Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

PhD, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (2020 – 2024)

  • University of Colorado Boulder

  • Thesis Title: “Antarctic Atmospheric Rivers in the Present and Future Climates”

  • Advisor: Prof. Andrew Winters, Synoptic Meteorology Group (formerly Prof. Jan Lenaerts, Ice Sheets and Climate Group)

  • Graduate Fellowship: NASA FINESST Future Investigator

  • PhD defended on October 9th, 2024

  • Masters in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences received May 2024 (part of PhD program)

  • PhD candidacy achieved in April 2022

Bachelor of Arts, Mathematics and Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, summa cum laude (2015 – 2019)

  • University of Colorado Boulder

  • Honors Thesis Topic: “Large-Scale Atmospheric Drivers of Snowfall on Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica”

  • President Joseph A. Sewall Award for merit scholarship

  • Sieglinde Talbott Haller Scholarship for exceptional mathematical promise

FELLOWSHIPS

Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (NASA FINESST, 2021 - 2024)

  • Grant received June 2021 for 3 years of graduate funding

  • Research topic: “Climatology of West Antarctic Atmospheric Rivers and their Impacts on the Surface Mass Balance of Thwaites Glacier”

FIELDWORK

Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf, Antarctica (November 2022 - February 2023)

  • Member of the Thwaites Amundsen Regional Survey and Networking (TARSAN) team in 2022/2023 field season

  • Retrieved two firn cores to 8m on Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf: collected density profiles and water samples at 3-10 cm resolution

    • Performed water isotope analysis and firn modelling (using SNOWPACK)

  • Set up a Local Area Network (LAN) on the ice to expedite the download of key oceanographical data on the basal melting of Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Cruise (August - September 2018)

  • Leveraged data from an Acoustic Doppler Profiler Radar (ADCP) to assess the location and type of fish populations along the Oregon - Washington coastline

  • Took measurements of keystone species Pacific Hake length, weight, liver, and otoliths (ear bones)

SKILLS

Technical:

  • Highly experienced in Python (scientific programming and data visualization) and LaTeX (scientific writing)

  • Proficient in MATLAB

  • Basic experience with the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF), Mathematica and C++

Languages:

  • Native proficiency in English and German

  • Limited working proficiency in French

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

  • Snow pits and firn structure demonstrations, Antarctica (November 2022 - February 2023)

    • Led multiple demonstrations for the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) contractors on how to dig snow pits and assess the structure of near-surface layers, including identifying ice lenses, crusts, and meltwater flow paths

  • Teaching Assistant for Introduction to Atmospheric Science (January – May 2022)

    • Assisted in teaching introductory atmospheric science, including grading and office hours, to undergraduate students at the University of Colorado.

  • Course Assistant for Stratospheric Explorations (January 2018 – December 2019)

    • Assisted in teaching introductory stratospheric science and satellite data analysis to undergraduate students in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

SELECTED ORAL PRESENTATIONS

  • Michelle L. Maclennan, Andrew C. Winters, Christine A. Shields, Rudradutt Thaker, Léonard Barthelemy, Francis Codron, and Jonathan D. Wille: Antarctic Atmospheric Rivers in Present and Future Climates. Cyclone Workshop, Saint-Sauveur, QC, Canada, 23 October 2024 (Oral presentation; presenting author Michelle Maclennan).

  • Michelle L. Maclennan, PhD defense: Antarctic Atmospheric Rivers in the Present and Future Climates. University of Colorado Boulder, 9 October 2024 (Oral presentation).

  • Michelle L. Maclennan, Andrew C. Winters, Christine A. Shields, Rudradutt Thaker, Léonard Barthelemy, Francis Codron, and Jonathan D. Wille: Antarctic Atmospheric Rivers in Present and Future Climates. British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, England, September 2024 (Oral presentation; presenting author Michelle Maclennan)

    • Invited talk

  • Michelle L. Maclennan, Andrew C. Winters, Christine A. Shields, Léonard Barthelemy, Francis Codron, Rudradutt Thaker, Sophie de Roda Husman, and Jonathan D. Wille: Impacts of Atmospheric Rivers on Thwaites Glacier. International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration Science Meeting, Cambridge, England, September 2024 (Oral presentation; presenting author Michelle Maclennan)

    • Panelist for media briefing on “Grim outlook for Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier”

