I am a postdoctoral research associate in the Processes, Impacts, and Changes of ANTarctic Extreme weather (PICANTE) project. Extreme weather events exert lasting impacts on the sea ice and surface of Antarctica by bringing wind, waves, precipitation, and high temperatures to the region.

My focus is on using the Met Office Unified Model (MetUM) to simulate extreme weather events at high spatio-temporal resolution to assess their structure, their interaction with interaction with sea ice, topography, and ice sheet geometry, and the resultant surface impacts. My background is in atmospheric rivers, which are narrow filaments of intense moisture transport in the atmosphere that produce complex surface impacts in Antarctica.

In October 2024, I defended my PhD in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Research interests

• High-impact events
• Surface mass balance
• Regional climate modelling
• Localized atmospheric-ice sheet interactions and the connection to large-scale atmospheric drivers

• Andrew O. Hoffman, Michelle Maclennan, Jan Lenaerts, Kristine M. Larson, and Knut Christianson (2025). Amundsen Sea Embayment accumulation variability measured with GNSS-IR. The Cryosphere. DOI: 10.5194/tc-19-713-2025

• 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 (2025). Atmospheric rivers in Antarctica. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. DOI: 10.1038/s43017-024-00638-7

• Ella Gilbert, Denys Pishniak, José Abraham Torres, Andrew Orr, Michelle Maclennan, Nander Wever, and Kristiina Verro (2025). Extreme precipitation associated with atmospheric rivers over West Antarctic ice shelves: insights from kilometre-scale regional climate modelling. The Cryosphere. DOI: 10.5194/tc-19-713-2025

• 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

• 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

Publications from NERC Open Research Archive

2025

Raphael, M. N. Clem, K. R. Adjou, Mohamed. Adusumilli, Susheel. Amory, Charles. Bahrami, Mahsa. Baiman, Rebecca. Banwell, Alison F. Barreira, Sandra. Beadling, Rebecca L. Colwell, Steve. Coy, Lawrence. Datta, Rajashree T. De Laat, Jos. du Plessis, Marcel. Fogt, Ryan L. Fricker, Helen A. Hancock, Alyce M. Johnson, Bryan. Josey, Simon A. ORCID record for Josey, Simon A.. Keller, Linda M. Kittel, Christoph. Kramarova, Natalya A. Lait, Leslie R. Lazzara, Matthew A. Lieser, Jan L. MacFerrin, Michael. Maclennan, Michelle. Massom, Robert A. Mikolajczyk, David E. Milward, James. Mote, Thomas L. Newman, Paul A. Norton, Taylor. Petropavlovskikh, Irina. Pezzi, Luciano P. Reid, Phillip. Ryan-Keogh, Thomas J. Santee, Michelle L. Scambos, Theodore. Schulz, Cristina. Shi, Jia-Rui. Souza, Everaldo. Stammerjohn, Sharon. Thomalla, Sandy. Trusel, Luke. Wille, Jonathan D. Editors: Blunden, Jessica. Reagan, James (2025) State of the Climate in 2024. Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

Maclennan, Michelle L. ORCID record for Maclennan, Michelle L.. Winters, Andrew C. ORCID record for Winters, Andrew C.. Shields, Christine A. ORCID record for Shields, Christine A.. Thaker, Rudradutt ORCID record for Thaker, Rudradutt. Barthelemy, Léonard ORCID record for Barthelemy, Léonard. Codron, Francis ORCID record for Codron, Francis. Wille, Jonathan D. (2025) Rising atmospheric moisture escalates the future impact of atmospheric rivers in the Antarctic climate system.

Gilbert, Ella ORCID record for Gilbert, Ella. Pishniak, Denis ORCID record for Pishniak, Denis. Torres, José Abraham. Orr, Andrew ORCID record for Orr, Andrew. Maclennan, Michelle ORCID record for Maclennan, Michelle. Wever, Nander ORCID record for Wever, Nander. Verro, Kristiina ORCID record for Verro, Kristiina. (2025) Extreme precipitation associated with atmospheric rivers over West Antarctic ice shelves: insights from kilometre-scale regional climate modelling.

4. International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration

   The International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration unites global scientists to study Antarctica’s most vulnerable glacier, predict sea-level rise, and inform climate action worldwide.

   Read more of: International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration