Irene Malmierca Vallet
TiPES Modeller
Contact
General enquiries
For general enquiries please see our contact page.
Irene Malmierca Vallet
TiPES Modeller
Biography
In 2008 I completed a Biology degree at Complutense University (Madrid, Spain) specialising in environmental sciences. From 2011 until 2013 I worked in the Climate Change Division of Repsol as an environmental consultant before figuring out that climate modelling was what I truly wanted to do. I have always been fascinated by global environmental change and modelling of the Earth System so undertook a Masters degree in Climate Change Science and Policy in 2014 and obtained a PhD in Physical Geography from the University of Bristol in 2020.
Research interests
My research interests focus primarily on past climate change. I am interested in using climate models to develop a better understanding of the changes in the ice sheet, sea ice, and climate over the last 800,000 years.
I am currently involved in the EU TiPES project, investigating Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events, abrupt, large climate swings that punctuated the last glacial period. There is uncertainty whether current IPCC-relevant models can effectively represent the processes that cause DO events. If this holds true, this could noticeably influence their capability to predict future abrupt transitions, with significant consequences for their use in the identification of Tipping Elements (TEs), and more in general, for the delivery of precise climate change projections. In this task, the objective of my study is to formulate possible pathways to a DO Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project (PMIP) protocol that could help investigate cold-period instabilities through a range of insolation-, freshwater-, GHG-, and NH ice sheet-related forcings, as well as evaluating the possibility of spontaneous internal oscillations.
My previous research has particularly focused on explaining the LIG Greenland δ18O maximum. In particular, I used the isotope-enabled HadCM3 climate model to investigate the isotopic signature of Arctic sea-ice changes and Greenland Ice Sheet retreat during the Last Interglacial and to determine whether this can be reconciled with Greenland ice core records.
Publications from NERC Open Research Archive
2023
Malmierca-Vallet, Irene ORCID record for Irene Malmierca-Vallet, Sime, Louise C. ORCID record for Louise C. Sime, community members, the D-O. (2023) Dansgaard–Oeschger events in climate models: review and baseline Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3) protocol. Climate of the Past, 19. 915-942. 10.5194/cp-19-915-2023
Sime, Louise C. ORCID record for Louise C. Sime, Sivankutty, Rahul, Malmierca Vallet, Irene ORCID record for Irene Malmierca Vallet, de Boer, Agatha M., Sicard, Marie. (2023) Summer surface air temperature proxies point to near-sea-ice-free conditions in the Arctic at 127 ka. Climate of the Past, 19. 883-900. 10.5194/cp-19-883-2023
2022
Sime, L. ORCID record for L. Sime, Malmierca, I. ORCID record for I. Malmierca, Diamond, R., Schroeder, D.. (2022) Better forecasts of sea ice change? Melt puddles and melt models. Past Global Changes Horizons, 2. 38-40. 10.22498/pages.horiz.2.38
2021
Kageyama, Masa, Sime, Louise C. ORCID record for Louise C. Sime, Sicard, Marie, Guarino, Maria Vittoria ORCID record for Maria Vittoria Guarino, de Vernal, Anne, Schroeder, David, Stein, Ruediger, Malmierca Vallet, Irene ORCID record for Irene Malmierca Vallet, Abe-Ouchi, Ayako, Bitz, Cecilia, Braconnot, Pascale, Brady, Esther, Chamberlain, Matthew A., Feltham, Danny, Guo, Chuncheng, Lohmann, Gerrit, Meissner, Katrin, Menviel, Laurie, Morozova, Polina, Nisancioglu, Kerim H., Otto-Bliesner, Bette, O'ishi, Ryouta, Sherriff-Tadano, Sam, Stroeve, Julienne, Shi, Xiaoxu, Sun, Bo, Volodin, Evgeny, Yeung, Nicholas, Zhang, Qiong, Zhang, Zhongshi, Ziehn, Tilo. (2021) A multi-model CMIP6-PMIP4 study of Arctic sea ice at 127ka: Sea ice data compilation and model differences. Climate of the Past, 17. 26 pp. 10.5194/cp-17-37-2021
2020
Broadman, Ellie, Kaufman, Darrell S., Henderson, Andrew C.G., Malmierca Vallet, Irene ORCID record for Irene Malmierca Vallet, Leng, Melanie J. ORCID record for Melanie J. Leng, Lacey, Jack H.. (2020) Coupled impacts of sea ice variability and North Pacific atmospheric circulation on Holocene hydroclimate in Arctic Alaska.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117. 33034-33042. 10.1073/pnas.2016544117
Malmierca-Vallet, Irene ORCID record for Irene Malmierca-Vallet, Sime, Louise C. ORCID record for Louise C. Sime, Valdes, Paul J., Tindall, Julia C.. (2020) Sea ice feedbacks influence the isotopic signature of Greenland ice sheet elevation changes: Last interglacial HadCM3 simulations. Climate of the Past, 16. 24 pp. 10.5194/cp-16-2485-2020
Guarino, Maria Vittoria ORCID record for Maria Vittoria Guarino, Sime, Louise C. ORCID record for Louise C. Sime, Schröeder, David, Malmierca Vallet, Irene ORCID record for Irene Malmierca Vallet, Rosenblum, Erica, Ringer, Mark, Ridley, Jeff, Feltham, Danny, Bitz, Cecilia, Steig, Eric J., Wolff, Eric, Stroeve, Julienne, Sellar, Alistair. (2020) Sea-ice-free Arctic during the Last Interglacial supports fast future loss. Nature Climate Change, 10. 928-932. 10.1038/s41558-020-0865-2
Williams, Charles J.R., Guarino, Maria Vittoria ORCID record for Maria Vittoria Guarino, Capron, Emilie, Malmierca Vallet, Irene ORCID record for Irene Malmierca Vallet, Singarayer, Joy S., Sime, Louise ORCID record for Louise Sime, Lunt, Daniel J., Valdes, Paul J.. (2020) CMIP6/PMIP4 simulations of the mid-Holocene and Last Interglacial using HadGEM3: comparison to the pre-industrial era, previous model versions and proxy data. Climate of the Past, 16. 22 pp. 10.5194/cp-16-1429-2020
Domingo, Dario, Malmierca Vallet, Irene ORCID record for Irene Malmierca Vallet, Sime, Louise ORCID record for Louise Sime, Voss, Jochen, Capron, Emilie. (2020) Using ice cores and Gaussian process emulation to recover changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet during the last interglacial. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 125. 19 pp. 10.1029/2019JF005237
2018
Malmierca Vallet, Irene ORCID record for Irene Malmierca Vallet, Sime, Louise C. ORCID record for Louise C. Sime, Tindall, Julia C, Capron, Emilie ORCID record for Emilie Capron, Valdes, Paul J, Vinther, Bo M. (2018) Simulating the Last Interglacial Greenland stable water isotope peak: the role of Arctic sea ice changes. Quaternary Science Reviews, 198. 1-14. 10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.07.027