Quick Facts
Biography
Natalie Robinson, an Antarctic researcher, is based at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand. She led the final two K131 Science Events on the sea ice of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.
Education
Robinson grew up in the Hawke's Bay Region and moved to Victoria University of Wellington to complete her MSc (2005) on tides beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf with data collected during the ANDRILL project with Alex Pyne and Peter Barrett.She then completed her PhD (2012) at the University of Otago under the supervision of Pat Langhorne. She now works as a research scientist at National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.
Career and impact
Dr. Robinson has led a number of field expeditions to the sea ice of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.In 2015 she was awarded a prestigious Marsden grant to study ice roughness beneath ice shelf affected sea ice. This resulted in two expeditions to McMurdo Sound.Her studies showed that new ice crystals could refreeze on the underside of sea ice and make the underside much rougher than under smooth melting ice.
This work used Antarctic infrastructure developed by Timothy Haskell. Robinson led the final expeditions using the "K131" Camp Haskell. The "K131" is an event designation assigned by Antarctica New Zealand.
She has worked with the artist Gabby O'Connor when O'Connor participated in Robinson's 2017 field expedition. This resulted in an exhibition at the Otago Museum in 2018.
Robinson is an active communicator on climate, science, Antarctica and combining field work and family commitments.
She is on the Council of the New Zealand Association of Scientists.
