Tantalizing Clues on Europa with Dr. Natalie Wolfenbarger

Natalie Wolfenbarger received her geophysics doctoral degree at the Jackson School of Geosciences. An aerospace engineering graduate, her research has evolved from characterizing spacecraft performance to examining how data acquired by spacecraft can be used to better understand Earth and other ocean worlds—particularly Jupiter’s ice-covered moon, Europa. Natalie is currently an affiliate member of the Europa Clipper science team supporting verification and validation of the REASON instrument, an ice-penetrating radar designed to peer through Europa’s enigmatic ice shell. Her research aims to understand how we can use radar studies of Earth ice to help interpret future data collected by REASON to investigate Europa’s habitability. Her studies of analog environments for Europa has led her to both the Arctic and Antarctica.