Yavor Kostov, Author at British Antarctic Survey

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Yavor Kostov

Ocean/Iceberg Modeller

I am originally from Sofia, Bulgaria. I did both my undergraduate and graduate studies in the United States before starting my postdocs in the UK.

EDUCATION

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) – Ph.D. Program in Climate Physics & Chem. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. Supervisor: John Marshall

2016

Pomona College (Claremont, California) – B.A., Applied Mathematics, Complemented with a full-time paid internship in hardware design and verification at ASIC Depot (subsequently bought out by Broadcom)

2010

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE PRIOR TO JOINING BAS

Postdoctoral Research Assistant, University of Exeter	2019-2023
Postdoctoral Research Assistant, University of Oxford	2016-2019
Research Assistant at the Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.)	2010-2016
Modeling El Niño with DDEs – Undergraduate Senior Thesis with Honors, Pomona College, Claremont, California	2010
Summer Undergraduate Researcher at the Department of Mathematics, Pomona College	2008
Summer Undergraduate Researcher at the Physics Department, Pomona College	2006, 2007

STUDENT MENTORSHIP & SUPERVISORY ROLES

Sam Cornish, Postgraduate, University of Oxford
Official co-supervision of Sam’s Ph.D. on Arctic Ocean dynamics together with Helen Johnson

2017-2021

Emma Beer, Undergraduate, University of Oxford
Summer project on Arctic freshwater content

2016

EXPERIENCE IN INDUSTRY

Digital Hardware Engineer at ASIC Depot, Sofia, Bulgaria, subsequently bought out by Broadcom

2009

AWARDS & HONORS

Paper of the Month Award at the British Antarctic Survey, January 2026 Department Award for Excellence in Teaching, M.I.T.	2026 2014
M.I.T. Presidential Fellowship	2010
Selection for membership in the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society	2007
International Young Physicists’ Tournament, Switzerland – 3rd Place with the Bulgarian Team	2005

Kostov, Y., Holland, P. R., Hogan, K. A., Smith, J. A., Jourdain, N. C., Mathiot, P., Olivé Abelló, A., Fleming, A. H., and Meijers, A. J. S.: Modelled dynamics of floating and grounded icebergs, with application to the Amundsen Sea, The Cryosphere, 20, 135–169, DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-135-2026, 2026.

Boland, E.J., Kostov, Y., and Jones, D.C. (2025) Local and Remote Drivers of Liquid Freshwater Export through Denmark Strait, Submitted to JGR: Oceans, [preprint] DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.176004605.56936362/v1.

Abelló, A. O., P.Mathiot, N. C. Jourdain, Y. Kostov, et al. (2025) Iceberg grounding enhances the release of freshwater on the Antarctic continental shelf. JGR: Oceans, 130, e2025JC022857. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JC022857.

Kostov, Y., Messias, M.-J., Mercier, H., Marshall, D. P., and Johnson, H. L. (2024) Surface factors controlling the volume of accumulated Labrador Sea Water, Ocean Science, 20, 521–547, doi: https://doi.org/10.5194/os-20-521-2024.

Kostov, Y., Messias, M.-J., Mercier, H., Johnson, H.L., Marshall, D.P. (2022) Fast mechanisms linking the Labrador Sea with subtropical Atlantic overturning. Climate Dynamics. 60,2687–2712. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06459-y

Cornish, S.B., H.L. Johnson, R.D.C. Mallett, J. Dörr, Y. Kostov, and A.E. Richards (2022) Rise and fall of sea ice production in the Arctic Ocean’s ice factories. Nature Communications. 13, 7800 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34785-6

Kostov, Y., Johnson, H.L., Marshall, D.P. et al. Distinct sources of interannual subtropical and subpolar Atlantic overturning variability. (2021) Nature Geoscience. 14, 491–495. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-021-00759-4

L.M. Polvani, A. Banerjee, R. Chemke, E.W. Doddridge, D.Ferreira, A. Gnanadesikan, M.A. Holland, Y. Kostov, J. Marshall, W.J.M. Seviour, S. Solomon, and D.W. Waugh (2021) Interannual SAM modulation of Antarctic sea ice extent does not account for its long-term trends, pointing to a limited role for ozone depletion, Geophys. Res. Lett., 48, 21, e2021GL094871

