Rachel Tilling
University of Maryland, MD·Earth & Environmental Science
Floating sea ice around Antarctica has swung wildly in recent years. Its extent grew modestly for decades, peaked in 2015, dropped sharply in 2016, and hit record lows in both summer and winter of 2023, with large swings in between.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Physics
- Topics
Antarctic sea ice
Ross Sea
sea ice extent
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2027
What they work on
- Evaluate advanced and emerging observing technologies for their ability to form a network that captures the atmosphere-ice-ocean processes driving sea ice variability across the Ross Sea.
- Improve and assess satellite remote sensing products and numerical model output for Antarctic sea ice, including thickness, by comparing them against in-situ observations collected on the ice.
- Develop a combined in-situ, satellite and modelling observing strategy that future larger projects can deploy to explain the recent rapid sea ice decline in the Ross Sea.
- Test these techniques in the McMurdo region while building a research and logistical partnership between the US and New Zealand Antarctic programs under the Antarctica InSync initiative.
More about the research
Nobody fully understands why. The changes in how far the ice spreads are probably tied closely to changes in how thick it is, which is much harder to measure. Sea ice matters because it helps drive the circulation of the global ocean and underpins food webs, so getting these drivers right is central to predicting how the Southern Ocean responds to and influences environmental change.
Why it matters
Antarctic sea ice shapes global ocean circulation and the ecosystems of the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area, yet recent record lows are poorly explained. By testing instruments and reconciling satellite and model estimates against direct measurements, the project could improve predictions of how the Southern Ocean and its ice respond to and influence global environmental change, and establish shared logistics for research in a region that is very hard to work in.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Marilyn Raphael
University of California-Los Angeles, CA·Earth & Environmental Science
Evaluate advanced and emerging observing technologies near McMurdo to see which could join an observation network that captures key sea ice processes across the Ross Sea.
John Heine
Jacksonville University, FL·Ecology & Evolution
Quantify percent cover, biomass, blade length and reproductive characteristics of the red algae Phyllophora antarctica and Iridaea cordata across depth and light gradients at seven sites in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.
Jodi Young
University of Washington, WA·Earth & Environmental Science·Early-career
Measure how different sympagic algal species adapt their growth and cell properties to seasonal sea ice formation and melt, using a laboratory ice tank modeled on Antarctic Peninsula conditions.
The school
University of Maryland: 49 labs on PI Pages, $1.5B a year on research, 602 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.