About

Dr. Robin E. Bell is a Lecturer in Earth and Sciences, Marine and Polar Geophysics, at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) within the Columbia Climate School, and holds the position of Marie Tharp Lamont Research Professor. She has been a member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) for over 30 years, serving as AGU president from 2019 to 2020, and is a past president of the Cryosphere section. Bell received her undergraduate degree in geology from Middlebury College and her Ph.D. in geophysics from Columbia University in 1989. Since then, she has led research at LDEO on ice sheets, tectonics, rivers, and mid-ocean ridges, with a focus on understanding the dynamics of ice sheets and their interactions with subglacial geology. Her research includes directing programs in Antarctica and Greenland, developing technology to monitor planetary changes, and coordinating major aero-geophysical expeditions to study ice sheet collapse mechanisms. Bell has discovered a volcano beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet, large lakes beneath ice, and demonstrated that ice sheets can thicken from below. She led efforts to map the Hudson River and explored the Gamburtsev Mountains in Antarctica, uncovering water beneath ice sheets and studying ice sheet stability. Her work has contributed significantly to understanding ice sheet behavior, subglacial hydrology, and the impact of climate change on polar regions. Bell has received numerous honors, including an honorary degree from Middlebury College and an Antarctic Mountain named after her, and has published extensively on topics related to ice sheet dynamics, bathymetry, and geophysical techniques.

Research topics

• Oceanography
• Geology
• Geomorphology
• Climatology

Selected publications

• Supplementary material to "Temporal evolution of the Petermann Ice Shelf estuary constrained by remote sensing observations"

  2026-03-20

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• High resolution marine and airborne gravity surveys: applications to rifted margins

  Open MIND · 2026-02-24

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  OA PDFDOI

• Temporal evolution of the Petermann Ice Shelf estuary constrained by remote sensing observations

  2026-03-20

  articleOpen access

  Abstract. Ice shelf rivers may reduce ice shelf instability by exporting surface meltwater from the ice shelf, limiting loading-induced stresses from ponded meltwater. However, if a supraglacial river incises to below sea level, forming an ice-shelf estuary, this mitigating effect may be negated. Water flow reversal in the estuary loads the ice shelf, inducing flexural stress, and prevents efficient meltwater export into the ocean. Evidence of this phenomenon has only been observed on the Petermann Ice Shelf in northern Greenland to date. A key factor in determining when and where ice-shelf estuaries form is river incision rate, defined as the decrease in channel bed elevation over time. Here we present a novel method for calculating incision rate in supraglacial rivers from paired multispectral WorldView-2/3 imagery and corresponding ArcticDEM strips. We apply this method over the Petermann Ice Shelf in 2014 and in 2016. The patterns of incision differ substantially between the two years, with the highest rates of incision occurring near the supraglacial river/estuary mouth in 2014, compared to the lowest incision rates at the same location in 2016. Using high-resolution satellite observations from WorldView imagery from 2013–2018 and modelled runoff, we conclude that the contrasting incision patterns are caused by the formation of the Petermann estuary and resultant water flow reversal, which inhibits efficient meltwater export. This in turn reduces frictional melting of the channel bottom and likely reduces the water surface slope, both of which cause the channel to cease deepening and become broader. Although the estuary appears to first form in August 2014, it is not present early in the 2016 melt season but does develop by early July. Similar observations made in subsequent melt seasons reveal a cyclical pattern whereby the estuary re-forms during each melt season as a result of meltwater and ocean water loading and unloading throughout the season.

  PublisherDOI

• Towards an improved understanding of the Antarctic coastal zone and its contribution to future global sea level

