Yixi, please introduce yourself.
My name is Yixi Zheng, and I am a postdoctoral researcher at the British Antarctic Survey specialising in Antarctic physical oceanography. My work focuses on turbulence at the ice shelf-ocean boundary layer, which regulates heat transfer and drives rapid glacial melting.
Tell us about your professional and academic career before becoming part of the OCEAN ICE community.
After completing my PhD in Antarctic physical oceanography at the University of East Anglia, I continued there as a postdoctoral researcher for about 18 months, studying the interactions between the ocean, ice and the atmosphere, in front of Antarctic ice shelves. During this time, I participated in three research cruises to the Antarctic continental shelf seas.
What do you do within OCEAN ICE?
I work in WP2 with Peter Davis, studying turbulence beneath the Fimbul Ice Shelf, a cold-cavity system. By comparing these data with observations from warm-cavity shelves like Thwaites, we can see how cavity conditions shape turbulence and heat exchange. This helps us better understand the processes driving ice shelf melting and their contribution to sea-level rise.
What have you enjoyed about OCEAN ICE so far?
I’ve really appreciated how OCEAN ICE actively includes Early Career Researchers and creates opportunities for us to meet each other.
Tell us about a skill or trait unique to you that you would like to share?
I have a habit of making detailed notes of everything I observe, which helps me learn quickly and manage multiple tasks at once.
Stay tuned on our social media channels (X, Mastodon, LinkedIn and Bluesky) for more of the series of OCEAN ICE 'Researcher in the Spotlight' articles.