Dr Tom Cowton
Director of Teaching
Senior Lecturer
Research areas
Dr Cowton's research focusses on the mechanisms controlling the response of glaciers, and in the particular the Greenland Ice Sheet, to climate change. Through a combination of field, modelling and remote sensing techniques, he has published research on themes including ice sheet hydrology, tidewater glacier processes and the physical oceanography of fjord systems.
Selected publications
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Open access
Controls on fjord temperature throughout Greenland in a reduced‐physics model
Mas e Braga, M., Cowton, T., Slater, D., Inall, M., Johnstone, E. & Fraser, N., 16 Sept 2025, In: Geophysical Research Letters. 52, 17, 10 p., e2025GL116902.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
FjordRPM v1.0: a reduced-physics model for efficient simulation of glacial fjords
Slater, D. A., Johnsone, E., Mas e Braga, M., Fraser, N. J., Cowton, T. & Inall, M., 21 Oct 2025, In: Geoscientific Model Development. 18, 20, p. 7475-7500 26 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Subglacial-discharge plumes drive widespread subsurface warming in northwest Greenland’s fjords
Cowton, T., Slater, D. & Inall, M., 29 Jul 2023, In: Geophysical Research Letters. 50, 15, 10 p., e2023GL103801.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Modelling the effect of submarine iceberg melting on glacier-adjacent water properties
Davison, B., Cowton, T., Sole, A., Cottier, F. & Nienow, P., 7 Apr 2022, In: The Cryosphere. 16, 4, p. 1181–1196Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
TermPicks: a century of Greenland glacier terminus data for use in machine learning applications
Goliber, S., Black, T., Catania, G., Lea, J., Olsen, H., Cheng, D., Bevan, S., Bjork, A., Bunce, C., Brough, S., Carr, R., Cowton, T., Gardner, A., Fahrner, D., Hill, E., Joughin, I., Korsgaard, N., Luckman, A., Moon, T. & Murray, T. & 3 others, , 12 Aug 2022, In: The Cryosphere. 16, p. 3215–3233 19 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Calving multiplier effect controlled by melt undercut geometry
Slater, D. A., Benn, D. I., Cowton, T. R., Bassis, J. N. & Todd, J. A., 9 Jul 2021, In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface. 126, 7, e2021JF006191.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Iceberg melting substantially modifies oceanic heat flux towards a major Greenlandic tidewater glacier
Davison, B., Cowton, T., Cottier, F. & Sole, A., 25 Nov 2020, In: Nature Communications. 11, 13 p., 5983.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Influence of glacier runoff and near-terminus subglacial hydrology on frontal ablation at a large Greenlandic tidewater glacier
Bunce, C., Nienow, P., Sole, A., Cowton, T. & Davison, B., 29 Dec 2020, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Journal of Glaciology. First View, 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Subglacial drainage evolution modulates seasonal ice flow variability of three tidewater glaciers in Southwest Greenland
Davison, B., Sole, A. J., Cowton, T., Lea, J., Slater, D. A., Fahrner, D. & Nienow, P., Sept 2020, In: Journal of Geophysical Research - Earth Surface. 125, 9, 16 p., e2019JF005492.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Impact of warming shelf waters on ice mélange and terminus retreat at a large SE Greenland glacier
Bevan, S., Luckman, A., Benn, D. I., Cowton, T. & Todd, J., 5 Sept 2019, In: The Cryosphere. 13, p. 2303-2315 13 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review