  2025-07-13 · 2 citations

  preprintOpen access

  Understanding the coastal zone of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, where it interacts with the Southern Ocean and warmer air masses, is crucial for predicting Antarctica's influence on the global climate. This region has multiple tipping mechanisms that could trigger large, rapid, and potentially irreversible changes in the coming centuries. The Antarctic Ice Sheet remains the largest source of uncertainty in future sea-level projections. Insufficient knowledge of bed topography beneath the ice shelves and the coastal ice sheet is not yet well documented, but is a major source of this uncertainty. This review assesses current knowledge of the coastal zone and highlights methods to investigate it, including aerogeophysical surveys, ground- and ship-based measurements, satellite observations, and computer modeling. An ensemble analysis of published bed topography datasets identifies significant data gaps and their regional distribution, framed in the context of current ice-sheet behavior and potential instability. We propose scientific priorities and guidelines for future aerogeophysical surveys, advocating for a comprehensive, coordinated international effort to build a next-generation dataset of Antarctic bed properties. Such an initiative would significantly advance understanding of the role of coastal processes in ice-sheet dynamics, reducing uncertainties in sea-level rise projections and enhancing predictions of future ocean and climate changes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Bedmap3 updated ice bed, surface and thickness gridded datasets for Antarctica

  Scientific Data · 2025-03-10 · 47 citations

  articleOpen access

  We present Bedmap3, the latest suite of gridded products describing surface elevation, ice-thickness and the seafloor and subglacial bed elevation of the Antarctic south of 60 °S. Bedmap3 incorporates and adds to all post-1950s datasets previously used for Bedmap2, including 84 new aero-geophysical surveys by 15 data providers, an additional 52 million data points and 1.9 million line-kilometres of measurement. These efforts have filled notable gaps including in major mountain ranges and the deep interior of East Antarctica, along West Antarctic coastlines and on the Antarctic Peninsula. Our new Bedmap3/RINGS grounding line similarly consolidates multiple recent mappings into a single, spatially coherent feature. Combined with updated maps of surface topography, ice shelf thickness, rock outcrops and bathymetry, Bedmap3 reveals in much greater detail the subglacial landscape and distribution of Antarctica's ice, providing new opportunities to interpret continental-scale landscape evolution and to model the past and future evolution of the Antarctic ice sheets.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Comment on essd-2022-355

  2023-02-06

  peer-reviewOpen accessCorresponding

  <strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> Over the past 60 years, scientists have strived to understand the past, present and future of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. One of the key components of this research has been the mapping of Antarctic bed topography and ice thickness parameters that are crucial for modelling ice flow and hence for predicting future ice loss and ensuing sea level rise. Supported by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the Bedmap3 Action Group aims not only to produce new gridded maps of ice thickness and bed topography for the international scientific community, but also to standardize and make available all the geophysical survey data points used in producing the Bedmap gridded products. Here, we document the survey data used in the latest iteration, Bedmap3, incorporating and adding to all of the datasets previously used for Bedmap1 and Bedmap2, including ice-bed, surface and thickness point data from all Antarctic geophysical campaigns since the 1950s. More specifically, we describe the processes used to standardize and make these and future survey and gridded datasets accessible under the &lsquo;Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable&rsquo; (FAIR) data principles. With the goals to make the gridding process reproducible and to allow scientists to re-use the data freely for their own analysis, we introduce the new SCAR Bedmap Data Portal (<a href="bedmap.scar.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bedmap.scar.org</a>, last access: 18 October 2022) created to provide unprecedented open access to these important datasets, through a user-friendly webmap interface. We believe that this data release will be a valuable asset to Antarctic research and will greatly extend the life cycle of the data held within it. Data are available from the UK Polar Data Centre: <a href="https://data.bas.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://data.bas.ac.uk</a>.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Tackling pervasive sexism in Australian science requires money, leadership and time

  Nature · 2023-06-12

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality for Ice-Sheet Data Analysis

  2023-07-16 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  Three-dimensional geospatial thinking is an important skillset used by earth scientists and students to analyze and interpret data [1]. This method of inquiry is useful in glaciology, where traditional geophysical survey techniques have been adapted to map three-dimensional (3D) ice sheet structures and inform studies of ice flow, mass change, and history in both Greenland and Antarctica. Ice-penetrating radar images the ice in two-dimensional (2D) cross-sections from the surface to the base. Analysis of this data often requires visual inspection and 3D interpretation, but is hindered by data visualization tools and techniques that rarely transcend the two-dimensionality of the computer screen [2]. Recent advances in Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), together referred to as Extended Reality (XR), offer a glimpse into the future of 3D ice-sheet data analysis [3]. These technologies offer users an immersive experience where 3D geospatial datasets can be understood more immediately than with 2D maps, and gestural user interfaces can enhance understanding. Here we present Pol-XR, an XR application that supports both visualization and interpretation of ice-penetrating radar in Antarctica and Greenland.

