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Women In Polar Science

Alex Gossart, PhD

Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand)

Alex, in orange and black NZ Antarctic gear, stands on top of Observation Hill during a day off.

Alex, in orange and black NZ Antarctic gear, stands on top of Observation Hill during a day off.

What’s the work that you do?

I am a regional climate modeller and use the Polar version of the Weather Research & Forecasting Model (P-WRF) to understand processes and interactions between the atmosphere and the surface of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, with a focus on surface mass balance components such as surface melt, precipitation events, blowing snow, etc. I have also coupled the atmosphere PWRF model to the ocean MITgcm model (with Dr Alena Malyarenko) to study air-ocean and sea ice interactions over the Ross Sea domain, including polynya activity and sea ice extent for the present day.

What keeps you going?

I love to explore processes in Antarctica, by running sensitivity experiments and creating alternative realities (altering the forcing of the model) to investigate the effects on the earth system. I think it is amazing and required to understand the risks of future warming and implications for the Antarctic Ice sheet and its contribution to global sea level rise.

What’s your message to the world?

I can create alternative realities – I wish I could actually have an impact on where the world is heading.

Organisation: Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand)

Nationality: Belgium Belgium

Disciplines:

Climate modelling

Connect:    

Research

We are grateful to The Ocean Foundation for acting as our fiscal sponsor in the US, the Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation for sponsoring this project, and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) for supporting us.