Jenny Gales

Academic profile

Professor Jenny Gales

Professor of Ocean Exploration
School of Biological and Marine Sciences (Faculty of Science and Engineering)

The Global Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Jenny's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

Goal 05: SDG 5 - Gender EqualityGoal 07: SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean EnergyGoal 09: SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and InfrastructureGoal 13: SDG 13 - Climate ActionGoal 15: SDG 15 - Life on Land

About Jenny

¸é±ð²õ±ð²¹°ù³¦³ó:Ìý Antarctic Continental Margin Processes and Evolution, Continental Margin Geomorphology, Process Sedimentology, Ice Sheet Change, Antarctic Climate History.

Specialities: Marine Geomorphology, Bathymetry, Marine Geophysics, Marine Geology, Glacial Processes, Marine Robotics

Professor Jenny GalesÌýis Professor of Ocean Exploration and Programme Lead for theÌýBSc Ocean Exploration and Surveying programmeÌýat the Â鶹Æƽâ°æ.

Her research focuses on Antarctic continental margins, marine geomorphology, submarine geohazards, ice-sheet dynamics, and the interactions between climate, oceans and the seafloor. She combines marine geophysics, bathymetric mapping, sedimentology and marine autonomy and robotics to investigate how polar continental margins evolve and how these processes influence Earth's climate system.

Professor Gales leads theÌýAntarctic Canyon Experiment (ACE), a £2.5 million European Research Council-funded project (2025–2030) investigating, for the first time, how Antarctic underwater avalanches (turbidity currents) transport organic carbon and influence global climate regulation. Working with an international consortium, the project combines direct observations, marine geophysics, sediment cores and palaeoclimate records to understand how changing ice sheets affect deep-ocean carbon storage.

She is also an active participant in major international Antarctic expeditions. Most recently, she led theÌýGoSouth expeditionÌýto the sub-Antarctic South Sandwich Islands in 2025, funded by the Schmidt Ocean Institute, using advanced robotic technologies to investigate deep-sea volcanoes, submarine landslides, hydrothermal vents and their associated ecosystems in one of Earth's least explored ocean regions.

Professor Gales has participated in numerous Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, including the InternationalÌý, where her research helped reveal how climate has controlled large submarine landslides on the Antarctic continental margin over millions of years. She previously led the ANTSSS expedition to the Ross Sea, collecting gephysical data to better understand processes operating on Antarctic continental margins.Ìý

Before joining the Â鶹Æƽâ°æ, she held research positions at the National Oceanography Centre, the British Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey.
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She continues to collaborate internationally on projects spanning polar science, marine geohazards, climate change and emerging technologies for seafloor exploration.

Teaching

Currently teaches:Ìý

  • OS305 Coastal SurveyÌý
  • OS316 Applied Ocean Exploration (Module Leader)
  • MAR521 Acoustic and Oceanographic Survey

Current PhD students:Ìý

  • Corbyn Johannes - Causes, character and consequences of Antarctic turbidity currents (2024-present)

Completed PhD students:Ìý

  • Maxine King - Deciphering submarine slope processes on the Ross Sea continental margin (2018-2023)

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Contact Jenny

+44 1752 584479