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The Australian Antarctic Program’s sea-ice analysis is bridging the north-south polar divide.
Snow physics researcher Dr Amy Macfarlane, from the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Analysis SLF in Switzerland, is swapping the Arctic for the Antarctic to assist additional understanding of how sea ice regulates Earth’s local weather.
As an inaugural Mertz Fellow, Dr Macfarlane will spend three months working with Australian Antarctic Division sea-ice scientist Dr Petra Heil inspecting the reflective properties of snow-covered sea ice.
Sea ice and the snow layer that accumulates on high, replicate daylight again into area, serving to to scale back warming of the earth’s oceans and ambiance.
Sea ice displays between 50 and 70 per cent of daylight, whereas snow-covered sea ice displays as much as 90 per cent of this power.
The quantity of reflectiveness is named ‘albedo’ and is affected by the thickness, density and crystal construction of the ice and snow.
“I’ll be discovering and collating historic and fashionable datasets which were collected on the sea-ice snow microstructure throughout voyages round Antarctica,” Dr Macfarlane stated.
“I’ll intention to get these datasets right into a format that anybody can use, to boost their worth and utility in future analysis.
“I’ll additionally examine how the snow microstructure is influencing albedo in Antarctica and the way properly this course of is represented in local weather fashions.”
Dr Macfarlane lately accomplished her PhD on sea-ice snow within the Arctic, spending seven months on the Polarstern through the MOSAiC expedition, because the ship spent a 12 months drifting with the ocean ice.
She is trying ahead to understanding extra concerning the variations between the Arctic and Antarctic – in addition to the absence of polar bears – and the analysis underway.
“The Mertz Fellowship is a good alternative for me, on this early stage of my profession, to know what individuals are engaged on and the completely different environmental situations and processes underway in Antarctica,” she stated.
The $10,000 Mertz Fellowship is a joint award from the Swiss Polar Institute and the Antarctic Science Basis.
The fellowship launched in 2022 and goals to advertise linkages between Swiss and Australian greater training and analysis establishments by scientific networking and joint tasks.
It takes its identify from Swiss polar explorer Dr Xavier Mertz, who was a part of Douglas Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition from 1911–1914.
“I’ve already had quite a lot of alternatives that I wouldn’t have had with out the Mertz Fellowship,” Dr Macfarlane stated.
“Simply after I arrived in September, I used to be invited to collaborate on a guide chapter with Australian sea-ice scientists.”
Dr Macfarlane will have the ability to use her connections and the snow microstructure datasets that she’s engaged on now, when she takes up a post-doctoral analysis place at UiT The Arctic College of Norway and Northumbria College subsequent 12 months, funded by the SNF-Swiss Postdoc Mobility.
“Being a part of a global neighborhood of sea-ice researchers, and with the ability to meet face-to-face and set up collaborations, is absolutely vital as I set up my profession,” she stated.
As a part of the fellowship alternate, College of Tasmania scientist Dr Melissa Gerwin, is pursuing a venture on the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Analysis, on high-altitude ecosystem vulnerability to warming.
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