Carmen Domínguez facts for kids
Maria del Carmen Domínguez Álvarez, also known as Karmenka, was born in 1969. She is a Spanish glaciologist, a scientist who studies glaciers. She is also a polar explorer and a mathematician.
Karmenka helped start the Glackma Project in 2001. This project measures how much ice melts from glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. She has been on over 60 expeditions to places like Antarctica, Patagonia, Iceland, Svalbard, and Siberia. Her work has greatly helped us understand global warming.
About Her Life and Work
Maria del Carmen Domínguez Álvarez was born in Oviedo, Spain. She studied mathematics at the University of Groningen and the University of Salamanca. Today, she teaches at the University of Salamanca.
She wanted to use her math skills in a practical way. In 1997, she became very interested in glaciers. This happened after she heard a talk by geologist Adolfo Eraso about the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina. Soon after, she joined him to study glaciers in the polar regions.
In 2001, Karmenka and Adolfo Eraso started the Glackma project. Their goal was to study "glacier discharge." This means measuring how much ice melts from glaciers. For nearly 20 years, they have measured the amount of melted ice every hour. They do this in seven different polar regions, both in the Arctic and Antarctica.
Karmenka's research has shown some important things. She found that the amount of water melting from glaciers doubled in the first 13 years of their study. Then, it doubled again in the next four years! This shows how quickly glaciers are melting.
