How does one become an ice scientist? What do they actually do? Chris Readinger shares his journey to the National Ice Center, the real difference between different types of ice and what its like to view the world from the north and south poles.

Read the episode transcript.

Meet the guest

With the US National Ice Center, much of Chris’s day is spent pouring over satellite imagery of polar waters. As a member of the Operations team, he analyzes sea ice on daily-weekly timescales for the US government. Chris is also the Antarctic Lead analyst and is responsible for the Antarctic products, in addition to pushing southern hemisphere related projects, helping to develop new products, and keeping track of the massive icebergs that calve from the ice shelves. He has been fortunate to travel to some of the most remote parts of the world including the Ross Sea and McMurdo Station in Antarctica. He has also traveled through the Arctic Ocean during deployments on US Coast Guard icebreakers to provide operational sea ice support. He received his BS in Meteorology from Millersville University and his MS in Atmospheric Science and Climatology from The Ohio State University. Chris lives in northern Virginia with his wife and dog.

Connect with Chris on LinkedIn.