  • Michelle L. Maclennan, Andrew C. Winters, Christine A. Shields, Léonard Barthelemy, Francis Codron, Rudradutt Thaker, Sophie de Roda Husman, and Jonathan D. Wille: Antarctic Atmospheric Rivers in Present and Future Climates. International Atmospheric Rivers Conference, 24 June 2024. (Oral presentation; presenting author Michelle Maclennan)

    • Keynote talk

  • Michelle L. Maclennan, Andrew C. Winters, Christine A. Shields, Léonard Barthelemy, Francis Codron, Rudradutt Thaker, and Jonathan D. Wille: Antarctic Atmospheric Rivers in Present and Future Climates. European Geophysical Union General Assembly, 18 April 2024. (Oral presentation; presenting author Michelle Maclennan)

  • Michelle L. Maclennan, Andrew C. Winters, Christine A. Shields, Léonard Barthelemy, Francis Codron, and Jonathan D. Wille: Antarctic Atmospheric Rivers in Present and Future Climates. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, 14 December 2023 (Poster presentation; presenting author Michelle Maclennan)

    • Received Outstanding Student Presentation Award (OSPA) from Global Environmental Change section.

  • Michelle L. Maclennan, Andrew C. Winters, Christine A. Shields, Jonathan D. Wille, Léonard Barthelemy, Francis Codron, and Vincent Favier: Antarctic Atmospheric Rivers in the Past and Future Climates. European Geophysical Union General Assembly, 26 April 2023. (Oral presentation; presenting author Michelle Maclennan)

    • Highlight talk

  • Michelle L. Maclennan, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Christine A. Shields, Andrew O. Hoffman, Nander Wever, Megan Thompson-Munson, Erin C. Pettit, Theodore A. Scambos, and Jonathan D. Wille: Antarctic Atmospheric Rivers in the Past and Future Climates. West Antarctic Ice Sheet Workshop, 28 September 2022. (Oral presentation; presenting author Michelle Maclennan)

    • Received award for best student oral presentation.

  • Michelle L. Maclennan, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Christine A. Shields, Andrew O. Hoffman, Nander Wever, Megan Thompson-Munson, Erin C. Pettit, Theodore A. Scambos, and Jonathan D. Wille: Climatology and Surface Impacts of Atmospheric Rivers on West Antarctica. European Geophysical Union General Assembly, 26 May 2022. (Oral presentation; presenting author Michelle Maclennan)

    • Solicited talk

    • Received award for an Outstanding Student and PhD Candidate Presentation (OSPP) from the Cryosphere Division.

  • Michelle L. Maclennan, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Christine A. Shields, Megan Thompson-Munson, Eric Martinez, and Jonathan Wille: West Antarctic Atmospheric Rivers: Impacts on Thwaites Glacier Surface Mass Balance. West Antarctic Ice Sheet Workshop, 22 September 2021. (Oral presentation; presenting author Michelle Maclennan)

    • Received award for best student oral presentation.

PUBLICATIONS

  • Michelle L. Maclennan, Andrew C. Winters, Christine A. Shields, Rudradutt Thaker, Léonard Barthelemy, Francis Codron, and Jonathan D. Wille. Rising atmospheric moisture escalates the future impact of atmospheric rivers in the Antarctic climate system. Submitted to Communications Earth & Environment.

  • Rudra Thaker, Stephen Vavrus, Christine Shields, Alice DuVivier, Michelle Maclennan, Marika Holland, and Laura Landrum. Arctic atmospheric rivers in a changing climate and the impacts on sea ice. In review at JGR Atmospheres.

  • Ella Gilbert, Denys Pishniak, José Abraham Torres, Andrew Orr, Michelle Maclennan, Nander Wever, and Kristiina Verro. Extreme precipitation associated with atmospheric rivers over West Antarctic ice shelves: insights from kilometre-scale regional climate modelling. In review at The Cryosphere.

  • Andrew O. Hoffman, Michelle Maclennan, Jan Lenaerts, Kristine M. Larson, and Knut Christianson. Amundsen Sea Embayment accumulation variability measured with GNSS-IR. Accepted for publication in The Cryosphere. doi: 10.5194/tc-2023-114

  • Jonathan Wille, Vincent Favier, Irina Gorodetskaya, Cécile Agosta, Rebecca Baiman, Jeb Barrett, Léonard Barthelemy, Burcu Boza, Deniz Bozkurt, Mathieu Casado, Anastasiia Chyhareva, Kyle Clem, Francis Codron, Rajashree Datta, Claudio Durán-Alarcón, Diana Francis, Andrew Hoffman, Marlen Kolbe, Svitlana Krakovska, Gabrielle Linscott, Michelle Maclennan, Kyle Mattingly, Ye Mu, Benjamin Pohl, Christophe Santos, Christine Shields, Emir Toker, Andrew Winters, Ziqi Yin, Xun Zou, Chen Zhang, and Zhenhai Zhang. Atmospheric rivers in Antarctica. Accepted for publication in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment.

