Under the Ice: How Greenland's Hidden Rivers Shape Our World

1) I am a glaciologist specialising in remote sensing that involves satellite imagery. I am primarily interested in current and future dynamics of large ice sheets (in Greenland and Antarctica) and how that will change due to the human-induced climate crisis. In my PhD research, I focus specifically on the subglacial hydrology of the Greenland Ice Sheet, meaning I am interested in understanding how much water exists beneath a very thick ice body (~1-2 kilometres thick) and how that affects the flow and loss of ice.

2) My research is closely related to climate action. By producing new knowledge, I hope to make society and policymakers aware of how people are causing glaciers to melt worldwide and the major consequences this will have on our future lives if we do not curb greenhouse-gas emissions in time.

3) My journey towards becoming a PhD at DTU was bumpy and not straightforward. It started off in a high school in Poland, where I studied mostly humanities, never thinking I would end up as a student at a polytechnic. I then took a major and scary step to move to a different country, Scotland, to study Geography at a university where Prince William and Catherine met. Initially, I was interested in the human and social aspects of climate change until I signed up for a Glaciology class in my third year that changed my academic life. I ended up writing a dissertation on changes to some Antarctic glaciers and graduating with a joint degree in Physical Geography and Arabic – quite an unusual combination.

On a mission to become a proper glaciologist who knows how to crack numbers, I moved to Cambridge, UK, to pursue my Master's in Polar Studies. On the way to DTU, I have also participated in scientific expeditions to Norway, Svalbard, and Alaska. I would be happy to talk a little bit about my journey, too.