Sebastian Mernild

Jacob Sebastian Haugaard Mernild (born 20 October 1972) is a Danish professor in climate change, glaciology and hydrology, who is the pro-vice-chancellor of the University of Southern Denmark.[1] Mernild has been an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) author for the United Nations since 2010. Initially a contributing author on the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, he was lead author on the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.[2]

Sebastian H. Mernild
Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southern Denmark
Assumed office
October 2020
ChancellorHenrik Dam
Preceded byBjarne Graabech Sørensen
Director (Program Chair) of Climate Centre of the University of Southern Denmark
Assumed office
2021
Director of the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC)
In office
December 2016 – October 2020
Succeeded byTore Furevik
Vice President of the International Commission on Snow and Ice Hydrology (under IAHS)
In office
1 June 2015 – 31 May 2019
Personal details
Born (1972-10-20) 20 October 1972
Frederiksberg, Denmark
SpouseBirgitte Therkildsen
Children2
Residence(s)Odense, Denmark (current)
Bergen, Norway (formerly)
Alma materUniversity of Copenhagen
AwardsRosenkjær Prize (2018)
Websitehttps://mernild.com/
Military service
AllegianceDenmark Denmark
Branch/service Royal Danish Army
Years of service1995–2010
RankCaptain (Artillery)
Battles/warsKosovo & Afghan War
Scientific career
FieldsClimate Change, Glaciology, Hydrology, Climatology
InstitutionsGeophysical Institute, University of Bergen, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, New York University, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Hokkaido University, Center for Scientific Studies, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, International Arctic Research Center

Mernild is one of the world's leading climate scientists in the fields of glaciology and hydrology, specializing in the impacts of climate change in the Arctic and on the cryosphere, especially the ice sheets (glacier mass balance) and water levels. He has contributed to a number of international scientific reports, including the annual Arctic Report Card from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Melting Snow and Ice: A Call for Action[3] report, which Vice President Al Gore presented at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2015.[4][5][6]

Mernild has worked as a senior research scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, United States, and as research director of the Climate Change and Glaciology Laboratory at the Center for Scientific Studies in Valdivia, Chile. He has on several occasions been a visiting professor at Colorado State University, University of Colorado Boulder, New York University, Hokkaido University, and Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology.[7]

In 2016, he became the managing director of the 'Nansen Center' (part of Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research) in Bergen, Norway, a renowned climate research centre in Europe.[8][9][10][11] He was elected pro-vice-chancellor (Danish: Prorektor) of the University of Southern Denmark in 2020.[12]

Early life and education

Jacob Sebastian Haugaard Mernild was born in 1972 in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark. He grew up in Hjallese, a suburb of Odense.[13] Mernild graduated from Sct. Knuds Gymnasium in 1993. He was admitted to the 'Teknikum' (College of Engineering), where he was to study engineering. Mernild soon dropped out, however, and instead became a captain in the Royal Danish Army, serving in Kosovo and the Afghan War.[5]

After serving in the Danish army, Mernild completed a Bachelor of Science degree in high-latitude climatology and glaciology from the Department of Geology of the University of Copenhagen in 1999. In 2001, he completed a Master of Science degree in mid-latitude climatology and hydrology, also from the University of Copenhagen. Mernild obtained a PhD degree in high-latitude climatology, glaciology, and hydrology, in 2006. In June 2016, Mernild successfully defended his doctoral thesis, Water balance from mountain glacier scale to ice sheet scale with focus on Mittvakkat Glacier, Southeast Greenland and the Greenland Ice Sheet[14] and thereby obtained a Doctor of Science degree from the Faculty of Science (University of Copenhagen).[15]

Career

In between his PhD degree and D.Sc. degree, he worked at the International Arctic Research Center of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, until 2009. He then worked as a scientific researcher at the COSIM (Climate, Ocean and Sea Ice Modeling) Project of the Office of Science § Biological and Environmental Research, within the United States Department of Energy[16] and the Department of Computational Physics and Methods at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, US until 2013, followed by three years as the research director of the Climate Change and Glaciology Laboratory at the Center for Scientific Studies in Valdivia, Chile until 2016.[12]

In 2004, and again between 2009 and 2010, he was a visiting professor at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere at Colorado State University, and from 2007 to 2008 (and again in 2015), he was a visiting professor at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. In 2008, he was a visiting professor at the Institute for Low Temperature Sciences at Hokkaido University, Japan. Between 2011 and 2012, he was a visiting professor at the Center for Atmospheric Ocean Science at New York University, whereafter he was a visiting professor at the Center for Sea Level Change at New York University Abu Dhabi, UAE.[15][17]

In 2016, he became a full professor at the Faculty of Engineering and Science at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Sogndal, but shortly afterwards he was appointed managing director of the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC) in Bergen.[9] He was elected pro-vice-chancellor (Danish: Prorektor) of the University of Southern Denmark in 2020.[12][18] He is also the director (Program Chair) of the newly established Climate Centre of the University of Southern Denmark.[19] Mernild is also partly a professor of climate change and glaciology at the Geophysical Institute of the University of Bergen in Norway.[20]

