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Utrecht researcher Lu Zhou 400,000 euros in funding from the Netherlands Polar Programme. Her aim is to uncover how the loss of Arctic sea ice impacts melting of surrounding glaciers. Specifically, she will look at the effects of the rapid loss of sea ice in the Last Ice Area, which harbours the Arctic's oldest ice. The project will be conducted in close collaboration with the German Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI).

Arctic sea ice, which refers to ice that floats on the surface of the Arctic Ocean, is shrinking and getting thinner due to climate change. This is especially happening in a key region called the Last Ice Area. This area harbours the Arctic's last remnants of the thickest, oldest, and most robust sea ice, but since 2000, it has seen major changes, such as more open water, faster ice movement, and loss of ice.

Critically, these changes are expected to drive significant glacial mass loss from the adjacent northern Greenland Ice Sheet and Ellesmere Island. However, scientists still don’t fully understand which mechanisms are at play here. Gaining insight into these mechanisms is important because indirectly, they will contribute to global sea level rise and further disrupt Arctic climate systems.

Together, these projects allow me to better understand how changes in extreme less polar sea ice influence the global climate

Uncovering how it occurs

In this project, Zhou aims to uncover how sea ice loss in the Last Ice Area impacts melting of surrounding glaciers. She will do so in close collaboration with the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany. The partnership will enable them to combine long-term airborne observations, satellite data, and advanced climate modelling.

Observations from the air will give the most accurate data so far on how sea ice changes with the seasons. Climate models will then help show how less sea ice in the Last Ice Area and more greenhouse gases are affecting current and future melting of glaciers in northern Greenland and on Ellesmere Island.

Studying both poles

Earlier this month, Zhou also received a Veni award from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). With this grant, she will also focus on understanding polar sea ice and its role in the Earth’s climate system, but in a different area: the Antarctic. She will develop improved snow cover maps by fusing satellite and field data using geo statistics and AI.

“Together, these projects allow me to study both poles using remote sensing and modelling”, Zhou says. “And to better understand how changes in extreme less polar sea ice influence the global climate.”