Eliana Gonzalez
Bowdoin College
Research Mentor: Georgy Manucharyan
Project: Floe Size Distribution in Lake Ice
This summer, I worked with Georgy Manucharyan and Brandon Montemuro in the School of Oceanography, investigating differences between modeling sea ice and lake ice. This project was part of a larger study being done to predict ice breakup times and patterns in Kobuk Lake, in Kotzebue, AK.
My work was largely observational, with some work being started to translate the observed data into the sea ice model, Subzero. Using high-resolution satellite imagery from Sentinel 2, I found floe size distribution (FSD) for Kobuk Lake from 2018 to 2025. Once I established the differences between the Kobuk Lake FSD and the adjacent ocean water FSD, I expanded my dataset to include other northern hemisphere lakes, like Great Bear Lake, Great Slave Lake, and Lake Huron. The criteria for these lakes were that they ranged in size and were completely frozen over in the winter. Now, the goal is to mimic the observed FSD in our implementation of Subzero on Kobuk Lake, thereby improving the accuracy of the breakup patterns predicted.
I had a great summer at the University of Washington and enjoyed my time in Seattle! Not only did I learn a lot about sea and lake ice, but I also learned about graduate school opportunities and what to look for in a program. I’m very grateful for my mentors, Georgy and Brandon, and the other CICOES interns for a great experience!
Project Introduction
Research Poster
