Carlyn Schmidgall

A scientist by training but an explorer at heart, Carlyn is an oceanographer and marine naturalist with a passion for sharing the wonder of the ocean and its inhabitants with others. Growing up in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains and spending her childhood hiking, beachcombing, and tidepooling throughout the Pacific Northwest, she fell in love with the outdoors and was motivated to pursue science as means of better understanding the world around her.

Carlyn holds a bachelor's degree in Mathematics/Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from UCLA, where she was deeply involved in efforts to promote public engagement in science, including leading an outreach program bringing climate science to underserved high schools and working as an educator and guide at the UCLA botanical garden. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Physical Oceanography at the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab. Her research interests span from pole to pole, from the abyssal ocean currents surrounding Antarctica to sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. Using numerical models and in-situ observations, her research aims to better understand the dynamics of our polar oceans in the context of a changing climate. When not studying the ocean in an academic setting, Carlyn tries to spend as much time out on the water as possible, including several summers spent working as a naturalist on a whale watching vessel in the Salish Sea. As a naturalist, she strives to continually learn about the natural environment and advocate for its conservation, and she is thrilled to share the joy of exploration with passengers aboard the Lindblad fleet.