Scientists nominated as names for polar research ship

Dr Katharine Giles and Professor Seymour Laxon, both of UCL Earth Sciences, have been proposed as names for a new polar research ship in a public competition run by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), which closes on 16 April. The scientists, who worked at the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at UCL, tragically died within months of each other in 2013. Professor Laxon, a UCL Physics & Astronomy graduate was Director of the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at the time of his death in January 2013. His scientific breakthrough was to distinguish the ice surface from the water surface in satellite radar altimeter measurements of ice-covered oceans. This led to the first detailed map of the Arctic gravity field, revealing new tectonic features beneath the seafloor, and water circulation beneath the ice. His work helped give the European Space Agency the confidence to build CryoSat, a satellite dedicated to observing the Earth's ice-covered regions, launched in 2010. Dr Giles graduated with a first class degree in Earth and Space Sciences from UCL and studied under Professor Laxon for her PhD. She went on to become a research fellow and lecturer.