Remote Sensing Specialist
Dr Alex Fraser
Dr Fraser completed a BComp-BSc combined degree (physics major) in 2006, closely followed by a BSc. (hons, first class) where he studied techniques for remote detection of Antarctic polar stratospheric clouds, a critical component in stratospheric ozone depletion. He completed his PhD at UTAS/ACE CRC, with a thesis entitled “East Antarctic Landfast Sea Ice Distribution and Variability”. As part of this work, he produced the first high spatio-temporal resolution maps of landfast sea ice in East Antarctica.
Following his PhD, Dr Fraser commenced a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at ACE CRC (2010-2013), working on active microwave remote sensing of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. From 2013-2015, Dr Fraser worked as a JSPS postdoctoral fellow at Hokkaido University’s Institute of Low Temperature Science. During this time, he worked on the interaction between landfast ice and coastal polynya sea ice production. Dr Fraser returned to ACE CRC in 2015 to work as a remote sensing specialist.
Awards / Grants (Click to Expand)
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science postdoctoral fellowship – 2013-2015
social & academic profiles
CURRENT ACE RESEARCH
Dr Fraser contributes remote sensing expertise into both the R1.2 and R1.3 projects.
For Project R1.2, he is interested in parameter retrieval based on microwave backscatter from the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Snowfall provides the mass input to the Antarctic Ice Sheet, so its quantification is critical for determining mass balance. However, our present knowledge of the amount and rate of Antarctic snowfall is based upon sparely situated in-situ measurements, combined with atmospheric models. Dr Fraser’s work focuses on new ways to interpolate between sparse in-situ measurements, guided by maps of microwave backscatter parameters.
For Project R1.3, Dr Fraser is working toward more complete physical characterisation of Antarctic sea ice. While accurate satellite-derived maps of daily sea ice concentration have been available for several decades, attention has more recently turned to remote retrieval of other parameters (e.g., thickness, degree of deformation, ice type).
Selected Publications
Fraser, A. D., M. A. Nigro, S. R. M. Ligtenberg, B. Legresy, M. Inoue, J. J. Cassano, P. Kuipers Munneke, J. T. M. Lenaerts, N. W. Young, A. Treverrow, M. van den Broeke & H. Enomoto (in press). Drivers of ASCAT C band backscatter variability in the dry snow zone of Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology. doi: 10.1017/jog.2016.29
Fraser, A. D., N. W. Young & N. Adams (2014). Comparison of Microwave Backscatter Anisotropy Parameterizations of the Antarctic Ice Sheet Using ASCAT. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 52(3):1583-1595. doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2013.2252621
Fraser, A. D., R. A. Massom, K. J. Michael, B. K. Galton-Fenzi & J. L. Lieser (2012). East Antarctic landfast sea-ice distribution and variability, 2000-2008. Journal of Climate, 25, 1137-1156, doi: 10.1175/JCLI-D-10-05032.1
Fraser, A. D., R. A. Massom & K. D. Michael (2010). Generation of high-resolution East Antarctic landfast sea-ice maps from cloud-free MODIS satellite composite imagery. Remote Sensing of Environment, 114(2010), 2888-2896, doi:10.1016/j.rse.2010.07.006
Fraser, A. D., R. A. Massom & K. D. Michael (2009). A method for compositing MODIS satellite images to remove cloud cover for landfast sea-ice detection. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 47(9), 3272-3282, doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2009.2019726
Authorised by the CEO of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre October 2019.
The ACE CRC was established and supported under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Program.
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