Robbie Mallett
@robbiemallett.bsky.social
I study sea ice at the Arctic University of Norway.
www.robbiemallett.com
www.robbiemallett.com
Yevgeny Fedorov crewed the NP1 drifting station for 274 days at the start of the Soviet programme. He crewed several others afterwards.
Whether the Russians were paying respect & homage to the spirit of MOSAiC, or saying "we did it first & it isn't new" is unclear to me. Maybe we'll never know.
Whether the Russians were paying respect & homage to the spirit of MOSAiC, or saying "we did it first & it isn't new" is unclear to me. Maybe we'll never know.
September 13, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Yevgeny Fedorov crewed the NP1 drifting station for 274 days at the start of the Soviet programme. He crewed several others afterwards.
Whether the Russians were paying respect & homage to the spirit of MOSAiC, or saying "we did it first & it isn't new" is unclear to me. Maybe we'll never know.
Whether the Russians were paying respect & homage to the spirit of MOSAiC, or saying "we did it first & it isn't new" is unclear to me. Maybe we'll never know.
Something that I did not hear discussed at the time (and have not heard since) is the symbolism of the Russians sending their icebreaker RV Akademik Federov to assist RV Polarstern at the start of the 2019/20 MOSAiC sea ice drift campaign.
They had newer & more powerful ships, so why pick Federov?
They had newer & more powerful ships, so why pick Federov?
September 13, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Something that I did not hear discussed at the time (and have not heard since) is the symbolism of the Russians sending their icebreaker RV Akademik Federov to assist RV Polarstern at the start of the 2019/20 MOSAiC sea ice drift campaign.
They had newer & more powerful ships, so why pick Federov?
They had newer & more powerful ships, so why pick Federov?
While the annual minimum extent is flattening, the annual maximum extent is still declining pretty linearly...
August 4, 2025 at 11:06 AM
While the annual minimum extent is flattening, the annual maximum extent is still declining pretty linearly...
Up close and personal with one of the Arctic's infamous boundary layer inversions!
July 24, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Up close and personal with one of the Arctic's infamous boundary layer inversions!
Updating a figure with 2025 data for a research proposal. The shift in conditions around 2016 are becoming starker by the year...
July 24, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Updating a figure with 2025 data for a research proposal. The shift in conditions around 2016 are becoming starker by the year...
As my PhD came to a close in 2022 I was lucky to join an icebreaker campaign in the Weddell Sea.
TLDR: lots of very hard, very coarse snow.
Rosie Willatt then led a very nice analysis of the radar data we collected, and it's out today in GRL.
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
TLDR: lots of very hard, very coarse snow.
Rosie Willatt then led a very nice analysis of the radar data we collected, and it's out today in GRL.
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
July 7, 2025 at 7:11 PM
As my PhD came to a close in 2022 I was lucky to join an icebreaker campaign in the Weddell Sea.
TLDR: lots of very hard, very coarse snow.
Rosie Willatt then led a very nice analysis of the radar data we collected, and it's out today in GRL.
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
TLDR: lots of very hard, very coarse snow.
Rosie Willatt then led a very nice analysis of the radar data we collected, and it's out today in GRL.
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
This is a cool video!
Strange to use a photo of an ESTRACK station to represent "radar" though...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cebrero...
Strange to use a photo of an ESTRACK station to represent "radar" though...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cebrero...
June 9, 2025 at 5:31 PM
This is a cool video!
Strange to use a photo of an ESTRACK station to represent "radar" though...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cebrero...
Strange to use a photo of an ESTRACK station to represent "radar" though...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cebrero...
Fun to speak to the Blue Compass conference in Tromsø today about Arctic sea ice decline: it's strongly confined to shallow waters and exclusive economic zones, posing an immediate governance challenge.
June 4, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Fun to speak to the Blue Compass conference in Tromsø today about Arctic sea ice decline: it's strongly confined to shallow waters and exclusive economic zones, posing an immediate governance challenge.
Really happy to be one of two finalists for "Best popular article written by a scientist" this year at the ABSW awards.
Particularly poignant to be considered for the Katharine Giles Award. I never met Katharine, but I was often steered by her legacy while working for @cpom-uk.bsky.social
Particularly poignant to be considered for the Katharine Giles Award. I never met Katharine, but I was often steered by her legacy while working for @cpom-uk.bsky.social
May 21, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Really happy to be one of two finalists for "Best popular article written by a scientist" this year at the ABSW awards.
Particularly poignant to be considered for the Katharine Giles Award. I never met Katharine, but I was often steered by her legacy while working for @cpom-uk.bsky.social
Particularly poignant to be considered for the Katharine Giles Award. I never met Katharine, but I was often steered by her legacy while working for @cpom-uk.bsky.social
Thirty years later (2022 vs 1992) I was in the same basket, in the same Weddell Sea, also looking at pancake ice.
The more things change...
The more things change...
March 18, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Thirty years later (2022 vs 1992) I was in the same basket, in the same Weddell Sea, also looking at pancake ice.
The more things change...
The more things change...
Extremely interesting! I detected some of these jumps during my PhD (blue line), but never linked them to decreases in ice density.
March 18, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Extremely interesting! I detected some of these jumps during my PhD (blue line), but never linked them to decreases in ice density.
Short critique of my own work out today in J Glaciology.
Five years ago I made a back-of-envelope calculation of seasonal densification rate of snow on sea ice.
It unexpectedly became quite popular! Here I show it was roughly right even if the method was a bit dodgy...
doi.org/10.1017/jog....
Five years ago I made a back-of-envelope calculation of seasonal densification rate of snow on sea ice.
