Younghyun Koo

In the Southern Ocean, the dynamic drift and deformation of sea ice play an important role in the distribution of sea ice mass balance, as well as the thermodynamic freezing and melting. However, the detailed mechanisms of the formation of pressure ridges or leads have not been fully understood due to the lack of high-resolution sea ice height measurement data. Recently, NASA’s ICESat-2 altimeter made it possible to capture the characteristics of individual sea ice deformation features and their regional statistics. Moreover, various satellite products, including optical images, passive microwave, and synthetic aperture radar (SAR), provide important sea ice information on both large and small scales.

Younghyun Koo will work with Dr. Walter Meier to combine these multiple satellite data and examine how atmospheric/oceanic forces and sea ice kinematics impact the formation of sea ice dynamic features. Using this remote sensing big data, he will also develop deep learning models to predict how the dynamic conditions of the Antarctic sea ice will change as the global climate changes.