Cornish, S. B., Kostov, Y., et al. (2020) Response of Arctic Freshwater to the Arctic Oscillation in Coupled Climate Models, Journal of Climate, 33(7), 2533-2555. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0685.1

Rye, C. D., Marshall, J., Kelley, M., Russell, G., Nazarenko, L. S., Kostov, Y., et al. (2020). Antarctic glacial melt as a driver of recent Southern Ocean climate trends. Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2019GL086892. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086892

Kostov, Y., Johnson, H.L., Marshall, D.P. (2019) AMOC sensitivity to surface buoyancy fluxes: the role of air-sea feedback mechanisms. Climate Dynamics. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-019-04802-4

J. M. Seviour, F. Codron, D. Ferreira, A. Gnanadesikan, M. Kelley, Y. Kostov, et al. (2019) The Southern Ocean sea surface temperature response to ozone depletion: A multi-model comparison. Journal of Climate, 32(16), 5107-5121.https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0109.1

Muilwijk, Morven, M. Ilicak, S. B. Cornish, S. Danilov, R. Gelderloos, R. Gerdes, V. Haid, T. W. N. Haine, H. L. Johnson, Y. Kostov, et al. (2019) Arctic response to Greenland Sea wind anomalies in a suite of model simulations. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 124. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015101

Kostov, Y., Ferreira, D., Armour, K. C., & Marshall, J. (2018) Contributions of greenhouse gas forcing and the Southern Annular Mode to historical Southern Ocean surface temperature trends. Geophysical Research Letters, 45, 1086–1097. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074964

Johnson, H., Cornish, S., Kostov, Y., Beer, E., Lique, C. (2018) Arctic Ocean freshwater content and its decadal memory of sea-level pressure. Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 4991-5001, doi: https://doi.org/10.1029/2017GL076870

Holland, M.M., Landrum, L., Kostov, Y., Marshall, J. (2017) Sensitivity of Antarctic sea ice to the Southern Annular Mode in coupled climate models. Climate Dynamics, 49: 1813. doi:10.1007/s00382-016-3424-9

Kostov Y., Marshall J, Hausmann U, Armour KC, Ferreira D, Holland MM (2017) Fast and slow responses of Southern Ocean sea surface temperature to SAM in coupled climate models. Clim Dyn, 48: 1595. doi: 10.1007/s00382-016-3162-z

Kostov, Y., K. C. Armour, and J. Marshall (2014), Impact of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation on ocean heat storage and transient climate change, Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, 2108–2116, doi:10.1002/2013GL058998.

Marshall, J., K. C. Armour, J. R. Scott, Y. Kostov, U. Hausmann, D. Ferreira, T. G. Shepherd and C. M. Bitz (2014) The ocean’s role in polar climate change: asymmetric Arctic and Antarctic responses to greenhouse gas and ozone forcing. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 372, 20130040, doi:10.1098/rsta.2013.0040.

Kostov, Y., R. Morshed, B. Höling, R. Chen and P.B. Siegel (2008) Period-speed analysis of a pendulum. American Journal of Physics, 76 (10), pp 956-962, doi:10.1119/1.2937897.

Publications from NERC Open Research Archive

Reducing uncertainty in sea-level predictions

OCEAN:ICE studies how Antarctic ice and Southern Ocean processes drive sea-level rise and influence global climate, using new data and advanced ice–ocean–climate models.

Read more of: Reducing uncertainty in sea-level predictions

I have been actively involved in the following multi-institute and international collaborative projects:

OSNAP – Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program
NSF Ozone and Climate Project focusing on Antarctica & the Southern Ocean
Forum for Arctic Modeling & Observational Synthesis
Transient tracer-based Investigation of Circulation and Thermal Ocean Change (TICTOC)
OCEAN:ICE, a project jointly funded by Horizon Europe and UKRI

Links/Websites

Link to BAS Email: yastov@bas.ac.uk
Personal website

General enquiries

For general enquiries please see our contact page.

Yavor Kostov

Ocean/Iceberg Modeller

Publications from NERC Open Research Archive

Reducing uncertainty in sea-level predictions

I have been actively involved in the following multi-institute and international collaborative projects:

OSNAP – Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program

NSF Ozone and Climate Project focusing on Antarctica & the Southern Ocean

Forum for Arctic Modeling & Observational Synthesis

Transient tracer-based Investigation of Circulation and Thermal Ocean Change (TICTOC)

OCEAN:ICE, a project jointly funded by Horizon Europe and UKRI