Naomi Ochwat

I study glacier dynamics using remote sensing and numerical modelling methods. My main research focus is on Antarctic tidewater glacier instabilities coupled with sea ice, atmosphere, and ocean interactions. I am inspired by rapid change at glacier margins. For example, I am investigating the Marine Ice Cliff Instability as well as other forms of rapid glacier retreat, such as rapid buoyancy-driven retreat driven by ice plain bedrock topography (e.g. Hektoria Glacier). Currently, my projects include studying fast ice characteristics and interactions in Pine Island Bay, with focus on the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf, evaluating the dynamics and effects of the McMurdo Ice Shelf Rumples on ice shelf stability, and in Alaska, I am studying glacier wave-ogive formation on the Gilkey Glacier.

My methods include synthesis of a wide variety of open-source satellite data. This includes, alitmetry (e.g. ICESat-2), optical imagery (e.g. Landsat, Worldview, Sentinel-2), optically derived digital elevation models, airborne radar data, and more. I am also working with ERA-5 climate reanalysis data as well as WaveWatch ocean reanaylsis data. In situ methods include GNSS, timelapse cameras, distributed acoustic sensing, firn cores, and more. Finally, I am working with numerical models for ogive formation and HiDEM to study calving dynamics at Crane Glacier.