Dr Frances Butcher receives £1.8m Royal Society University Research Fellowship to investigate the glacial and climate history of Mars

The eight-year University Research Fellowship from The Royal Society will focus on poorly understood water-ice glaciers on Mars, which contain archives of martian climate information and could inform future human missions to the planet.

Black and white image of a buried glacier on Mars
3D perspective view of a buried glacier on Mars, generated from images taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. The glacier is ~8km long. Image credit: NASA/JPL/University

Ice cores extracted from Earth’s ice glaciers and sheets contain layered records of past climate changes which have revolutionised humanity’s understanding of Earth’s climate history. There is now widespread interest among scientists and space agencies to extract similar records from water-ice glaciers on Mars.

It is a little-known fact that there are thousands of glaciers buried just beneath the dusty red surface of Mars. Martian glaciers are thought to have been formed by snowfall when Mars had a very different climate to the present day. Many of the glaciers likely formed around the same time that dinosaurs walked the Earth. They record planetary-scale climate changes and are exciting targets in the search for life beyond Earth, as well as for finding landing regions for potential future human missions to Mars.

The new Royal Society University Research Fellowship has been awarded to Dr Frances Butcher in the University of Sheffield’s School of Geography and Planning. The fellowship aims to better understand how glacial ice layers are configured beneath Mars’ surface, and decode the histories of martian climate change the glaciers record. Dr Butcher will use remarkably detailed Mars orbiter data and state-of-the-art simulations of glacier flow with the goal of revealing the nature and potential timespans of the climate archives that the first Martian ice cores could unlock.

Speaking about her new fellowship, Dr Butcher said: ”This long-term fellowship is a fantastic opportunity to drive fundamental advances in Martian glaciology, building on the extensive world-leading expertise in terrestrial glaciology within the University of Sheffield’s School of Geography and Planning. As a geography graduate myself, I'm excited to continue demonstrating that geography graduates have a hugely important role to play in the future of the space sector. I am grateful to the Royal Society for their support.” 

All of this work aims to drive forward fundamental understanding of Mars, and lay the glaciological groundwork for future orbital, robotic, and eventual human missions seeking to analyse ice on Mars. In doing so, it aims to ensure that future human missions - which could extract Martian ice cores - can make transformative scientific advances that bring tangible benefits here on Earth.

Study with us

Join an international community of geographers, planners, and environmental scientists to help tackle the biggest issues in our changing world.

Centres of excellence

The University's cross-faculty research centres harness our interdisciplinary expertise to solve the world's most pressing challenges.