Understanding Greenland’s changing ice
GIANT is a pioneering science project that will test the potential for early warning of a critical climate tipping point.
Christina Schmidt
Ice/Ocean Modeller
Christina Schmidt is a Physical Oceanographer interested in the dynamics, changes, and atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions in the polar regions. Currently, she investigates how Greenland’s glaciers are melting using the ocean model MITgcm as part of the GIANT project. During her PhD, Christina studied Antarctic Bottom Water formation and dynamics in a changing climate.
Employment and Education
Since 2025: Ice/Ocean Modeller (British Antarctic Survey)
2021 – 2025: PhD in Physical Oceanography and Climate Science (University of New South Wales, Australia)
2020 – 2021: Research Scientist (GEOMAR, Germany)
2017 – 2020: Master of Science in Climate Physics: Meteorology and Physical Oceanography (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel and GEOMAR, Germany)
2013 – 2016: Bachelor of Science in Physics of the Earth System (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel and GEOMAR, Germany)
Publications from NERC Open Research Archive
Articles under review
- Schmidt, C., Morrison, A. K., England, M. H., & Silvano, A. (under review in Geophysical Research Letter). Reduced West Antarctic melt rates and winds drive salinity rebound in the Ross Sea via baroclinic waves. ESS Open Archive . October 31, 2025. DOI: 10.22541/essoar.173870875.51711851/v2
Published articles
- Schmidt, C., Morrison, A. K., England, M. H., Aguiar, W., & Gibson., A. (2025). Sensitivity of Antarctic Bottom Water formation and export to horizontal model resolution. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 17, e2024MS004621. DOI: 10.1029/2024MS004621
- Harrison, T., Bracegirdle, T., Davrinche, C., Dutrieux, P., Gilbert, E., Haigh, M., Jones, J., Kent, E., King, J., Lu, H., Price, R., Schmidt, C., Vignon, É., & Wiener, V. (2024). Advances and next steps in observing and modeling Antarctica’s coastal winds. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 105(11), 2242-2248. DOI: 10.1175/BAMS-D-24-0247.1
- Xie, Y., Spence, P., Corney, S., Tamsitt, V., Dawson, H., Schmidt, C., & Bach, L. T. (2024). Euphotic zone residence time of Antarctic Bottom Water. Geophysical Research Letters, 51, e2023GL106342. DOI: 10.1029/2023GL106342
- Schmidt, C., Morrison, A. K., & England, M. H. (2023). Wind– and sea‐ice–driven interannual variability of Antarctic Bottom Water formation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 128(6). DOI: 10.1029/2023JC019774
- Rühs, S., Schmidt, C., Schubert, R., Schulzki, T., Schwarzkopf, F., Le Bars, D., & Biastoch, A. (2022). Robust estimates for the decadal evolution of Agulhas leakage from the 1960s to the 2010s. Communications Earth & Environment, 3(318). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-022-00643-y
- Fox, A. D., Handmann, P., Schmidt, C., Fraser, N., Rühs, S., Sanchez-Franks, A., Martin, T., Oltmanns, M., Johnson, C., Rath, W., Holliday, N. P., Biastoch, A., Cunningham, S. A., & Yashayaev, I. (2022). Exceptional freshening and cooling in the eastern subpolar North Atlantic caused by reduced Labrador Sea surface heat loss. Ocean Science, 18, 1507–1533. DOI: 10.5194/os-18-1507-2022
- Schmidt, C., Schwarzkopf, F., Rühs, S., & Biastoch, A. (2021). Characteristics and robustness of Agulhas leakage estimates: an inter-comparison study of Lagrangian methods. Ocean Science, 17(4), 1067–1080. DOI: 10.5194/os-17-1067-2021
- Benestan, L., Fietz, K., Loiseau, N., Guerin, P. E., Trofimenko, E., Rühs, S., Schmidt, C., Rath, W., Biastoch, A., Pérez-Ruzafa, A., Baixauli, P., Forcada, A., Arcas, E., Lenfant, P., Mallol, S., Goñi, R., Velez, L., Höppner, M., Kininmonth, S., Mouillot, D., Puebla, O., & Manel, S. (2021). Restricted dispersal in a sea of gene flow. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 288(1951). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0458
- Busch, K., Taboada, S., Riesgo, A., Koutsouveli, V., Ríos, P., Cristobo, J., Franke, A., Getzlaff, K., Schmidt, C., Biastoch, A., & Hentschel, U. (2021). Population connectivity of fan-shaped sponge holobionts in the deep Cantabrian Sea. Deep-Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 167, 103427. DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr.2020.103427
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