Stina, please introduce yourself.
I’m Stina Wahlgren, a physical oceanography PhD student at University of Gothenburg.
Tell us about your professional and academic career before becoming part of the OCEAN:ICE community.
I first studied Engineering Physics at Chalmers University of Technology, and after graduation I worked a couple of years as an engineer developing signal processing algorithms for radar systems. During the COVID pandemic, when life was slow and boring, I enrolled in a physical oceanography master’s program at University of Gothenburg besides work, just for fun. It turned out that I really enjoyed it, and I decided to change my career path. I did my master’s thesis on wave propagation in sea ice, and became fascinated with ice-ocean interactions. For my PhD project, I changed from sea ice to ice shelves, but my interest in ice-ocean interactions remains.
What do you do within OCEAN:ICE?
I’m part of work package 2, focusing on observations under ice shelves and what that can tell us about how ice shelves melt (or not melt) from below in contact with the ocean. My main focus is the AUV deployments we have done under Thwaites and Dotson ice shelves, but I have also been involved in the borehole deployment under the Fimbul ice shelf.
What have you enjoyed about OCEAN:ICE so far?
I had the opportunity to join the expedition to Amundsen sea with the Korean icebreaker Araon last season, when we did the AUV deployments. It was the first time in Antarctica for me, and I am very happy I got to experience this and see the ice shelves with my own eyes. Working in a big project like OCEAN:ICE also means that you are surrounded by people working on similar things, and I really enjoy being part of this community.
Tell us about a skill or trait unique to you that you would like to share?
I’m really into handicrafts, and especially enjoy learning new techniques. Besides knitting, crocheting, sewing and embroidery, I have also learned how to do bobbin lace and spinning yarn on a spinning wheel. My latest hobby is machine knitting.
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