Tamara Pletzer
Meteorology, glaciology and hydrology
Otago University
PhD candidate
Tamara Pletzer is a PhD candidate modelling glacial melt in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. She is using a fully distributed hydro-meteorological model with an embedded snowpack model to simulate the ephemeral melt events in the Dry Valleys over several summer seasons.
Implementing this model is a proof of concept. Showing that the model is able to accurately capture melt processes provides information on which catchments are preferentially melting during certain weather conditions, which will have downstream effects on the biogeography of the unique ecosystem.
Supervision of this work is being undertaken by the University of Otago's School of Geography, the University of Canterbury's School of Earth and Environment and NIWA.