Rate My Professor Inga Smith

Professor Inga Smith is a Professor in the Department of Physics, Division of Sciences, at the University of Otago. She completed her PhD at the University of Otago in 2002, researching platelet ice formation in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Following her doctorate, she undertook a two-year postdoctoral position at the University of East Anglia, focusing on the physical oceanography of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Upon returning to New Zealand, she joined the University of Otago, progressing through academic ranks to full Professor, a promotion announced in December 2025. She leads the Ice-Ocean Interactions research group and the Sea Ice Research Group, coordinating all activities associated with the Otago Sea Ice Mass Balance Station. Smith teaches several physics courses, including PHSI 132 Fundamentals of Physics II, PHSI 191 Biological Physics, PHSI 243 Environmental Physics, and PHSI 426 Fluids, Instability and Transport Phenomena, for which she serves as course coordinator.

Inga Smith's research specializations center on ice-ocean interactions, particularly Antarctic sea ice formation and melting processes. She applies high-precision stable isotope and supercooling measurements to investigate critical thresholds for sea ice survival under warmer ocean conditions and elevated atmospheric CO₂ levels. Her studies explore Antarctic sea ice dynamics, relationships between the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and sea ice extent, topographic steering of ocean currents, ice shelf cavity processes, and the effects of time-dependent freshwater input from melting ice shelves on sea ice and the Southern Ocean. She also directs research on greenhouse gas emissions from international transport sectors. Smith maintains extensive collaborations with modellers, field observationalists, and remote sensing specialists from New Zealand organizations such as NIWA and the University of Canterbury, as well as international partners including the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Washington. Her projects receive funding from the Marsden Fund, Deep South National Science Challenge, and University of Otago research grants. Key publications co-authored by Smith include Muilwijk et al. (2026) "Large regional differences in Antarctic ice shelf mass loss from Southern Ocean warming and meltwater feedbacks" (The Cryosphere); Xu et al. (2025) "Robustness and mechanisms of the atmospheric response over the Southern Ocean to idealized freshwater input around Antarctica" (Geophysical Research Letters); Pauling et al. (2025) "Impacts of Antarctic ice mass loss on New Zealand climate" (Geophysical Research Letters); Wille et al. (2024) "The extraordinary March 2022 East Antarctica 'heat' wave" Parts I and II (Journal of Climate); and Pauling et al. (2017) "Time-Dependent Freshwater Input From Ice Shelves: Impacts on Antarctic Sea Ice and the Southern Ocean in an Earth System Model" (Geophysical Research Letters).