Hello! My name is Kelsey, and I am excited to talk to you about the cleanest air on Earth. I work as a research assistant at the University of Utah, where I study clouds and precipitation (like rain and snow). I grew up in Utah near the Wasatch Mountains, which are famous for their snow! Since I was raised in a community focused on the outdoors, the field of atmospheric science felt like a natural fit for me.
The research group that I am a part of at the University of Utah studies clouds over the Southern Ocean, which is down by Antarctica. We focus on that region because we can study natural processes in clouds and the connections between different parts of the environment, like the ocean and the atmosphere.
This January, I am participating in a voyage on the RV Investigator, a 300-foot-long ship designed for scientific research. I will be one of the atmospheric scientists on the ship and there will be other scientists who study other topics like biology and oceanography. Having people from different fields allows us to collaborate on studies that happen on the boat.
This will be my second voyage on the Investigator. My first voyage was last May, and we were at sea for two weeks. Before my first voyage, I had never been on a boat in the open ocean.