It unexpectedly became quite popular! Here I show it was roughly right even if the method was a bit dodgy...
doi.org/10.1017/jog....
March 14, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Short critique of my own work out today in J Glaciology.
Five years ago I made a back-of-envelope calculation of seasonal densification rate of snow on sea ice.
It unexpectedly became quite popular! Here I show it was roughly right even if the method was a bit dodgy...
doi.org/10.1017/jog....
Five years ago I made a back-of-envelope calculation of seasonal densification rate of snow on sea ice.
It unexpectedly became quite popular! Here I show it was roughly right even if the method was a bit dodgy...
doi.org/10.1017/jog....
How does multiyear sea ice get blown out of position over a couple of months? I marked its original position with a contour, and then overlaid the ice motion vectors on the ice type map. Thanks to OSISAF for the data.
March 6, 2025 at 1:35 AM
How does multiyear sea ice get blown out of position over a couple of months? I marked its original position with a contour, and then overlaid the ice motion vectors on the ice type map. Thanks to OSISAF for the data.
Potential vorticity (purple is negative) during the exceptional January of 2021.
As well as watching weather advect around the Arctic, notice how the purple system just sits over the Beaufort Sea.
Paper about it here:
doi.org/10.1038/s432...
As well as watching weather advect around the Arctic, notice how the purple system just sits over the Beaufort Sea.
Paper about it here:
doi.org/10.1038/s432...
March 6, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Potential vorticity (purple is negative) during the exceptional January of 2021.
As well as watching weather advect around the Arctic, notice how the purple system just sits over the Beaufort Sea.
Paper about it here:
doi.org/10.1038/s432...
As well as watching weather advect around the Arctic, notice how the purple system just sits over the Beaufort Sea.
Paper about it here:
doi.org/10.1038/s432...
Modelled snow depth on Arctic sea ice in SnowModel-LG, for one year.
Full 1981-2020 video here
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9bd...
Full 1981-2020 video here
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9bd...
March 6, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Modelled snow depth on Arctic sea ice in SnowModel-LG, for one year.
Full 1981-2020 video here
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9bd...
Full 1981-2020 video here
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9bd...
How does sea ice intersect with the North East passage?
Red line indicates line from my house to Beijing, where I presented this slide last year.
Red line indicates line from my house to Beijing, where I presented this slide last year.
March 6, 2025 at 1:06 AM
How does sea ice intersect with the North East passage?
Red line indicates line from my house to Beijing, where I presented this slide last year.
Red line indicates line from my house to Beijing, where I presented this slide last year.
The seasonal distribution of Arctic amplification, vs the seasonal distribution of global warming. Again against a midcentury baseline.
March 6, 2025 at 1:04 AM
The seasonal distribution of Arctic amplification, vs the seasonal distribution of global warming. Again against a midcentury baseline.
Some science - global temperatures against a mid-century baseline, with regions that have exceeded 1.5C shaded.
March 6, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Some science - global temperatures against a mid-century baseline, with regions that have exceeded 1.5C shaded.
Fishing pancake ice floes out of the Weddell sea during a massive storm-induced algal bloom.
March 6, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Fishing pancake ice floes out of the Weddell sea during a massive storm-induced algal bloom.
Releasing the daily weather balloon at Rothera near midwinter - this data feeds into World Meteorological Organisation's global network of 8000+ stations, plus the global historical climatology network.
March 6, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Releasing the daily weather balloon at Rothera near midwinter - this data feeds into World Meteorological Organisation's global network of 8000+ stations, plus the global historical climatology network.
Swell penetrating the marginal ice zone and hitting the ice shelf at Neumeyer station. Taken from the back deck of RV Polarstern.
March 6, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Swell penetrating the marginal ice zone and hitting the ice shelf at Neumeyer station. Taken from the back deck of RV Polarstern.
John Yackel from U Calgary riding with our dual-frequency radar after a long day on the sea ice.
March 6, 2025 at 12:58 AM
John Yackel from U Calgary riding with our dual-frequency radar after a long day on the sea ice.
Helping the Rothera marine team with their CTD cast.
(We all know nothing's going on below the halocline, right?)
(We all know nothing's going on below the halocline, right?)
March 6, 2025 at 12:50 AM
Helping the Rothera marine team with their CTD cast.
(We all know nothing's going on below the halocline, right?)
(We all know nothing's going on below the halocline, right?)
My co-winterer Vishnu Nandan dealing with a blizzard. If you want to go to Antarctica you need a warm hat.
March 6, 2025 at 12:48 AM
My co-winterer Vishnu Nandan dealing with a blizzard. If you want to go to Antarctica you need a warm hat.
Inspired by @zacklabe.com to put my invited talk slides online.
www.robbiemallett.com/presentations
One thing you'll notice is that I'm fond of the animated GIF!
A thread of my favourites, starting with not-graphs.
[Divers surfacing from under Antarctic sea ice at Rothera]
www.robbiemallett.com/presentations
One thing you'll notice is that I'm fond of the animated GIF!
A thread of my favourites, starting with not-graphs.
[Divers surfacing from under Antarctic sea ice at Rothera]
March 6, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Inspired by @zacklabe.com to put my invited talk slides online.
www.robbiemallett.com/presentations
One thing you'll notice is that I'm fond of the animated GIF!
A thread of my favourites, starting with not-graphs.
[Divers surfacing from under Antarctic sea ice at Rothera]
www.robbiemallett.com/presentations
One thing you'll notice is that I'm fond of the animated GIF!
A thread of my favourites, starting with not-graphs.
[Divers surfacing from under Antarctic sea ice at Rothera]