Dr Kate Winter

Associate Professor

School: Geography and Natural Sciences

Associate Professor in the School of Geography and Natural Sciences at Northumbria University.

I love polar fieldwork and have deployed a variety of geophysical instruments in Greenland and Antarctica to help us characterise the flow of ice and the transfer of sediment and meltwater through glacial systems, to the coast. I specialise in deploying, analysing and processing ice penetrating radar, where I combine my findings with geological samples, ice samples and remotely sensed data from satellites to better characterise the flow of ice, meltwater and sediments both now, and in the past.

I am an experienced educator have developed and taught on a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate courses at Northumbria University. I was programme lead for the Environmental Monitoring, Modelling and Reconstruction MSc for 3 years. My teaching tends to focus on glaciology, geology, climate change and science communication. I supervise research projects at all levels (undergraduate, masters and PhD) and regularly work with the faculty education and outreach team NUSTEM to co-develop STEM-based outreach initiatives for the wider public.

Campus Address

Ellison Building
Northumbria University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST

Email Kate

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Assessing the suitability of sites near Pine Island Glacier for subglacial bedrock drilling aimed at detecting Holocene retreat–readvance, Johnson, J., Woodward, J., Nesbitt, I., Winter, K., Campbell, S., Nichols, K., Venturelli, R., Braddock, S., Goehring, B., Hall, B., Rood, D., Balco, G. 24 Jan 2025, In: The Cryosphere
Review article: AntArchitecture - building an age-depth model from Antarctica's radiostratigraphy to explore ice-sheet evolution, Bingham, R., Bodart, J., Cavitte, M., Chung, A., Sanderson, R., Sutter, J., Eisen, O., Karlsson, N., MacGregor, J., Ross, N., Young, D., Ashmore, D., Born, A., Chu, W., Cui, X., Drews, R., Franke, S., Goel, V., Goodge, J., Henry, A., Hermant, A., Hills, B., Holschuh, N., Koutnik, M., Leysinger Vieli, G., MacKie, E., Mantelli, E., Martín, C., Ng, F., Oraschewski, F., Napoleoni, F., Parrenin, F., Popov, S., Rieckh, T., Schlegel, R., Schroeder, D., Siegert, M., Tang, X., Teisberg, T., Winter, K., Yan, S., Davis, H., Dow, C., Fudge, T., Jordan, T., Kulessa, B., Matsuoka, K., Nyqvist, C., Rahnemoonfar, M., Siegfried, M., Singh, S., Višnjević, V., Zamora, R., Zuhr, A. 20 Oct 2025, In: Cryosphere
Stad Slide: Preconditioning and failure of one of the world's largest megaslides, Tiller, B., Batchelor, C., Bellwald, B., Manton, B., Winter, K., Ross, N., Planke, S. 1 Nov 2025, In: Journal of Quaternary Science
Super slippery surface concepts: A novel explanation for the dynamics and flow instability of glaciers and ice sheets, McCerery, R., Woodward, J., McHale, G., Winter, K. 2025, In: Journal of Glaciology
Thinning Antarctic glaciers expose high-altitude nunataks delivering more bioavailable iron to the Southern Ocean, Winter, K., Woodward, J., Dunning, S., Jordan, J., Graly, J., Westoby, M., Henley, S., Raiswell, R. 21 Oct 2025, In: Nature Communications
Dated radar-stratigraphy between Dome A and South Pole, East Antarctica: old ice potential and ice sheet history, Sanderson, R., Ross, N., Winter, K., Bingham, R., Callard, S., Jordan, T., Young, D. 18 Dec 2024, In: Journal of Glaciology
Detecting Holocene retreat and readvance in the Amundsen Sea sector of Antarctica: assessing the suitability of sites near Pine Island Glacier for subglacial bedrock drilling, Johnson, J., Woodward, J., Nesbitt, I., Winter, K., Campbell, S., Nichols, K., Venturelli, R., Braddock, S., Goehring, B., Hall, B., Rood, D., Balco, G. 23 May 2024
Geochemical evidence for Alberta Oil Sands contamination in sediments remote to known oil sands deposits in Alberta, Canada, McCerery, B., Esegbue, O., Jones, M., Winter, K., McHale, G., Woodward, J. 3 May 2024, In: Environmental Forensics
Englacial architecture of Lambert Glacier, East Antarctica, Sanderson, R., Winter, K., Callard, S., Napoleoni, F., Ross, N., Jordan, T., Bingham, R. 20 Nov 2023, In: The Cryosphere
Oil sands in glacial till as a driver of fast flow and instability in the former Laurentide Ice Sheet: Alberta, Canada, McCerery, R., McHale, G., Woodward, J., Winter, K., Jones, M., Esegbue, O. 1 Dec 2023, In: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms

Current and Recent Projects

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Chemistry and biology under low hydrolic conditions beneath the Greeenland Ice sheet, revealed through naturally emerging overwinter conditions, Graly, J. (Principal Investigator), Winter, K. (Co Investigator), Natural Environment Research Council, 01/09/21 - 31/08/24, £304,886.00

PGR Supervision

Holly Bartlett Suspended sediment export from the Greenland Ice Sheet Start Date: 11/04/2024
Holly Bartlett Suspended sediment export from the Greenland Ice Sheet Start Date: 11/04/2024 End Date: 17/10/2025

Further Information

Recent, ongoing involvement with the scientific community:

Steering Committee Member for the NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility
Member of the Sceintific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) AntArchitecture working group and the RINGS action group, where I have been an invited speaker at international conferences, and co-authored white papers.
Member of the Antarctic Place-names Committee
Co-host for the 21st International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar
Reviewer for various academic journals