  PublisherDOI

• Developing Interculturally Competent Graduates: Meeting Employer Needs in Europe

  Academy of Management Proceedings · 2023-07-24 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  Research has highlighted the importance of intercultural competencies in higher education graduates to boost their employability with national and international employers. Yet, little is known about whether current graduates in Europe meet employer needs with respect to such competencies and how higher education institutions in Europe can strengthen their graduates’ employability by offering a curriculum that supports the development of such competencies. We bridge this gap by studying the supply and demand of intercultural competencies from the perspectives of students and employers in Europe. We draw on a cross-national study of 102 interviews with students and employers in the UK, Belgium, Sweden and Turkey. We report on the key intercultural challenges faced by students and employers and on the intercultural competencies that graduates need to develop in future to meet industry needs. We offer a curriculum map through which higher education institutions can develop students’ intercultural competencies to enable them to be active professionals in an increasingly intercultural employment world.

  PublisherDOI

• Antarctic Bedmap data: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) sharing of 60 years of ice bed, surface, and thickness data

  Earth system science data · 2023-07-17 · 49 citations

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  Abstract. One of the key components of this research has been the mapping of Antarctic bed topography and ice thickness parameters that are crucial for modelling ice flow and hence for predicting future ice loss and the ensuing sea level rise. Supported by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the Bedmap3 Action Group aims not only to produce new gridded maps of ice thickness and bed topography for the international scientific community, but also to standardize and make available all the geophysical survey data points used in producing the Bedmap gridded products. Here, we document the survey data used in the latest iteration, Bedmap3, incorporating and adding to all of the datasets previously used for Bedmap1 and Bedmap2, including ice bed, surface and thickness point data from all Antarctic geophysical campaigns since the 1950s. More specifically, we describe the processes used to standardize and make these and future surveys and gridded datasets accessible under the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data principles. With the goals of making the gridding process reproducible and allowing scientists to re-use the data freely for their own analysis, we introduce the new SCAR Bedmap Data Portal (https://bedmap.scar.org, last access: 1 March 2023) created to provide unprecedented open access to these important datasets through a web-map interface. We believe that this data release will be a valuable asset to Antarctic research and will greatly extend the life cycle of the data held within it. Data are available from the UK Polar Data Centre: https://data.bas.ac.uk (last access: 5 May 2023​​​​​​​). See the Data availability section for the complete list of datasets.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: IPY: GAMBIT: Gamburtsev Aerogeophysical Mapping of Bedrock and Ice Targets

  NSF · $2.3M · 2007–2014

• MRI-R2: Development of an Ice Imaging System for Monitoring Changing Ice Sheets Mounted on the NYANG LC-130

  NSF · $4.1M · 2010–2015

• Fire and Ice: Examining the Potential for Sampling a West Antarctic Sub-Ice Volcano

  NSF · $80k · 2005–2007

• Collaborative Research: Calculation of Antarctic Gravity Field from GRACE satellite data and comparison with independent measurements

  NSF · $246k · 2004–2009

• Subglacial Lakes and the Onset of Ice Streaming: Recovery Lakes

  NSF · $326k · 2008–2012

Frequent coauthors

• K. J. Tinto

  Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

  92 shared

• M. Studinger

  Goddard Space Flight Center

  80 shared

• D. D. Blankenship

  The University of Texas at Austin

  49 shared

• T. T. Creyts

  Columbia University

  46 shared

• Fausto Ferraccioli

  45 shared

• James R. Cochran

  Stony Brook University

  41 shared

• Carol A. Finn

  United States Geological Survey

  36 shared

• I. Das

  Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

  34 shared

Awards & honors

• AGU Fellow (2011)
• USGS Names Antarctic Ridge After R.E. Bell (2006)
• Middlebury College, Honorary Doctorate of Science (2006)
• Emma Willard School Young Alumnae Award (1996)
• Stroke Doherty Junior Scientist Award (1992)