Benjamin Hills

About

I am a geophysicist and data scientist interested in processes at the interface between climate and geologic systems. I currently work at KoBold Metals, where we pair geoscience data with machine learning to explore for the critical minerals needed for the energy transition.

Before moving into mineral exploration, my work focused on the fluid dynamics and solid mechanics of water and ice as Earth materials. I have used geophysical methods, such as ice-penetrating radar to survey glaciers and ice sheets, or magnetic resonance to survey subsurface water.

I believe in and practice open science, with free access to data, code, and manuscripts. Most of my research software is freely available, and PDFs for all of my publications are linked below.

Scientific Background and Interests

Mineral GeophysicsData-driven exploration for critical minerals
Cryo GeophysicsInstrument design and software for radar sounding
Hydro GeophysicsSubsurface water and methods for non-invasive measurement
Ice Sheet Properties & DynamicsTemperature and crystal fabric
Snow, Glaciers, & Alpine HydrologyMass balance and runoff
PlanetaryExtraterrestrial ice and analogs on Earth

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Selected Publications

Radar polarimetry in glaciology: Theory, measurement techniques, and scientific applications for investigating the anisotropy of ice masses

Benjamin Hills, TJ Young, David Lilien, and 29 others · Reviews of Geophysics, 2025

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Resolving radiostratigraphy with squinted synthetic aperture radar focusing

Benjamin Hills, Matthew Siegfried, Nicholas Holschuh, Hannah Verboncoeur, Dustin Schroeder · Journal of Glaciology, 2026

DOI

Radar-derived crystal orientation fabric suggests dynamic stability at the summit of Hercules Dome during the last ice-sheet deglaciation

Benjamin Hills, Nicholas Holschuh, Andrew Hoffman, Annika Horlings, Emma Erwin, TJ Fudge, Eric Steig, Knut Christianson · Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 2025

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Measured horizontal temperature gradients constrain heat transfer mechanisms in Greenland ice

Benjamin Hills, Joel Harper, Neil Humphrey, Toby Meierbachtol · Geophysical Research Letters, 2017

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All Publications (22 more)

In Review

Combined effects of meltwater and crystallographic orientations control radar reflections in temperate ice

Cassandra Seltzer, Benjamin Hills, Annie Cheng, Natalie Wolfenbarger, Dustin Schroeder

Subglacial conditions estimated from unsupervised clustering analysis of radar bed-echo shape

Hannah Verboncoeur, Benjamin Hills, Ellianna Abrahams, Matthew Siegfried, Nicholas Holschuh

2026

Anisotropic melt inclusions as a confounding signal for ice-penetrating radar observations

Annie Cheng, Dustin Schroeder, Natalie Wolfenbarger, Riley Shaper, Cassandra Seltzer, Benjamin Hills · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI

2025

Review article: Antarctica’s internal architecture: Towards a radiostratigraphically-informed age–depth model of the Antarctic ice sheets

Robert Bingham, and 53 others · The Cryosphere

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A birefringence correction for multi-frequency radar sounding

Benjamin Hills, Matthew Siegfried, Duncan Young, John Paden, Shivangini Singh, Donald Blankenship, Dustin Schroeder · International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium

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From pingos to planets: Geophysical constraints on the interior structure of Ibyuk Pingo with applications to planetary hydrology

Alexia Kubas, Benjamin Hills, and 14 others · Lunar and Planetary Science Conference

Bedmap3 updated ice bed, surface and thickness gridded datasets for Antarctica

Hamish Pritchard, and 81 others · Nature Scientific Data

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A GPR survey of Arctic pingos

John Bradford, Benjamin Hills, Roger Michaelides, Matthew Siegfried, Venezia Follingstad, Kynan Hughson · International Workshop on Ground Penetrating Radar

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2024

Effective diffusivity of sulfuric acid in Antarctic ice cores

TJ Fudge, Raphael Sauvage, Linh Vu, Benjamin Hills, Mirko Severi, Edwin Waddington · Climate of the Past

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Entrained water in basal ice suppresses radar bed-echo power at active subglacial lakes

Benjamin Hills, Matthew Siegfried, Dustin Schroeder · Geophysical Research Letters

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Ground-penetrating radar investigations of terrestrial analogs for Mars: Eskers at Breiðamerkurjökull, Iceland

An Li, Benjamin Hills, and 11 others · International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration

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2023

Radar attenuation demonstrates advective cooling in the Siple Coast ice streams

Benjamin Hills, Knut Christianson, Robert Jacobel, Howard Conway, Rickard Petterson · Journal of Glaciology

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Scars of tectonic extension promote ice-sheet nucleation from Hercules Dome, West Antarctica

Andrew Hoffman, Nicholas Holschuh, Megan Mueller, John Paden, Atsuhiro Muto, Gordon Ariho, Cassandra Brigham, John Christian, Lindsey Davidge, Emma Heitmann, Benjamin Hills, Annika Horlings, Susannah Morey, Gemma O’Connor, TJ Fudge, Eric Steig, Knut Christianson · Nature Geoscience

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Greenland and Canadian Arctic ice temperature profiles database

Anja Løkkegaard, and 26 others · The Cryosphere

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Antarctic Bedmap data: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) sharing of 60 years of ice bed, surface, and thickness data

Alice Frémand, and 83 others · Earth System Science Data

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2022

Geophysics and thermodynamics at South Pole Lake indicate stability and a regionally thawed bed

Benjamin Hills, Knut Christianson, Andrew Hoffman, TJ Fudge, Nicholas Holschuh, Emma Kahle, Howard Conway, John Christian, Annika Horlings, Gemma O’Connor, Eric Steig · Geophysical Research Letters

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A site for deep ice coring at West Hercules Dome: results from ground-based geophysics and modeling

TJ Fudge, Benjamin Hills, Annika Horlings, Nicholas Holschuh, Gemma O’Connor, John Christian, Lindsey Davidge, Andrew Hoffman, Knut Christianson, Eric Steig · Journal of Glaciology

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What can the ice-bed interface tell us? Insights into old ice, meltwater, bedrock geology, and ice-sheet history

Caleb Walcott, Emma Erwin, Benjamin Hills · PAGES Magazine

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2021

Avoiding slush for hot-point drilling of glacier boreholes

Benjamin Hills, Dale Winebrenner, Tim Elam, Paul Kintner · Annals of Glaciology

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2020

A framework for attenuation method selection evaluated with ice-penetrating radar data at South Pole Lake

Benjamin Hills, Knut Christianson, Nicholas Holschuh · Annals of Glaciology

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