Antarctica Unfrozen

Ever thought about how scientists measure sea ice thickness without a giant drill and metre ruler or how to spy on Antarctic seals from space? Then you’ll particularly love this one because we are joined by two remote sensing specialists, Prof. Wolfgang Rack and Masters Student, Shanelle Dyer! Prof. Wolfgang Rack is a glaciologist at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. During his PhD, Wolfgang discovered the instability of Antarctic outlet glaciers following the Larsen-A ice shelf collapse in 1995. Since then, his work has used remote sensing to map ice dynamics and ice thickness in the Antarctic. This tool enables him to study the mass balance of the polar cryosphere, which includes sea ice, ocean and ice shelf interactions right from his office desk! Shanelle also works in Antarctica from space! She is currently researching the detection and monitoring of Weddell seal populations using remote sensing, GIS, and deep learning. Shanelle is awesome because she’s passionate about applying technology to