The Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies

Hi! My name is Vanessa Martiny, and I am majoring in Aerospace Engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology and during the summer of 2025, I had the most incredible experience at the University of Washington as a CICOES intern.

My project focused on surface controls on ice thickness and photosynthesis during the Neoproterozoic “Snowball” Earth event, which was a period around 700 million years ago when the planet is believed to have been almost entirely covered in ice. The goal was to determine how much light would have been available for photosynthesis in order for small algae to live off of under the bottom layer of the ice. Using MATLAB-based radiative transfer and energy balance models, I investigated how impurities in the ice (such as volcanic ash, dust, and black carbon) and atmospheric turbulence influence the thickness of glacial ice. We found that impurities significantly increase the equilibrium ice thickness at low albedos; however, when accounting for atmospheric turbulence through its effect on the latent heat flux of sublimation, we found that it can reduce equilibrium ice thickness by nearly an order of magnitude. We also looked into how much photosynthetically active radiation would be available at the basal layer of the ice for different impurity concentrations and discovered that the maximum ice thickness at which photosynthesis could occur was typically less than 100m. These results provide new insight into how photosynthetic microorganisms could have survived global-scale glaciations and also inform our understanding of present and future ice dynamics in a changing climate. It was especially rewarding to contribute something new to the field of polar science and to see how small-scale processes can have global implications.

Beyond the research itself, the internship was an incredible experience. I went on numerous hikes with breathtaking views, explored the different neighborhoods of Seattle, and am simply just thankful to have met such a fun and inspiring group of fellow interns. I am deeply grateful to my mentor, Aditya Khuller, for his guidance and support, as well as for being the funniest guy I’ve ever met!

The skills I gained ranged from technical coding and data analysis to scientific communication and teamwork, and are ones I will carry into my junior year as an engineering major. This experience not only strengthened my academic foundation but also gave me confidence in my ability to contribute to big scientific questions and collaborate across disciplines.

Project Introduction

Research Poster