  • Naomi E. Ochwat, Ted A. Scambos, Alison F. Banwell, Robert S. Anderson, Michelle L. Maclennan, Ghislain Picard, Julia A. Shates, Sebastian Marinsek, Liliana Margonari, Martin Truffer, and Erin C. Pettit (2024). Triggers of the 2022 Larsen B multi-year landfast sea ice break-out and initial glacier response. The Cryosphere. DOI: 10.5194/tc-2023-88

  • Kyle Clem, Marilyn Raphael, …, Michelle Maclennan, et al. (2024). Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in “State of the Climate in 2023”. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. DOI: 10.1175/BAMS-D-24-0099.1

  • Jonathan D. Wille, …, Michelle Maclennan, et al. (2024). The extraordinary March 2022 East Antarctica “heat” wave. Part II: impacts on the Antarctic ice sheet. Journal of Climate, DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-23-0176.1

  • Jonathan D. Wille, …, Michelle Maclennan, et al. (2024). The extraordinary March 2022 East Antarctica “heat” wave. Part I: observations and meteorological drivers. Journal of Climate, DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-23-0175.1

  • Kyle Clem, Marilyn Raphael, …, Michelle Maclennan, et al. (2023). Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in “State of the Climate in 2022”. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. DOI: 10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0077.1

  • Michelle L. Maclennan, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Christine A. Shields, Andrew O. Hoffman, Nander Wever, Megan Thompson-Munson, Andrew C. Winters, Erin C. Pettit, Theodore A. Scambos, and Jonathan D. Wille (2023). Climatology and Surface Impacts of Atmospheric Rivers on West Antarctica. The Cryosphere. DOI: 10.5194/tc-2022-101

    • Highlight Paper

  • Michelle L. Maclennan*, Jan T. M. Lenaerts*, Christine A. Shields, and Jonathan D. Wille (2022). Contribution of Atmospheric Rivers to Antarctic Precipitation. Geophysical Research Letters. DOI: 10.1029/2022GL100585

    • *co-first authors

  • Christine A. Shields, Jonathan D. Wille, Allison B. Marquardt Collow, Michelle Maclennan, and Irina V. Gorodetskaya (2022). Evaluating Uncertainty and Modes of Variability for Antarctic Atmospheric Rivers. Geophysical Research Letters. DOI: 10.1029/2022GL099577

  • Kyle Clem, Marilyn Raphael, …, Michelle Maclennan, et al. (2022). Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in “State of the Climate in 2021”. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. DOI: 10.1175/BAMS-D-22-0078.1

  • Karen E. Alley, Christian T. Wild, Adrian Luckman, Ted A. Scambos, Martin Truffer, Erin C. Pettit, Atsuhiro Muto, Bruce Wallin, Marin Klinger, Tyler Sutterley, Sarah F. Child, Cyrus Hulen, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Michelle Maclennan, Eric Keenan, and Devon Dunmire (2021). Two decades of dynamic change and progressive destabilization on the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf. The Cryosphere. DOI: 10.5194/tc-15-5187-2021 

  • Michelle L. Maclennan and Jan T. M. Lenaerts (2021). Large-Scale Atmospheric Drivers of Snowfall Over Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters. DOI: 10.1029/2021GL093644

  • Sharon Stammerjohn, Theodore Scambos, …, Michelle Maclennan, et al (2021). Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in “State of the Climate in 2020”. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. DOI: 10.1175/BAMS-D-21-0081.1

  • Theodore Scambos, Sharon Stammerjohn, …, Michelle Maclennan, et al (2020). Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in “State of the Climate in 2019”. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. DOI: 10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0090.1

  • Natalie M. Freeman, Nicole S. Lovenduski, David R. Munro, Kristen M. Krumhardt, Keith Lindsay, Matthew C. Long, and Michelle Maclennan (2017) The variable and changing South Ocean Silicate Front: Insights from the CESM Large Ensemble. Global Biogeochemical Cycles. DOI: 10.1029/2017GB005816