Rate My Professor Pat Langhorne

Pat Langhorne's research focuses on sea ice physical processes, particularly ice-ocean interactions in Antarctic coastal sea ice influenced by ice shelves, including platelet ice formation and sub-ice platelet layers. With approximately 25 research visits to Antarctica, mainly McMurdo Sound since 1992, she has conducted laboratory experiments in walk-in freezers, field measurements, and utilized airborne thickness surveys and satellite remote sensing. Collaborating with NIWA, University of Canterbury, Industrial Research Limited, and international partners, she develops models of sea ice crystallography and physical properties. Key publications include 'Fast ice thickness distribution in the Western Ross Sea in late spring' (Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 2023), 'Antarctic landfast sea ice: A review of its physics, biogeochemistry and ecology' (Reviews of Geophysics, 2023), 'Seasonal and diurnal variability of sub-ice platelet layer thickness in McMurdo Sound from electromagnetic induction sounding' (The Cryosphere, 2024), 'Sub-ice platelet layer physics: Insights from a mushy-layer sea ice model' (Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 2021), and 'Sea ice thickness in the Western Ross Sea' (Geophysical Research Letters, 2021). In 2019, she became the first woman to receive the New Zealand Antarctic Medal for outstanding contributions to Antarctic science. Her work has advanced understanding of polar marine physics and sea ice dynamics in climate models.