Cheryl Noronha-D’Mello, PhD

What’s the work that you do?

I’m a Project Scientist who specialises in Antarctic paleoclimate and paleolimnology. My research centres around reconstructing the past climate in Antarctica using sediment cores retrieved from the lakes of ice-free oases of the Larsemann Hills and Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica. We want to understand environmental responses of the terrestrial and aquatic systems to past climate change over glacial and interglacial timescales.

What keeps you going?

Since hearing stories of various exploration expeditions, the idea of working in Antarctica has intrigued me. Studying past climate in Antarctica is literally time-traveling to the past to find out and interpret some knowledge that is unknown or little known. It’s like being a climate detective trying to decipher the secrets of Antarctica’s past, and you get to tell that story to the world through your research. Working in such challenging conditions on the lake on a floating platform to retrieve sediment cores in order to tell that story makes the job adventurous and exciting.

What’s your message to the world?

As I study past as well as modern climate change, I want to convey that climate change is indeed real and amplified in the polar regions. Though it has happened in the past due to natural variability, the current climate change scenario is caused by humankind and is irreversible. But, there is still scope to heal the planet by changing multiple magnifying factors, including carbon emissions and lifestyle. We need to do our part in order to preserve the beautiful and pristine region of Antarctica and all the life that it holds.