Prof. Sonia I. Seneviratne

Research interests

Research group webpage

 

  • Land-climate interactions, soil moisture dynamics, and climate-relevant vegetation processes
  • Climate change and extreme events, droughts, hot extremes
  • Climate feedbacks and memory effects
  • Interface between water, energy and biogeochemical cycles
  • Climate and land surface modelling, new approaches to model validation
  • Evaluation of land datasets, field measurements
  • Land water and energy budgets  

Awards and Distinctions

2014-2019: ERC Consolidator Grant (DROUGHT-HEAT project)

2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017: external page Highly cited researcher (Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics)

2013: external page James B. Macelwane Medal, American Geophysical Union

2013: external page Fellow, American Geophysical Union

2012: Editor's Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Geophysical Research Letters, American Geophysical Union

2003-2004: external page NCCR Climate postdoctoral fellowship

Publications

Full list of publications

Selected publications

Padron, R., L. Gudmundsson, B. Decharme, A. Ducharne, D.M. Lawrence, J. Mao, D. Peano, G. Krinner, H. Kim, and S.I. Seneviratne (2020): Observed changes in dry-season water availability attributed to human-induced climate change. Nature Geoscience, 13, 477-481.(external page link; ETH news)

Beusch, L., L. Gudmundsson, S. I. Seneviratne, 2020: Emulating Earth system model temperatures with MESMER: from global mean temperature trajectories to grid-point-level realizations on land. Earth System Dynamics, 11, 139-159 (external page link)

Thiery, W., A. J. Visser, E. M. Fischer, M. Hauser, A. L. Hirsch, D. M. Lawrence, Q. Lejeune, E. L. Davin, S I. Seneviratne, 2020: Warming of hot extremes alleviated by expanding irrigation. Nature Communications, 11, 290 (external page link; ETH news)

Vogel, M. M., J. Zscheischler, R. Wartenburger, D. Dee, S. I. Seneviratne, 2019: Concurrent 2018 hot extremes across Northern Hemisphere due to human-induced climate change. Earth’s Future, 7, 692-703 (external page link)

Humphrey V., Zscheischler J., Ciais P., Gudmundsson L., Sitch S., S. I. Seneviratne, 2018: Sensitivity of atmospheric CO2 growth rate to observed changes in terrestrial water storage. Nature, 560, 628-631 (external page link, ETH news)

Seneviratne, S.I., S.J. Phipps, A.J. Pitman, A.L. Hirsch, E.L. Davin, M.G. Donat, M. Hirschi, A. Lenton, M. Wilhelm, B. Kravitz, 2018: Land radiative management as contributor to regional-scale climate adaptation and mitigation. Nature Geoscience, doi:10.1038/s41561-017-0057-5 (external page link; ETH News)

Seneviratne, S.I., M. Donat, A.J. Pitman, R. Knutti, and R.L. Wilby, 2016: Allowable CO2 emissions based on regional and impact-related climate targets. Nature, 529, 477-483, doi:10.1038/nature16542. (external page link; ETH News; external page NZZ; external page Tagesanzeiger; external page Blick; external page Daily Mail; external page Japan Times)

Thiery, W.E.L. DavinS.I. Seneviratne, K. Bedka, S. Lhermitte, and N.P.M. van Lipzig, 2016: Hazardous thunderstorm intensification over Lake Victoria. Nature Communications, 7, 12786. (external page link; ETH News)

Guillod, B.P., B. Orlowsky, D.G. Miralles, A.J. Teuling, and S.I. Seneviratne, 2015: Reconciling spatial and temporal soil moisture effects on afternoon rainfall. Nature Communications, 6, 6443. (external page link; ETH Life)

Seneviratne, S.I., M. Donat, B. Mueller, and L.V. Alexander, 2014: No pause in the increase of hot temperature extremes. Nature Climate Change, 4, 161-163. (external page link; external page Reuters; external page The Economist; external page SRF2 Wissenschaftsmagazin; external page CBC; external page Climate Central)

Davin, E.L., S.I. Seneviratne, P. Ciais, A. Olioso, and T. Wang, 2014: Preferential cooling of hot extremes from cropland albedo management. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci., 111(27), 9757-9761, doi:10.1073/pnas.1317323111 (external page link; ETH News; external page Spiegel; external page Nature News).

Greve, P., B. Orlowsky, B. Mueller, J. Sheffield, M. Reichstein, and S.I. Seneviratne, 2014: Global assessment of trends in wetting and drying over land. Nature Geoscience, 7, 716-721, doi: 10.1038/NGEO2247. (external page link; ETH News; external page Phys.org; external page 20 Minuten; external page Washington Post (online); external page Nature Geoscience News and Views)

Seneviratne, S.I., M. Wilhelm, T. Stanelle, B.J.J.M. van den Hurk, S. Hagemann, A. Berg, F. Cheruy, M.E. Higgins, A. Meier, V. Brovkin, M. Claussen, A. Ducharne, J.-L. Dufresne, K.L. Findell, J. Ghattas, D.M. Lawrence, S. Malyshev, M. Rummukainen, and B. Smith, 2013: Impact of soil moisture-climate feedbacks on CMIP5 projections: First results from the GLACE-CMIP5 experiment. Geophys. Res. Lett., 40 (19), 5212-5217 (external page link).

