Konrad Steffen
Konrad Steffen in 2012
Born2 January 1952
Zurich, Switzerland[1]
Died8 August 2020 (aged 68)
Avannaata, Greenland
CitizenshipSwiss-American
Alma materETH Zurich
Known forResearch into climate change in the Arctic and Arctic sea ice
Spouses
  • Regula Werner (died 2011)
  • Bianca Perren
Children2
Scientific career
FieldsGlaciology
InstitutionsUniversity of Colorado Boulder, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research
ThesisSurface temperature and sea ice of an arctic polynya: north water in winter : Canad. and greenlandic high arctic (1985)
Doctoral advisorAtsumu Ohmura
Doctoral studentsWaleed Abdalati Jason Box Julienne Stroeve
Websitewww.wsl.ch/en/employees/steffen

Konrad "Koni" Steffen (2 January 1952 – 8 August 2020) was a Swiss glaciologist, known for his research into the impact of global warming on the Arctic.

Early life and education

Konrad Steffen was born on January 2, 1952, in Zurich, Switzerland to Ernst and Maria Steffen, née Kurzinski.[2] His father was a fashion designer and his mother ran an accounting firm.[2] As a child, Steffen aspired to become an actor, but his father insisted he pursue a profession first.[3]

Steffen attended ETH Zurich, from which he received his undergraduate degree or Diplom in 1977 and a Doctor of Science degree (Ph.D.) in natural sciences in 1984. In 1986, Steffen went to the United States as a visiting fellow at the Cooperative Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder.[4][3]

Career

Steffen was an associate professor of geography at the University of Colorado Boulder from 1991 to 1997, whereupon he became a full professor there.[4] He served as the director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at Boulder from 2005[5] to 2012. He took office as the director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research on July 1, 2012.[6]

Research

Steffen was known for his research into Arctic sea ice and the glaciers of Greenland, and how they are affected by global warming.[7] He often traveled to Greenland to study these glaciers firsthand; for example, when studying Petermann Glacier for three weeks in 2004, Steffen did so from a camp set up 4,000 feet up the flanks of the glacier's ice cap.[8] He also operated a network of 20 weather stations on the Greenland ice sheet,[9] the first of which, Swiss Camp, he established in 1990.[10]

He argued that due to this ice sheet melting faster than anticipated, sea levels could rise by about 3 feet by 2100, considerably higher than the IPCC's upper limit of 59 centimetres (1.94 ft),[11] and that Greenland might lose all its ice in 10,000 years, but Antarctica would take considerably longer, since it is so much bigger.[12]

He was a lead author of the "Observations: Cryosphere" chapter of the IPCC AR5, released in 2013.[13]

Steffen's legacy included conducting extensive geoscience research, then translating the value and implications of the scientific data for nonspecialists, including many journalists who then could inform the public and policymakers. He also served on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).[3]

Awards

In October 2017, Steffen received the Lowell Thomas Award from the Explorers Club, a non-profit group that promotes scientific exploration. The award is presented by the president of the club on special occasions to groups of outstanding explorers. The club cited Steffen's research of sea level changes, sensitivity studies of large ice sheets using in situ and modeling results.[14]

Personal life

Steffen had two children with first wife Regula Werner, who died in 2011 from cancer.[15] He later married Bianca Perren, a paleoclimatologist working with the British Antarctic Survey.[16]

Death

Steffen died on 8 August 2020 in an accident while on a field trip in Greenland.[17][18] He fell into a crevasse near the Swiss Camp research station.[2][19] In recent years, the extent of crevassed ice had increased around Swiss Camp in response to changes in ice-sheet flow due to climate change.[20]

Glacier name

On 20 June 2022, the Place Names Committee of Greenland's Language Secretariat officially announced the new glacier name Sermeq Konrad Steffen, in recognition of Steffen's exceptional contributions to Greenland science and society.[21] This marked the first time since 1983, when the responsibility for place naming was transferred from Denmark to Greenland, that a non-Greenlandic glacier name was introduced in Greenland.[22] The glacier name proposal was under review by Greenland's Language Secretariat for 492 days.[23]

References

  1. ↑ Konrad Steffen bei IEEE Xplore, retrieved 10 August 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 Schwartz, John (13 August 2020). "Konrad Steffen, Who Sounded Alarm on Greenland Ice, Dies at 68". The New York Times.
  3. 1 2 3 Schwartz, John (2020-08-13). "Konrad Steffen, Who Sounded Alarm on Greenland Ice, Dies at 68". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
  4. 1 2 Konrad Steffen CV
  5. ↑ Konrad Steffen Archived 2013-12-12 at the Wayback Machine, CIRES
  6. ↑ "Konrad Steffen new WSL Director". Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research. 12 September 2011. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "Water Flowing Through Ice Sheets Accelerates Warming, Could Speed Up Ice Flow, Says New Study". US News. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  8. ↑ Revkin, Andrew (8 June 2004). "An Icy Riddle as Big as Greenland". New York Times. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  9. ↑ Williams, Jack (5 July 2001). "Greenland should hold answers to climate puzzles". USA Today. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  10. ↑ Clynes, Tom (3 July 2007). "Konrad Steffen: The Global Warming Prophet". Popular Science. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
  11. ↑ Warner, Joel (12 December 2007). "The Ice Man". Boise Weekly. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
  12. ↑ Krulwich, Robert (31 January 2014). "A Hunk Of Planet Dissolves Before Our Eyes". NPR. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  13. ↑ "Observations: Cryosphere" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-02-20. Retrieved 2014-07-16.
  14. ↑ "The Explorers Club - News - Announcing the 2017 Lowell Thomas Award Winners". explorers.org. Archived from the original on 2019-04-08. Retrieved 2017-08-15.
  15. ↑ "Regula (Rägi) Steffen". Boulder Daily Camera. 5 April 2011.
  16. ↑ "Konrad Steffen, renowned Swiss climate scientist, dies at 68". The Washington Post.
  17. ↑ "Direktor Konrad Steffen tödlich verunglückt - WSL". www.wsl.ch. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  18. ↑ "WSL Director Konrad Steffen fatally injured in Greenland accident | ETH-Board". www.ethrat.ch. Archived from the original on 2020-08-10. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  19. ↑ "Kollega fortæller om tragedien på indlandsisen". Sermitsiaq.AG (in Danish).
  20. ↑ Colgan, William; Steffen, Konrad; McLamb, W. Scott; Abdalati, Waleed; Rajaram, Harihar; Motyka, Roman; Phillips, Thomas; Anderson, Robert (28 September 2011). "An increase in crevasse extent, West Greenland: Hydrologic implications. GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS". Geophysical Research Letters: n/a. doi:10.1029/2011GL048491. S2CID 59125047. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  21. ↑ "Three Greenlandic glaciers named after late glaciologists". eng.geus.dk. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  22. ↑ Chemnitz, Emil (26 May 2021). "Replik: Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam fordrejer virkeligheden i forsøget på fremme sin egen politik". Arktis (in Danish). Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  23. ↑ Colgan, William. "Overall, this place names proposal took a very deliberate 492 days from initial submission to final acceptance. We worked with Oqaasileriffik to accommodate everything from community feedback to Greenlandic grammar". Twitter. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
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