Onward with Glaciology Summer School projects! Firsthand data, like when you can actually be in a place and measure the temperature with a thermometer, is always useful. But what happens when you want to take the temperature of a place that is one of the more remote places on the planet, like Antarctica? This project focuses on the Antarctic peninsula, a dynamic area which has changed a lot in the past decade, especially with the collapse of the massive Larsen B ice shelf in 2002. We are using microwave signals from a satellite as well as ground-based weather station data to understand the relationship between climate and Antarctic melting. Microwave frequency signals are used because ice and snow reflect a significantly larger amount of microwave radiation than liquid water. Since water melts at close to 0 degrees Celsius (depending on pressure and purity), melt detected by the satellite is strongly related to increases in surface air temperature above freezing. Therefore, using weather station data we are able to confirm this relationship between temperature and melt. Using satellite data to detect the timing and spatial distribution of melt is particularly useful in locations like Antarctica, where taking sufficient ground measurements is not very feasible.
Our next step will be to compare the melt that was detected using satellite data with melt as modeled by a regional climate computer model, to contrast the strengths of each method for accurately detecting melt. At the end of the day, what we want to do is see how well global climate indicators relate to the melt events on the peninsula. These may help explain why melt events may be larger or smaller on any given year, and when studied over time, may offer a “big picture” of how climate changes affects melting processes.
– Thomas and Tyler
