Eric Rignot

Eric Rignot is Professor of Earth system science at the University of California, Irvine, and principal scientist for the Radar Science and Engineering Section at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

He is a principal investigator on several NASA-funded projects to study the mass balance of the Greenland ice sheets and Antarctic ice sheets by using radar interferometry and other methods; the interactions of ice shelves with the ocean; and the dynamic retreat of Patagonian glaciers. In particular, Rignot's primary research interests are glaciology, climate change, radar remote sensing, ice sheet numerical modeling, radar interferometry, radio echo sounding, and ice-ocean interactions. His research group focuses on understanding the interactions of ice and climate, ice sheet mass balance, ice-ocean interactions in Greenland and Antarctica, and current/future contributions of ice sheets to sea level change.

In 2007 he contributed to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report WGI (Working Group I).

Rignot received several awards and honors.

• Fellow of American Geophysical Union (2013)
• NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal (2012)
• NASA Group Achievement Award, IceBridge Mission (2011)
• NASA Group Achievement Award, Ice Sheet System Model (2011)
• National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Service Medal (2009)
• NASA Group Achievement Award, Warm Ice Sounding Explorer Team (2009)
• Bowie Lecture, American Geophysical Union (2008)
• NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (2007)
• JPL Edward Stone Award for Outstanding Research Publication (2004)
• JPL Level A Award for Technical Achievement (2004)
• NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Award (2003)
• Nomination of ”Rignot Glacier, Antarctica” by U. S. Board Geogr. Names (2003)
• JPL Edward Stone Award for Outstanding Research Publication (2002)
• JPL Lew Allen Award for Excellence (1998)
• Prize Paper Award IEEE Geos. Rem. Sens. Soc. (1994)

An overview of Rignot's research publications can be obtained via his Google Scholar profile.

Based on study findings, he noted that the observed speed at which glaciers in Greenland are melting is considerably faster than he had anticipated. In 2014 Rignot was the lead author on a widely publicized study which based on grounding line retreat, found that the melting of glaciers in the Amundsen Sea appears to be unstoppable. Rignot said that these glaciers have "passed the point of no return."