Seneviratne, S.I., N. Nicholls, D. Easterling, C.M. Goodess, S. Kanae, J. Kossin, Y. Luo, J. Marengo, K. McInnes, M. Rahimi, M. Reichstein, A. Sorteberg, C. Vera, and X. Zhang, 2012: Changes in climate extremes and their impacts on the natural physical environment. In: Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation [Field, C.B., V. Barros, T.F. Stocker, D. Qin, D.J. Dokken, K.L. Ebi, M.D. Mastrandrea, K.J. Mach, G.-K. Plattner, S.K. Allen, M. Tignor, and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, pp. 109-230. [external page Full IPCC SREX Report, external page Chapter 3] (ETH Klimablog: Das IPCC SREX in Kürze, Qualitätskontrolle im IPCC SREX; ETH Life Interview: Deutsch, English; external page IPCC SREX Video; Media articles: external page SciDevNet, external page NZZ, external page Die Zeit, external page Environmental Health Perspectives)

IPCC, 2012: Summary for Policymakers. In: Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation [Field, C.B., V. Barros, T.F. Stocker, D. Qin, D.J. Dokken, K.L. Ebi, M.D. Mastrandrea, K.J. Mach, G.-K. Plattner, S.K. Allen, M. Tignor, and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, pp. 1-19. (in external page English, external page Arabic, external page Chinese, external page French, external page Russian, and external page Spanish)

Mueller, B., and S.I. Seneviratne, 2012: Hot days induced by precipitation deficits at the global scale. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci., 109 (31), 12398-12403, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1204330109. (external page link; ETH Life article; external page TagesAnzeiger; external page Los Angeles Times; external page Research Highlight in Nature Geoscience)

Seneviratne, S.I., 2012: Historical drought trends revisited. Nature, 491, 338-339. (external page link)

Hirschi, M., S.I. Seneviratne, V. Alexandrov, F. Boberg, C. Boroneant, O.B. Christensen, H. Formayer, B. Orlowsky, and P. Stepanek, 2011: Observational evidence for soil-moisture impact on hot extremes in southeastern Europe. Nature Geoscience, 4, 17-21, doi:10.1038/ngeo1032. (external page link; external page News and Views; ETH Life article)

Seneviratne, S.I., T. Corti, E.L. Davin, M. Hirschi, E.B. Jaeger, I. Lehner, B. Orlowsky, and A.J. Teuling, 2010: Investigating soil moisture-climate interactions in a changing climate: A review. Earth-Science Reviews, 99, 3-4, 125-161, doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.02.004. (external page link)

Teuling, A.J., S.I. Seneviratne, R. Stöckli, M. Reichstein, E. Moors, P. Ciais, S. Luyssaert, B. van den Hurk, C. Ammann, C. Bernhofer, E. Dellwik, D. Gianelle, B. Gielen, T. Grünwald, K. Klumpp, L. Montagnani, C. Moureaux, M. Sottocornola, and G. Wohlfahrt, 2010: Contrasting response of European forest and grassland energy exchange to heatwaves. Nature Geoscience, 3, 722-727, doi:10.1038/ngeo950. (external page link; ETH life article)

Seneviratne, S.I., D. Lüthi, M. Litschi, and C. Schär, 2006: Land-atmosphere coupling and climate change in Europe. Nature, 443, 205-209. (external page link; external page suppl.info.; external page editor's summary)

Invited Presentations

List of invited and solicited presentations (selected)

Research Projects

(see also our research pages)

external page EU-H2020 4C project, 2019-2023

external page Copernicus C3S_511-Quality Assessment of ECV Products, 2017-2021

external page EU-H2020 CRESCENDO, 2015-2020

ERC Consolidator Grant "DROUGHT-HEAT", 2014-2019

external page EU-FP7 EUCLEIA, 2014-2016

external page ESA Soil moisture CCI, 2012-2014 (Phase 1), 2015-2017 (Phase 2)

external page EU-FP7 EMBRACE, 2011-2015

external page EU-FP7 DROUGHT-R&SPI, 2011-2015

ETH CHIRP2, 2012-2015

SNF Sinergia Carbo-Count CH, 2012-2015

external page NRP61 DROUGHT-CH, 2010-2013

external page EU-FP7 CARBO-Extreme, 2009-2013

external page NCCR-Climate Phase III, 2009-2012

SwissSMEX (SNF), 2008-2011

MAIOLICA (CCES), 2008-2012

external page NCCR-Climate Phase II (SwissRe-funded project), 2007-2009

external page EU-FP6 CECILIA, 2006-2009

Scientific Service

Selected service contributions

external page Coordinating Lead Author, IPCC 6th Assessment Report (2018-2021)

external page Co-chair of World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Extremes Grand Challenge (2015-present)

external page Lead Author, IPCC 1.5°C Special Report (2017-2018)

external page Co-chair of WCRP GEWEX Scientific Steering Group (2014-present)

external page ECMWF Scientific Advisory Committee (2012-present)

external page Coordinating Lead Author, IPCC SREX report (2009-2012)

external page ILEAPS Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) (2008-2013)

external page WCRP GEWEX Data and Assessment Panel (GDAP) (2008-2013)

external page WCRP GEWEX GLASS Panel (2008-2013)

Curriculum Vitae

2016- Full Professor, ETH Zurich
2013-2016 Associate Professor, ETH Zurich
2007-2012 Assistant Professor, ETH Zurich
2005-2007 Senior research scientist, ETH Zurich
2003-2004 Visiting research associate, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt (MD), USA
1999-2002 PhD thesis, ETH Zurich (Award: 04/2003)
1998-1999 Visiting scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge (MA), USA
1995-1999 MSc in Environmental Sciences (Major: Atmospheric Physics), ETH Zurich, Switzerland
1992-1995 BSc in Biology ("Attestation de Pré-licence"), University of Lausanne, Switzerland

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