough shape and bed strength. Science Advances 2019, 5(4), eaau1380.
• Plets RMK, Callard SL, Cooper JAG, Kelley JT, Belknap DF, Edwards RJ, Long AJ, Quinn RJ, Jackson DWT. Late Quaternary sea-level change and evolution of Belfast Lough, Northern Ireland: new offshore evidence and implications for sea-level reconstruction. Journal of Quaternary Science 2019, 34(4-5), 285-298.
• Callard SL, O Cofaigh C, Benetti S, Chiverrell RC, Van Landeghem KJJ, Saher MH, Livingstone SJ, Clark CD, Small D, Fabel D, Moreton SG. Oscillating retreat of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet on the continental shelf offshore Galway Bay, western Ireland. Marine Geology 2019, 420, 106087.
• Bradwell T, Small D, Fabel D, Clark CD, Chiverrell RC, Saher MH, Dove D, Callard SL, Burke MJ, Moreton SG, Medialdea A, Bateman M, Roberts DH, Golledge NR, Finlayson A, Morgan S, O'Cofaigh C. Pattern, style and timing of British–Irish Ice Sheet retreat: Shetland and northern North Sea sector. Journal of Quaternary Science 2019, (ePub ahead of Print).
• Roberts DH, Grimoldi E, Callard SL, Evans DJA, Clark CD, Stewart HA, Dove D, Saher M, Ó Cofaigh C, Chiverrell RC, Bateman MD, Moreton SG, Bradwell T, Fabel D, Medialdea A. The mixed‐bed glacial landform imprint of the North Sea Lobe in the western North Sea. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 2019, 44(6), 1233-1258.
• Lockhart E, Scourse JD, Praeg D, VanLandeghem KJJ, Mellett C, Saher M, Callard SL, Chiverrell RC, Benetti S, ÓCofaigh C, Clark CD. A stratigraphic investigation of the Celtic Sea megaridges based on seismic and core data from the Irish-UK sectors. Quaternary Science Reviews 2018, 198, 156-170.
• Callard SL, ÓCofaigh C, Benetti S, Chiverrell RC, VanLandeghem KJJ, Saher M, Gales JA, Small D, Clark CD, Livingstone SJ, Fabel D, Moreton SG. Extent and retreat history of the Barra Fan Ice Stream offshore western Scotland and northern Ireland during the last glaciation. Quaternary Science Reviews 2018, 201, 280-302.
• Chiverrell RC, Smedley RK, Small D, Ballantyne CK, Burke MJ, Callard SL, Clark CD, Duller GAT, Evans DJA, Fabel D, Van Landeghem K, Livingstone S, Ó Cofaigh C, Thomas GSP, Roberts DH, Saher M, Scourse JD, Wilson P. Ice margin oscillations during deglaciation of the northern Irish Sea Basin. Journal of Quaternary Science 2018, 33, 739-762.
• Roberts DH, Evans DJA, Callard SL, Clark CD, Bateman MD, Medialdea A, Dove D, Cotterill CJ, Saher M, ÓCofaigh C, Moreton SG, Fabel D, Bradwell T. Ice marginal dynamics of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet in the southern North Sea: Ice limits, timing and the influence of the Dogger Bank. Quaternary Science Reviews 2018, 198, 181-207.
• Barlow NLM, McClymont EL, Whitehouse PL, Stokes CR, Jamieson SSR, Woodroffe SA, Bentley MJ, Callard SL, Ó Cofaigh C, Evans DJA, Horrocks JR, Lloyd JM, Long AJ, Margold M, Roberts DH, Sanchez-Montes ML. Lack of evidence for a substantial sea-level fluctuation within the Last Interglacial. Nature Geoscience 2018, 11, 627-634.
• Ó Cofaigh C, Hogan KA, Jennings AE, Callard SL, Dowdeswell JA, Noormets R, Evans J. The role of meltwater in high-latitude trough-mouth fan development: The Disko Trough-Mouth Fan, West Greenland. Marine Geology 2018, 402, 17-32.
• Arosio R, Crocket KC, Nowell GM, Callard SL, Howe JA, Benetti S, Fabel D, Moreton S, Clark CD. Weathering fluxes and sediment provenance on the SW Scottish shelf during the last deglaciation. Marine Geology 2018, 402, 81-98.
• Dove D, Evans DJA, Lee JR, Roberts DH, Tappin DR, Mellett CL, Long D, Callard SL. Phased occupation and retreat of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet in the southern North Sea; geomorphic and seismostratigraphic evidence of a dynamic ice lobe. Quaternary Science Reviews 2017, 163, 114-134.
• Moss P, Gehrels WR, Callard SL. European Impacts on Coastal Eastern Tasmania: Insight from a High-Resolution Palynological Analysis of a Salt-Marsh Core. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 2016, 4, 105.
• Ryan MT, Newnham RM, Dunbar GB, Vandergoes MJ, Rees ABH, Neil H, Callard SL, Alloway BV, Bostock H, Hua Q, Anderson BM. Exploring the source-to-sink residence time of terrestrial pollen deposited offshore Westland, New Zealand. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 2016, 230, 37-46.
• Plets RMK, Callard SL, Cooper JAG, Long AJ, Quinn RJ, Belknap DF, Edwards RJ, Jackson DWT, Kelley JT, Long D, Milne GA, Monteys X. Late Quaternary evolution and sea-level history of a glaciated marine embayment, Bantry Bay, SW Ireland. Marine Geology 2015, 369, 251-272.
• Callard SL, Newnham RM, Vandergoes MJ, Alloway BV, Smith C. The vegetation and climate during the Last Glacial Cold Period, northern South Island, New Zealand. Quaternary Science Reviews 2013, 74, 230-244.
• Gehrels WR, Callard SL, Moss PT, Marshall WA, Blaauw M, Hunter J, Milton JA, Garnett MH. Nineteenth and twentieth century sea-level changes in Tasmania and New Zealand. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 2012, 315-316, 94-102.
• Callard SL, Gehrels WR, Morrison BV, Grenfell HR. Suitability of salt-marsh foraminifera as proxy indicators of sea level in Tasmania. Marine Micropaleontology 2011, 79, 121-131.