Chuck Abolt Receives NASA Fellowship

November 20, 2017

Chuck Abolt, a Ph.D. student, received a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship for his research on arctic soils titled “Feedbacks between topography and three-dimensional fluxes of heat, water, and carbon in ice wedge polygons.”

Abolt is one of just 69 awardees chosen from 385 applicants in the earth science field. His award was based on scientific merit, relevance to NASA’s objectives in earth and space science, and academic excellence.

Working with Ph.D. advisor and Bureau of Economic Geology Associate Director Michael Young as principal investigator, Abolt will explore two hypotheses regarding changing topography and the interrelationships between heat, water, and soil carbon levels of ice-wedge polygons to better understand the geomorphology of the Alaskan tundra.

The study also includes development of a software application to survey a study area of more than 480 square kilometers of tundra to estimate rates of groundwater release at a landscape scale.