BS (1995), MS (1998), PhD (2001) (Clarkson University), MEngNZ
Email greg.leonard@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 479 5075
Room 119, 1st floor, Surveying Building, 310 Castle Street
Profile
I am a civil engineer who studies how Antarctic sea ice affects and is affected by its environment. I also use remote sensing and geospatial tools to investigate both the icy world of Antarctica and and the civil engineering infrastructure of our urban communities. I am fortunate to be involved in ongoing field studies in Antarctica, which has seen me routinely travel to Antarctica since 2010 with my colleagues from the Department of Physics, the University of Canterbury and NIWA. I also have the great pleasure of working with a number of postgraduate students from both the School of Surveying and the Department of Physics. My primary roles in the School of Surveying are leading the delivery of the civil engineering portion of the curriculum, establishing and maintaining links with the civil engineering industry and maintaining an active research profile in Antarctic sea ice and urban engineering infrastructure. I joined the School of Surveying in 2008 and I am currently the chair of the undergraduate teaching committee, lead the course advising team and serve on the marketing committee.
Teaching
- SURV 203 Land Development Engineering 1 (coordinator)
- SURV 304 Land Development Engineering 3 (coordinator)
- SURV 319 Spatial Algorithms and Programming
- SURV 519 Spatial Algorithms and Programming
- SURV 465 Land Development Management
- SURV 565 Advanced Land Development Management
Research Interests
- Antarctic sea ice
- Antarctic ice-ocean interactions
- Remote sensing of the cryosphere
- Polar geophysics
- Urban engineering infrastructure
Projects
Some Current Projects
- Antarctic Science Platform Project 4 - Sea Ice and Carbon Cycle Feedbacks
- Marsden Fund: Can snow change the fate of Antarctic sea ice?
- Aotearoa New Zealand Sea Ice Monitoring Station
Some Completed Projects
- Marsden Fund: Supercooling measurements under ice shelves
- Deep South National Science Challenge: Targeted observations and process-informed modelling on Antarctic sea ice
- New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute: Vulnerability of the Ross Ice Shelf in a warming world
- Marsden Fund: The freezing of land-fast sea ice during the Antarctic winter
Supervision
Current Research Students
- Nina Caldarella
- Antonia Radlwimmer
- Phyo Thu
- Ifeoma Ukonze
Recent Research Students
- Maren Richter
- Taren McLeod
- Eamon Frazer
Publications
Ukonze, F. I., Moore, A. B., Leonard, G. H., & Daniel, B. K. (2025). A conceptual analytical framework for green infrastructure (GI) towards resilience building in urban contexts: A stakeholders' collaboration perspective. Urban Climate, 59, 102254. doi: 10.1016/j.uclim.2024.102254 Journal - Research Article
Richter, M. E., Leonard, G. H., Smith, I. J., Langhorne, P. J., & Parry, M. (2024). The interannual variability of Antarctic fast-ice thickness in McMurdo Sound and connections to climate. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 129(12), e2023JG020134. doi: 10.1029/2023JC020134 Journal - Research Article
Brett, G. M., Leonard, G. H., Rack, W., Haas, C., Langhorne, P. J., Robinson, N. J., & Irvin, A. (2024). Seasonal and diurnal variability of sub-ice platelet layer thickness in McMurdo Sound from electromagnetic induction sounding. Cryosphere, 18, 3049-3066. doi: 10.5194/tc-18-3049-2024 Journal - Research Article
Wille, J. D., Alexander, S. P., Amory, C., Baiman, R., Barthélemy, L., Bergstrom, D. M., … Leonard, G. H., … Zou, X. (2024). The extraordinary March 2022 East Antarctica “heat” wave: Part I: Observations and meteorological drivers. Journal of Climate, 37(3), 757-778. doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-23-0176.1 Journal - Research Article
Wille, J. D., Alexander, S. P., Amory, C., Baiman, R., Barthélemy, L., Bergstrom, D. M., … Leonard, G. H., … Zou, X. (2024). The extraordinary March 2022 East Antarctica “heat” wave: Part II: Impacts on the Antarctic ice sheet. Journal of Climate, 37(3), 779-799. doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-23-0176.1 Journal - Research Article