Dr. Rebecca Mcgirr

Biography

Rebecca McGirr is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Australian National University, specializing in the analysis of satellite gravity data. Her current research utilizes satellite gravity data to measure temporal and spatial variations in the solid Earth and its fluid envelope. She has significant expertise in data collected from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission, launched in 2002, and its successor, the GRACE Follow-On mission, launched in 2018. Dr. McGirr is particularly interested in using this data to measure changes in the mass balance of polar ice caps and glaciers, contributing to global sea level rise. She completed her PhD in Geodesy at the Research School of Earth Sciences within the Australian National University, which was awarded in 2022. Her doctoral research developed a novel approach to remove thermally induced errors from key non-gravitational accelerations measured by GRACE satellites, assessing the impact of varying satellite altitude on the accuracy of temporal gravity field models. Additionally, she earned her Undergraduate Degree with Honours in Geophysics from the University of Sydney in 2018, where she developed a plate tectonic model for the closure of the Central American Seaway and its implications for global climate change.

Research Interests

Experience