Professor
Poul ChristoffersenProfile page
Professor in Glaciology
Oceans and Cryosphere
Orcid identifier0000-0003-2643-8724
- Professor in GlaciologyOceans and Cryosphere
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, Oceans and Cryosphere, Salamanca - IMAS, Hobart CBD Campuses, TAS
BIO
Poul Christoffersen is a glaciologist who specialises in ice sheet dynamics and climate change in polar regions. His glaciological research over nearly two decades has been supported by the National Science Foundation in USA, the Natural Research Council in UK, the European Research Council and, currently, the Australian Research Council.
Poul was a Professor in Glaciology at the University of Cambridge before joining IMAS and the University of Tasmania in 2023. He has been a Lead Scientist of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, which involves around 100 collaborating early-career researchers and scientists in the USA and UK. His work on Thwaites Glacier and before that Pine Island Glacier, both in the Amundsen Sea region of West Antarctica, has contributed to a better understanding of some of the most vulnerable drainage basins in Antarctica. His research the Ross Sea sector, also in Antarctica, has shown that deep subglacial groundwater systems interact with the ice sheet above and that solar heated waters melt the underside of the Ross Ice Shelf.
Poul is an inclusive intellectual leader who supports diversity and early-career researchers through mentoring and guidances. In 2016, Poul was awarded a Consolidator grant by the European Research Council (ERC). His RESPONDER ERC grant was one of the first glaciology focussed grants to be awarded through the highest bar of scientific excellence in the European Union. The research explored the evolution and impact of hydrological networks extending from the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet to its bed and into the ocean. The work, which was conducted over six years, produced the most detailed physical characterisation of a fast-flowing outlet glacier system in Greenland to date. He has led over a dozen expeditions to icy destinations in some of the most remote regions on Earth.
Poul was a Professor in Glaciology at the University of Cambridge before joining IMAS and the University of Tasmania in 2023. He has been a Lead Scientist of the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, which involves around 100 collaborating early-career researchers and scientists in the USA and UK. His work on Thwaites Glacier and before that Pine Island Glacier, both in the Amundsen Sea region of West Antarctica, has contributed to a better understanding of some of the most vulnerable drainage basins in Antarctica. His research the Ross Sea sector, also in Antarctica, has shown that deep subglacial groundwater systems interact with the ice sheet above and that solar heated waters melt the underside of the Ross Ice Shelf.
Poul is an inclusive intellectual leader who supports diversity and early-career researchers through mentoring and guidances. In 2016, Poul was awarded a Consolidator grant by the European Research Council (ERC). His RESPONDER ERC grant was one of the first glaciology focussed grants to be awarded through the highest bar of scientific excellence in the European Union. The research explored the evolution and impact of hydrological networks extending from the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet to its bed and into the ocean. The work, which was conducted over six years, produced the most detailed physical characterisation of a fast-flowing outlet glacier system in Greenland to date. He has led over a dozen expeditions to icy destinations in some of the most remote regions on Earth.
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
- ProfessorUniversity of Cambridge, Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom1 Oct 2017 - 20 Mar 2023
- LecturerUniversity of Cambridge, Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom1 Jan 2007 - 30 Sep 2017
- LecturerAberystwyth University, Department of Geography & Earth Science, Aberystwyth, United Kingdom1 Oct 2004 - 31 Dec 2006
- Research AssociateUniversity of California, Santa Cruz, Earth & Planetary Sciences, Santa Cruz, United States1 May 2003 - 30 Sep 2004
DEGREES
- PhDTechnical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
- MScTechnical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
SCHOOL AND PORTFOLIO
- Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies
UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
- 13 Climate Action
AVAILABILITY
- Media enquiries
- Masters by research or PhD student supervision
- Mentoring (long-term)
- Mentoring (short-term)
- Career advice