Irene Malmierca Vallet
Paleoclimate modeller
Team
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Irene Malmierca Vallet
Paleoclimate 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-funded ANTSIE project, investigating summer sea-ice variability on the Antarctic margin during the last glacial period. In this task, the main objective of my study is to compare the features resulting from Dansgaard-Oeschger-like oscillations from a range of climate models with a novel archive of past sea-ice environments from snow petrels’ (Pagodroma Nivea) regurgitated stomach oils.
My previous research has particularly focused on explaining the Last Interglacial (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.
Collaborations
Publications from NERC Open Research Archive
2025
Sime, Louise C. ORCID record for Louise C. Sime, Sivankutty, Rahul, Malmierca-Vallet, Irene ORCID record for Irene Malmierca-Vallet, Goursaud Oger, Sentia, LeGrande, Allegra N., McClymont, Erin L. ORCID record for Erin L. McClymont, de Boer, Agatha, Cauquoin, Alexandre ORCID record for Alexandre Cauquoin, Werner, Martin ORCID record for Martin Werner. (2025) More modest peak temperatures during the Last Interglacial for both Greenland and Antarctica suggested by multi-model isotope simulations [preprint]. Climate of the Past [in review], (). pp. 10.5194/egusphere-2025-288
2024
Malmierca-Vallet, Irene ORCID record for Irene Malmierca-Vallet, Sime, Louise C. ORCID record for Louise C. Sime, Valdes, Paul J., Klockmann, Marlene, Vettoretti, Guido, Slattery, John ORCID record for John Slattery. (2024) The Impact of CO2 and Climate State on Whether Dansgaard–Oeschger Type Oscillations Occur in Climate Models. Geophysical Research Letters, 51 (). 11 pp. 10.1029/2024GL110068
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 (). 28 pp. 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 (). pp. 10.5194/cp-19-883-2023
2022
Sime, L. ORCID record for L. Sime, Malmierca, I. ORCID record for I. Malmierca, Diamond, R. ORCID record for R. Diamond, Schroeder, D.. (2022) Better forecasts of sea ice change? Melt puddles and melt models. Past Global Changes Horizons, 2 (). pp. 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 (). pp. 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 (). pp. 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 (). pp. 10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.07.027