Laboratoire de Glaciologie
et Geophysique de 
l'Environment (LGGE)

Brief profile

The LGGE is part of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). The research projects conducted at LGGE develop along five basic directions handled by five research teams:

  • Climate evolution - the analysis of the deep ice cores drilled in the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets (gas content, dust particles, oxygen isotopic ratio, etc.) aims to improve our understanding of the Earth climate system and climate change (paleo-climates, global warming).
  • Ice chemistry -  the chemical analysis of polar ice provides invaluable data to study the interactions between climate and atmospheric chemistry, and bio-geochemical cycles.
  • Planetology and experimental astrophysics - comets formation and evolution as well as physics and chemistry of the icy objects in the solar system and of interstellar grains are studied by physics experiment and modelling.
  • Glaciers - the survey of temperate alpine and cold glaciers and glacier evolution modelling aims to establish the relation between glacier mass balance and the short term evolution of climate.
  • Ice rheology and ice sheet modelling - this theme gathers the study of the physical and mechanical properties of ice considered as a material, and ice sheet modelling. Current research on ice rheology covers the ductile behaviour of polar ice, as well as the "short term" brittle to ductile behaviour of ice interacting with a structure. As concerns polar ice, the aim is to model the evolving induced anisotropy of ice (texture / preferred orientation development) in order to improve ice sheet models. Current work makes use of a self-consistent approach to model the ice polycrystal behaviour.
Studies of the mechanical behaviour of ice at higher strain rates aims to a better understanding of the damage process in order to optimise the design of offshore structures. The main objectives of current research correspond to that exposed in the STRICE project - i.e.:
  • micro-mechanisms responsible for crack nucleation at the grain scale,
  • mechanical behaviour of undamaged and damaged ice (transient creep)
  • and ice - concrete friction.
Besides purely scientific work, a specific feature of the LGGE laboratory is the technological activity related to the polar drillings and the realisation of field programmes (Antarctica, Greenland, Spitsbergen, Alps).

At the present time, the laboratory staff consists in 28 researchers (CNRS / University teaching members), 24 engineers / technicians / administrative, 26 PhD students and approximately 20 students following a 3 to 6 month research period. The ice rheology and ice sheet modelling group has 6 researchers and 8 PhD students.
 

Involvement in and contributions to the STRICE project

The institution leads the work package Determination of ice mechanical properties - 
Part II: Laboratory tests (WP 4.3).

The institution contributes to the work packages End user workshop (WP 1), Ice-structure contact processes
(WP 3), Measurement of ice forces and ice force effecting parameters (WP 4.1), Data processing and evaluation 
of results (WP 5) and Reporting and dissemination of results (WP 9).
 

Contacts
 
Laboratoire de Glaciologie
et Geophysique de l'Environment (LGGE)

54, rue Molière 
F - 38402 - Saint Martin d'Hères-Cedex 
France 
 
Tel.: +33 476 82 42 00
Fax.: +33 476 82 42 01
WWW: http://glaciog.ujf-grenoble.fr
 

 For information regarding LGGE's participation in 
the STRICE project: 

Dr. Jacques Meyssonnier
Senior Scientist at LGGE
Tel.: +33 476 82 42 70
Email: jacques@lgge.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr

Dr. Jerome Weiss
Senior Scientist at LGGE
Tel.: +33 476 82 42 71
Email: weiss@lgge.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr

Please visit also LGGE's web site for further information.
 
 
Back to the project's home page Last update: 2002-12-02

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STRICE Deliverable
No D-8.2.A