SoM Professor Awarded Grant to Study in Antarctica

Dr. Scott Salesky, assistant professor at the School of Meteorology, was awarded a grant through the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs to study how katabatic winds are impacting the growth of the Antarctic ice sheet. The grant, totaling $530,297, is funding a study that Dr. Salesky is leading alongside colleagues from Columbia University in New York. This grant will fund researchers from both universities, including Salesky, to travel to McMurdo Station, which is a United States research station located in Antarctica.

Dr. Salesky said the study is important because, “the Antarctic ice sheet drives many processes in the Earth system through its modulation of regional and global atmospheric and oceanic circulations, storage of fresh water, and effects on global albedo and climate.”

Salesky also underscores how important this understanding is given climatic changes Antarctica is expected to see this year.

“This project combines fundamental research in fluid mechanics with an important environmental issue—the extent to which blowing snow is contributing to the growth and erosion of the Antarctic ice sheet,” Salesky said. “It will give graduate and undergraduate students at OU and Columbia valuable experience interacting with researchers outside of the core discipline and will give them experience in both numerical modeling and field work.”