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
Scientist - Other
Christina Schmidt is a Physical Oceanographer interested in the dynamics, changes, and atmosphere-ocean-ice interactions in the polar regions. Currently, I investigate how Greenland’s glaciers are melting using the ocean model MITgcm as part of the GIANT project. During my PhD I studied Antarctic Bottom Water formation and dynamics in a changing climate.
Employment and education
2025 – present: 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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