Marilyn Raphael
University of California-Los Angeles, CA·Earth & Environmental Science
Antarctic sea ice has swung to extremes. It grew modestly for decades until 2015, dropped sharply in 2016, and hit record summer and winter lows in 2023.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
- Topics
Antarctic sea ice
sea ice decline
sea ice variability
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2027
What they work on
- 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.
- Improve and evaluate satellite remote sensing and computer model products of Ross Sea ice by comparing them with in situ observations.
- Develop a combined modeling, satellite and field observation strategy to study how atmosphere-ice-ocean processes drive recent rapid Antarctic sea ice decline.
More about the research
The causes remain unclear, and the changes likely also involve ice thickness. The Ross Sea, a major site of this variability, matters for global ocean circulation and for intact food webs protected by the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area. Understanding it requires combining several methods in a remote, hard-to-reach region.
Why it matters
Better understanding of why Antarctic sea ice is falling could improve predictions of how the Southern Ocean and sea ice respond to, and shape, global climate change. Such predictions matter for ocean circulation and for protected Ross Sea ecosystems. The planned observing strategy may help international partners share logistics in one of the hardest places on Earth to do research.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Rachel Tilling
University of Maryland, MD·Earth & Environmental Science
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.
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 California-Los Angeles: 84 labs on PI Pages, $1.9B a year on research, 803 research doctorates a year.
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