Research Interests
This is the website from my graduate student days working on my Ph.D. in glaciology at the University of Washington... it has not been updated in a few years but is a sample of what I was doing during that time.
Accumulation-Rates from Radar Layers
Waddington, E.D., T.A. Neumann, M.R. Koutnik, H.-P. Marshall, and D.L. Morse (2007). Inference of accumulation-rate patterns from deep layers in glaciers and ice sheets. Journal of Glaciology 53(183), 694-712 (pdf).
Martian polar caps
Koutnik, M.R., E.D. Waddington, and D.P.
Winebrenner (2009) Inferring Mass-Balance Patterns from
Internal Layers in Martian Polar Layered Deposits.
Winebrenner, D.P., M.R. Koutnik, E.D. Waddington, A.V. Pathare, B.C. Murray, S. Byrne, and J.L. Bamber (2008) Evidence for ice flow prior to trough formation in the Martian North Polar Layered Deposits. Icarus 195, 90-105.
Koutnik, M., S. Byrne, B. Murray, A. Toigo, and Z. Crawford (2005). Eolian controlled modification of the martian south polar layered deposits. Icarus 174, 490-501 (pdf).
Koutnik, M., S. Byrne, and B. Murray
(2002)
The
South Polar Layered Deposits of Mars: The Cratering Record.
Journal of Geophysical Research,
107 (E11), 5100-5112 (pdf).
Murray, B., M. Koutnik, S. Byrne, L. Soderblom, K. Herkenhoff, and K. Tanaka (2002) Preliminary Geological Assessment of the Northern Edge of Ultimi Lobe, Martian South Polar Layered Deposits. Icarus, 154, 80-97(pdf).
Heinrich Events / D-O Events
Marshall, S.J., and M.R. Koutnik (2006). Ice sheet action versus reaction: Distinguishing between Heinrich events and Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles in the North Atlantic. Paleoceanography 21, doi:10.1029/2005PA001247 (pdf).
Blue Glacier, Olympic Mountains, Washington
Field work has been conducted on Blue glacier for over 50 years, with contributions from many researchers at the University of Washington. My interest to continue this program began after a trip to the Blue glacier in the Fall of 2003, led by Howard Conway. The glacier surface is changing and our aim is to capture the yearly changes in surface elevation in attempt to understand the current glacial retreat. With support from Howard Conway and Al Rasmussen, a continuation of the GPS study was funded by the Evolving Earth Foundation. This data is being compared to laser altimetry data collected by Keith Echelmeyer in 1996. For more complete information see the Blue glacier website. In September of 2005 we set up a snow depth sensor near the glacier terminus and we are measuring air temperature at different elevations near the glacier.
Evolving Earth Foundation website