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Professor Hilmar Gudmundsson

Professor

Department: Geography and Environmental Sciences

I initially studied at the University of Iceland where I obtained two BSc degrees, one in in Physics and another one in Geophysics. I went to ETH Zurich and continued by physics studies and received a Diploma in Physics (Dipl. Phys ETH) in 1989. Subsequently I started a PhD in glaciology under the supervision of Almut Iken and obtained a Ph. D in 1994 from ETH Zurich. In 2004, I submitted my habiliation to ETH, obtained the Venia Legendi in 2004, and lectured as Privat docent.

I was a visiting scholar at the University of Washington, Seattle from late 1994 to 1995 and then appointed as a lecturer at the ETH where I worked until 2001. From 2001 until 2018 I was a research scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK, and from 2018 I am currently a full professor at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne. UK.  

I am frequently invited to teach courses on glacial dynamics and to help build up new groups in glaciological research. From 2015-2018 I was a visiting fellow at l’Institute National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse where I advised and lectured on number of topics related to glacier mechanics and inverse theory. In 2014 I was a visiting professor at Caltech, Pasadena, where I lectured on glacier mechanics and worked on problems related to grounding-line migration and inverse modelling. In 2013 I was a visiting professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China, and in 2015 a Visiting professor at Indian Institute of Science in Pune, India.

I was the president of the EGU Division for Cryospheric Sciences from 2009-2013, and the vice-president of the International Glaciological Society from 2018 to 2020.

I was the Head of Research at the section of Glaciology ETH Zurich, between 1998-2001. This involved setting out the broader research strategies of the group, representing it at ETH level, and securing external funding. 

I have supervised about 30 PhD students and 15 postdocs.

Hilmar Gudmundsson

Campus Address

Ellison Building
Northumbria University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST, UK

I’m interested in the processes controlling the flow of glaciers and ice sheets. I’m fascinated by how complex the behaviour of large ice masses can be, how glaciers respond to external changes in the environment, and how they in turn affect the environment around them.

I’m a physicist by background and my research takes a combined observational, numerical and theoretical approach to understand the processes governing the behaviour of glaciers.

 

I lead the Peak of Research Excellence The Future of Ice on Earth which is the UK’s largest group focusing on physical modelling of large ice sheets such as the Greenland and the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Of particular research interest is the possibility of abrupt changes in the cryosphere and the onset of unstable glacier retreat processes such as the Marine Ice Sheet Instability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the Surface Elevation Mass balance Instability primarily associated with the Greenland Ice Sheet.

I'm currently involved with several large NSF, NERC and EU research projects: 

 

  • Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
  • Calibrated sea level contribution from the Amundsen Sea sector, West Antarctica, under RCP8.5 and Paris 2C scenarios, Rosier, S., Gudmundsson, G., Jenkins, A., Naughten, K. 9 Apr 2025, In: The Cryosphere
  • Coupling framework (1.0) for the Úa (2023b) ice sheet model and the FESOM-1.4 z-coordinate ocean model in an Antarctic domain, Richter, O., Timmermann, R., Gudmundsson, H., De Rydt, J. 19 May 2025, In: Geoscientific Model Development
  • Evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet Over the Next Three Centuries From an ISMIP6 Model Ensemble, Seroussi, H., Pelle, T., Lipscomb, W., Abe‐Ouchi, A., Albrecht, T., Alvarez‐Solas, J., Asay‐Davis, X., Barre, J., Berends, C., Bernales, J., Blasco, J., Caillet, J., Chandler, D., Coulon, V., Cullather, R., Dumas, C., Galton‐Fenzi, B., Garbe, J., Gillet‐Chaulet, F., Gladstone, R., Goelzer, H., Golledge, N., Greve, R., Gudmundsson, G., Han, H., Hillebrand, T., Hoffman, M., Huybrechts, P., Jourdain, N., Klose, A., Langebroek, P., Leguy, G., Lowry, D., Mathiot, P., Montoya, M., Morlighem, M., Nowicki, S., Pattyn, F., Payne, A., Quiquet, A., Reese, R., Robinson, A., Saraste, L., Simon, E., Sun, S., Twarog, J., Trusel, L., Urruty, B., Van Breedam, J., van de Wal, R., Wang, Y., Zhao, C., Zwinger, T. 4 Sep 2024, In: Earth's Future
  • Melt sensitivity of irreversible retreat of Pine Island Glacier, Reed, B., Green, J., Jenkins, A., Gudmundsson, G. 7 Oct 2024, In: The Cryosphere
  • Numerical stabilization methods for level-set-based ice front migration, Cheng, G., Morlighem, M., Gudmundsson, G. 22 Aug 2024, In: Geoscientific Model Development
  • Ocean warming as a trigger for irreversible retreat of the Antarctic ice sheet, Hill, E., Gudmundsson, G., Chandler, D. 1 Nov 2024, In: Nature Climate Change
  • Quantifying the buttressing contribution of landfast sea ice and melange to Crane Glacier, Antarctic Peninsula, Parsons, R., Sun, S., Gudmundsson, G., Wuite, J., Nagler, T. 11 Dec 2024, In: The Cryosphere
  • Recent irreversible retreat phase of Pine Island Glacier, Reed, B., Green, J., Jenkins, A., Gudmundsson, G. 1 Jan 2024, In: Nature Climate Change
  • Sensitivity to forecast surface mass balance outweighs sensitivity to basal sliding descriptions for 21st century mass loss from three major Greenland outlet glaciers, Carr, J., Hill, E., Gudmundsson, G. 14 Jun 2024, In: The Cryosphere
  • Short- and long-term variability of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, Hanna, E., Topál, D., Box, J., Buzzard, S., Christie, F., Hvidberg, C., Morlighem, M., De Santis, L., Silvano, A., Colleoni, F., Sasgen, I., Banwell, A., van den Broeke, M., DeConto, R., De Rydt, J., Goelzer, H., Gossart, A., Gudmundsson, G., Lindbäck, K., Miles, B., Mottram, R., Pattyn, F., Reese, R., Rignot, E., Srivastava, A., Sun, S., Toller, J., Tuckett, P., Ultee, L. 1 Mar 2024, In: Nature Reviews Earth & Environment

  • Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
  • NSFGEO-NERC: Collaborative Research: A new mechanistic framework for modeling rift processes in Antarctic ice shelves validated through improved strain-rate and seismic observations, Gudmundsson, H. (Principal Investigator), Natural Environment Research Council, 11/01/21 - 10/01/24, 0.00
  • Ocean Forcing of Ice Sheet Evolution Beyond West Antarctica, Jenkins, A. (Principal Investigator), Gudmundsson, H. (Co Investigator), Natural Environment Research Council, 01/10/20 - 30/09/24, £657,760.00
  • PROTECT, Gudmundsson, H. (Principal Investigator), European Commission, 01/09/20 - 31/08/24, 0.00
  • Tipping Points in Antarctic Climate Components (TiPACCs), Gudmundsson, H. (Principal Investigator), European Commission, 01/08/19 - 31/05/23, £742,029.00
  • Newton Fund: PhD Placement programme between the United Kingdom and China - Teng Li, Gudmundsson, H. (Principal Investigator), British Council, 01/04/19 - 31/03/20, 0.00
  • NSFPLR-NERC: Processes, drivers, predictions: Modeling the response of Thwaites Glacier over the next century using, Gudmundsson, H. (Principal Investigator), Natural Environment Research Council, 01/12/18 - 30/11/23, £774,574.00
  • Assessing the sensitivity of major East Antarctic outlet glaciers to recent and future changes in the ocean-climate system, Gudmundsson, H. (Principal Investigator), Natural Environment Research Council, 01/03/18 - 28/02/21, £380,061.00
  • Ice shelves in a warming world: Filchner Ice Shelf system, Antarctica, Gudmundsson, H. (Principal Investigator), Natural Environment Research Council, 05/02/18 - 31/03/20, £330,637.00

Environmental Studies/Science Other Qualification April 20 2004


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