Biography | Contact Details | Education | Publications
I am a glaciologist with a focus on glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). My research investigates the risk of GLOFs from the global scale right down to the basin scale, integrating aspects of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. I am particularly interested in temporal risk – understanding how GLOF risk has changed over time, and how it might change in the future – to aid risk mitigation for downstream communities and enable sustainable development in high mountain regions. My research largely utilises remote sensing and earth observation, allowing large spatial and temporal scales to be investigated in the most remote regions of the world.
Contact details
Email: c.taylor11 [at] newcastle.ac.uk
You can also contact me on Twitter and LinkedIn
Caroline Taylor: Biography
Following an undergraduate degree in Geography at Newcastle University (2018), and an MPhil researching supraglacial pond evolution on glaciers in Bhutan (2019), I undertook a PhD at Newcastle University (2024). My thesis was titled “Global Risk of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods”. This project involved the global analysis of glacial lake hazard using remotely sensed data, quantifying exposure to these hazards by mapping satellite imagery and obtaining census data, and designing a new metric for determining vulnerability to GLOFs using entirely secondary data. My work contributed the first global scale assessment of GLOF risk to date.
Following completion, I worked as a research assistance (Jan-May 2024) on a NERC funded project looking at GLOF risk in the Bhutanese Himalaya, to quantify assets that could be impacted by potential GLOFs in conjunction with modelled GLOF runout footprints to determine overall risk for select catchments in Bhutan. I joined the AntarcticGlaciers.org team in June 2024.
Education
- 2019-2024: PhD Physical Geography | Department of Geography, Newcastle University
- 2018-2019: MPhil Physical Geography | Department of Geography, Newcastle University
- 2015-2018: BSC Geography | Department of Geography, Newcastle University
Publications
- Taylor, C., J., & Carr, J. R. (2019). Supraglacial pond evolution in the Everest region, central Himalaya, 2015–2018. The Cryosphere Discussions, 1-33. DOI:10.1038/s41467-023-36033-x
- Taylor, C., Robinson, T. R., Dunning, S., Rachel Carr, J., & Westoby, M. (2023). Glacial lake outburst floods threaten millions globally. Nature Communications, 14(1), 487. DOI: 10.1017/jog.2021.76
- Carr, R., Barrett, A., Rinzin, S., & Taylor, C. (Submitted). Step-change in supraglacial pond area on Tshojo Glacier, Bhutan, and potential downstream inundation patterns due to pond drainage events. Journal of Glaciology.
Outreach
I have contributed to other science communication outlets:
- The Science Breaker: Danger! Glacial lake outburst floods ahead! (Danger! Glacial lake outburst floods ahead! – TheScienceBreaker).
- Nature Portfolio Communities: Global threat of glacial lake outburst floods assessed (Global threat of glacial lake outburst floods assessed | Earth and Environmental Sciences Community (nature.com)).
- Royal Geographical Society Geovisualisation series: Mapping glacial lake outburst flood exposure (Mapping glacial lake outburst flood exposure – RGS).