RESEARCH
Master in Environmental Science at ETH Zürich with special interest in climate, earth and polar sciences, glaciology, biodiversity, water management, natural hazards and risk management as well as landscape and forest management.
Michael McCarthy, Fabienne Meier, Simone Fatichi, Benjamin D. Stocker, Thomas E. Shaw, Evan Miles, Inés Dussaillant, Francesca Pellicciotti (Earth's Future, 2022)
A paper published in Earth's Future and based on my masters thesis "Effects of the Chilean megadrought on climate, cryosphere and hydrosphere in the Maipo basin (2021)". Read paper here
KEY POINTS
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The current Chilean megadrought has led to acute water shortages in central Chile since 2010
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Imbalance glacier ablation has strongly buffered the late-summer discharge of the Maipo River during the current Chilean megadrought
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Between 2010 and 2018, almost a quarter of total glacier ablation in the Maipo Basin was not balanced by new snowfall
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By buffering river discharge during drought, glaciers, distinct from seasonal snow, provide a valuable hydrologic service to Santiago
Juneau Icefield Research Program JIRP 2022
In summer 2022 I had the incredible opportunity to take part in the Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP). JIRP is a seven weeks educational and expeditionary training in polar environments where we traversed the Juneau icefield from Juneau (Alaska) to Atlin (Canada).
Along the icefield traverse we got a wide range of academic training and learned wilderness survival, safety and mountaineering skills needed for a future career in polar field sciences. Together with leading climate and earth scientists from all around the world we worked on several different scientific projects.
More about my research at JIRP:
- Smithsonian Magazine: These Students Are Part of a 75-Year Study to Map Alaska’s Glaciers
- International Glaciological Society: 16 November 2022 - Juneau Icefield Research Program student presentations from the 2022 field season
- Newspaper Switzerland: Article in der Landbote
High mountain glaciers and hydrology HIMAL Research group
Of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL
I supported the HIMAL group on two multiple day glaciology field trips of the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL:
Field work on Haut d' Arolla Glacier (2021)
Establishing a network of low-cost temperature and wind sensors to improve the understanding of glacier-climate interactions.
Field work on Zmutt Glacier (2020)
Field work on a debris covered glacier and camping in the glacier forefield: Dismantling temperature sensors and cameras, displaying ground control points before UAV flights and recording the position with a differential GPS.
Entomological Collection of ETH Zürich
Besides my studies in Environmental Science at ETH Zürich, I worked as an research assistant at Switzerland's federal Entomological Collection (analogous to the US Smithsonian) helping to digitize the Palearctic insect holdings.
As a result of more than 170 years of collecting by numerous natural scientists, the Entomological Collection of ETH Zurich houses approximately 2 million historical specimens and is among the largest scientific insect collections in Switzerland.