Scientific research

Mernild's scientific research focuses on local, regional and global climate modelling, using various atmospheric and terrestrial models and observations, with a particular focus on understanding and simulating climate change interactions related to snow, glacier ice mass-balance (for the Greenland Ice Sheet, Antarctic Ice Sheet, and mountain glaciers), and freshwater run-off (the water balance components) in the Arctic, Antarctic, Patagonia, and the Andes.[9]

Mernild has also conducted extensive field research in cold and high mountain regions, leading and participating in glaciological, snow, and hydrological research expeditions throughout the Arctic and Andes.[9]

Mernild's scientific research and findings on glaciers and climate change impacts on them, in particular, have received considerable attention in climate science forums, and the general public.[21] Mernild's studies of Greenlandic glaciers have received particular attention because they combine different disciplines and detailed observations and modelling tools, enabling Mernild to use the glaciers to understand similar patterns elsewhere in the Arctic and around the world. Mernild did so by examining factors ranging from snow composition, glacier area and volume changes to meltwater runoff from Greenland.[21]

In his doctoral thesis defence, Mernild correlated the analyses of the Greenland glacier with his studies of glacier, ice sheet and climate conditions in the northern North Atlantic region, to the ice sheet and to other glaciers and ice sheets on the globe.[21]

Memberships in committees and commissions

Mernild has been a member of a number of organizations and committees. List:[15][17]

Awards

In 2018, he was awarded the Danish Broadcast Corporation's prestigious dissemination award, the Rosenkjær Prize, which since 1963 has been awarded to prominent scientists and cultural figures who have succeeded in communicating complex scientific topics.[22][11]

In 2002, he won the University of Copenhagen's silver medal for his Price Dissertation on hydrology.[23]

Personal life

Mernild is married to educational psychologist Birgitte Therkildsen, and together they have two children.[17]

Selected works and publications

IPCC duties

Mernild has been an IPCC author for the United Nations since 2010. Initially a contributing author on the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, he was most recently lead author on the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report.[2]

International reports

Journals

References
  1. "Prorektor". SDU (in Danish). Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  2. "Professorer: Ny IPCC-rapport bliver et 'wake-up-call'". videnskab.dk (in Danish). 2021-08-05. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  3. Koç, N; Njåstad, B; Armstrong, R; Corell, R W; Jensen, D D; Leslie, K R; Rivera, A; Tandong, Y; Winther, J-G, eds. (2009). Melting snow and ice: A call for action. Tromsø: Center for Ice, Climate and Ecosystems, Norwegian Polar Institute. ISBN 978-82-7666-264-1.
  4. "Scientific Articles from Sebastian Mernild". mernild.com. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  5. "Hele verden lytter til Sebastians ord om Jordens klima". fyens.dk (in Danish). 2009-12-16. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  6. "Sebastian Mernild". mernild.com. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  7. "SDU's nye prorektor: - Bottom line er, at forskning skal være til gavn og anvendelse for samfundet". fyens.dk (in Danish). 2020-06-28. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  8. "Tidligere soldat får drømmejob som leder af klimainstitut". jyllands-posten.dk. 2016-12-01. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  9. "Professor Sebastian H. Mernild appointed as Managing director - Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center". www.nersc.no. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  10. "Internationalt kendt klimaforsker bliver ny prorektor på SDU". SDU (in Danish). Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  11. "Internationally renowned climate scientist becomes new pro-rector at SDU: Syddansk Universitet". via.ritzau.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  12. "Internationally renowned climate scientist becomes new pro-rector". SDU. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  13. Kaarsted, Hanne (24 September 2008). "Sebastian venter på Al Gore". Dalum Hjallese Avis. p. 2.
  14. Mernild, Sebastian. Water balance from mountain glacier scale to ice sheet scale with focus on Mittvakkat Glacier, Southeast Greenland and the Greenland Ice Sheet (PDF). Mernild Doctoral Thesis Accepted.
  15. Curriculum Vitae: Sebastian H. Mernild, University of Southern Denmark: Vice-chancellorship. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  16. "The Climate, Ocean and Sea Ice Modeling (COSIM)". climatemodeling.science.energy.gov. Retrieved 2023-01-06.
  17. Curriculum Vitae: Sebastian H. Mernild, Klimarådgivning [Climate consultancy], klimaraadgivning.dk. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  18. "Sebastian Mernild". University of Southern Denmark. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  19. "SDU establishes new climate centre". SDU. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  20. S, Mathias (2020-11-28). "Slut med at pendle til Norge: Nu lever og arbejder globetrotteren Sebastian Mernild på Fyn". fyens.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  21. Forti, Marianne Hedegaard Knudsen (2019-05-07). "Ny doktorafhandling om grønlandsk gletscher forklarer stigende havniveau". science.ku.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  22. "Professor i klimaforandringer får Rosenkjærprisen 2018". DR (in Danish). 2018-11-24. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
  23. "Sebastian Mernild: Foredrag om Klima". www.forfatterforedrag.dk. Retrieved 2021-08-10.
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