Marte, please introduce yourself.
I'm Marte Hofsteenge, I'm a postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. My research is part of both the PolarRES and OCEAN ICE projects, where I study the future climate and mass balance of Antarctica using regional climate model simulations. Most of my research is about atmospheric processes and their interaction with melt on ice shelves and glaciers in Antarctica.
Tell us about your professional and academic career before becoming part of the OCEAN ICE community.
My interest in polar regions started during a study semester on Svalbard. Since then, I’ve focused my studies on understanding the interactions between the atmosphere and cryosphere. During my master's in meteorology in the Netherlands I focused on Arctic climate and sea ice processes. After that I went to New Zealand for my PhD research, where I focussed on understanding the atmospheric processes driving melt in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. I'm excited continue working on Antarctic climate, mass balance and impacts on the ocean within OCEAN ICE.
What do you do within OCEAN ICE?
I'm working in WP3, which provides values and uncertainties for freshwater fluxes from the Antarctic Ice Sheet to the ocean. My contribution here is in providing freshwater fluxes from regional climate models, such as runoff of meltwater and export of blowing snow from the Antarctic continent into the ocean.
What have you enjoyed about OCEAN ICE so far?
I enjoy the international character of the project and learning about interactions between ice and the ocean as I come from a meteorological background. I have joined Ocean Ice only recently and am therefore excited to meet other members soon in Copenhagen.
Tell us about a skill or trait unique to you that you would like to share?
Next to my research work I like to express my love for ice and the polar regions in art. I'm a printmaker, and make prints related to the polar regions from old tetrapack packaging, with linoprinting or more traditional etching techniques in metal. If you are interested have a look here or contact me to work on some creative projects: https://www.martehofsteenge.com/art
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.