Research Spotlight On Sea Ice Growth in Antarctica

Description

A/Prof Mark McGuinness is an Applied Mathematics professor at MSCS, helping to explain global phenomena using Mathematical models. His latest work sees him investigating the formation of platelet ice, an important component of sea ice, in Antarctica.

Platelet ice is found on the first year of cover, near ice shelves. However, we don't observe it at shallower depths, and Mathematicians around the world have been scratching their heads as to why this is the case: it doesn't fit with the models we have of how water freezes.

Mark and his graduate students have been researching what is happening to the salt in the water. By looking at the way salt distributes as ice freezes, Mark and his team hope to create a more comprehensive scientific model for the freezing of ice. Their current data suggests that there may be differences between the ice freezing in the Northern and Southern poles, as the salinity in the oceans are different. This could have significant implications for predictions of how climate change will affect the polar ice caps.

Members

A/Prof Mark McGuinness