Aleah Sommers

Research Interests

I develop and apply mathematical models to simulate subglacial hydrology and ice dynamics, with application to the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets, and glaciers in the Himalaya and Alaska, combined with field measurements and remote sensing techniques.

Subglacial hydrology; glaciers; ice sheets; numerical modeling

Education

• BS, Civil Engineering, Rice University 2009
• PhD, Civil Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder 2018
• Postdoctoral Fellow, National Center for Atmospheric Research 2019–2020
• Postdoctoral Research Associate, Dartmouth 2020–2022

Professional Activities

• American Geophysical Union
• International Glaciological Society

Research Projects

• NASA — ICESat-2 Science Team (investigations using ICESat-2)

  NASA — ICESat-2 Science Team (investigations using ICESat-2)

  Coupled subglacial hydrology and ice dynamics constrained by surface elevation evolution.

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• NASA — Understanding changes in High Mountain Asia

  NASA — Understanding changes in High Mountain Asia

  Quantifying the role of subglacial hydrology in glacier surges and outburst floods of High Mountain Asia.

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• Irving Institute faculty seed grant: machine learning for glacier intelligence

  Irving Institute faculty seed grant: machine learning for glacier intelligence

  Data-driven tools to predict meltwater dynamics and inform water security under climate change.

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• Arete glacier initiative

  Arete glacier initiative

  Leveraging and preserving historical Trapridge Glacier data.

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Selected Publications

• Meyer, C R, Warburton, K L P, Sommers, A N, and Minchew, B M (2026). A model of water extraction from the subglacial hydrologic system under idealized conditions. The Cryosphere. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2659-2026
• Thota, V K, Vijay, S, Sommers, A N, Banerjee, A, Mey, J and Motagh, M (2026). Seasonal variability in ice velocity driven by subglacial hydrology of Drang Drung Glacier, Western Himalayas. Journal of Glaciology. https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2026.10150
• Stubblefield, A, Sommers, A, Meyer, C, and Andrews, L (2026). Estimating effective pressures in active subglacial lakes with ICESat-2 satellite altimetry. Journal of Glaciology. https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2025.10116
• Narayanan, N G, Sommers, A N, Chu, W, Steiner, J, Siddique, M A, Meyer, C R, & Minchew, B (2025). Simulating Seasonal Evolution of Subglacial Hydrology at a Surging Glacier in the Karakoram Range. Journal of Glaciology. https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2025.10078
• Warburton, K L, Meyer, C R and Sommers, A N (2024). Predicting the onset of subglacial drainage channels. Journal of Geophysical Research – Earth Surface. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JF007758
• Sommers, A N, Meyer, C R, Poinar, K, Mejia, J, Morlighem, M, Rajaram, H, Warburton, K and Chu, W (2024). Velocity of Greenland's Helheim Glacier controlled both by terminus effects and subglacial hydrology with distinct realms of influence. Geophysical Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109168
• Sommers, A, Meyer, C, Morlighem, M, Rajaram, H, Poinar, K, Chu, W, Mejia, J (2023). Subglacial hydrology modeling predicts high winter water pressure and spatially variable transmissivity at Helheim Glacier, Greenland. Journal of Glaciology. https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2023.39
• Sommers, A N, Otto-Bliesner, B L, Lipscomb, W H, Lofverstrom, M, Shafer, S L, Bartlein, P J, Brady, E C, Kluzek, E, Leguy, G, Thayer-Calder, K, Tomas, R A (2021). Retreat and regrowth of the Greenland Ice Sheet during the Last Interglacial as simulated by the CESM2-CISM2 coupled climate ice sheet model. Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021PA004272
• Sommers, A N, and Rajaram, H (2020). Energy transfer by turbulent dissipation in glacial conduits. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JF005502
• Sommers, A, Rajaram, H, and Morlighem, M (2018). SHAKTI: Subglacial Hydrology and Kinetic Transient Interactions v1.0, Geoscientific Model Development. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2018-58
• Sommers, A N, Rajaram, H, Weber, E P, MacFerrin, M J, Colgan, W T, and Stevens, C M (2017). Inferring Firn Permeability from Pneumatic Testing: A Case Study on the Greenland Ice Sheet, Frontiers in Earth Science, 5, 20, https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2017.00020
• Colgan, W, Sommers, A, Rajaram, H, Abdalati, W and Frahm, J (2015). Considering thermal-viscous collapse of the Greenland ice sheet, Earth's Future, 3: 252–267. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015EF000301

News

Machine Learning Models May Help Predict Glacier Melt and Movement
May 29, 2026