Prof Andrew Shepherd

My research focusses on measuring changes of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, on understanding their interaction with the global climate system, and on establishing their contribution to global sea level rise. I also have a keen interest in the calibration and validation of satellite systems, and in the development of novel satellite sensors to tackle problems in geophysical research. To do this, I work closely with technical experts in space agencies and in the space industrial sector, with scientific collaborators in glaciology, meteorology, oceanography, and ice sheet modelling, and with government agencies.

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Heat stored in the Earth system 1960-2020: where does the energy go?, Von Schuckmann, K., Minière, A., Gues, F., Cuesta-Valero, F., Kirchengast, G., Adusumilli, S., Straneo, F., Ablain, M., Allan, R., Barker, P., Beltrami, H., Blazquez, A., Boyer, T., Cheng, L., Church, J., Desbruyeres, D., Dolman, H., Domingues, C., García-García, A., Giglio, D., Gilson, J., Gorfer, M., Haimberger, L., Hakuba, M., Hendricks, S., Hosoda, S., Johnson, G., Killick, R., King, B., Kolodziejczyk, N., Korosov, A., Krinner, G., Kuusela, M., Landerer, F., Langer, M., Lavergne, T., Lawrence, I., Li, Y., Lyman, J., Marti, F., Marzeion, B., Mayer, M., MacDougall, A., McDougall, T., Monselesan, D., Nitzbon, J., Otosaka, I., Peng, J., Purkey, S., Roemmich, D., Sato, K., Sato, K., Savita, A., Schweiger, A., Shepherd, A., Seneviratne, S., Simons, L., Slater, D., Slater, T., Steiner, A., Suga, T., Szekely, T., Thiery, W., Timmermans, M., Vanderkelen, I., Wjiffels, S., Wu, T., Zemp, M. 17 Apr 2023, In: Earth System Science Data
• Mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets from 1992 to 2020, Otosaka, I., Shepherd, A., Ivins, E., Schlegel, N., Amory, C., Van Den Broeke, M., Horwath, M., Joughin, I., King, M., Krinner, G., Nowicki, S., Payne, A., Rignot, E., Scambos, T., Simon, K., Smith, B., Sørensen, L., Velicogna, I., Whitehouse, P., Geruo, A., Agosta, C., Ahlstrøm, A., Blazquez, A., Colgan, W., Engdahl, M., Fettweis, X., Forsberg, R., Gallée, H., Gardner, A., Gilbert, L., Gourmelen, N., Groh, A., Gunter, B., Harig, C., Helm, V., Khan, S., Kittel, C., Konrad, H., Langen, P., Lecavalier, B., Liang, C., Loomis, B., McMillan, M., Melini, D., Mernild, S., Mottram, R., Mouginot, J., Nilsson, J., Noël, B., Pattle, M., Peltier, W., Pie, N., Roca, M., Sasgen, I., Save, H., Seo, K., Scheuchl, B., Schrama, E., Schröder, L., Simonsen, S., Slater, T., Spada, G., Sutterley, T., Vishwakarma, B., Van Wessem, J., Wiese, D., Van Der Wal, W., Wouters, B. 20 Apr 2023, In: Earth System Science Data
• Assimilation of sea ice thickness derived from CryoSat-2 along-track freeboard measurements into the Met Office's Forecast Ocean Assimilation Model (FOAM), Fiedler, E., Martin, M., Blockley, E., Mignac, D., Fournier, N., Ridout, A., Shepherd, A., Tilling, R. 6 Jan 2022, In: Cryosphere
• Global sea-level budget and ocean-mass budget, with a focus on advanced data products and uncertainty characterisation, Horwath, M., Gutknecht, B., Cazenave, A., Palanisamy, H., Marti, F., Marzeion, B., Paul, F., Le Bris, R., Hogg, A., Otosaka, I., Shepherd, A., Döll, P., Cáceres, D., Müller Schmied, H., Johannessen, J., Nilsen, J., Raj, R., Forsberg, R., Sandberg Sørensen, L., Barletta, V., Simonsen, S., Knudsen, P., Andersen, O., Ranndal, H., Rose, S., Merchant, C., Macintosh, C., Von Schuckmann, K., Novotny, K., Groh, A., Restano, M., Benveniste, J. 7 Feb 2022, In: Earth System Science Data
• Observing the disintegration of the A68A iceberg from space, Braakmann-Folgmann, A., Shepherd, A., Gerrish, L., Izzard, J., Ridout, A. 1 Mar 2022, In: Remote Sensing of Environment
• Altimetry for the future: Building on 25 years of progress, Abdalla, S., Abdeh Kolahchi, A., Ablain, M., Adusumilli, S., Aich Bhowmick, S., Alou-Font, E., Amarouche, L., Andersen, O., Antich, H., Aouf, L., Arbic, B., Armitage, T., Arnault, S., Artana, C., Aulicino, G., Ayoub, N., Badulin, S., Baker, S., Banks, C., Bao, L., Barbetta, S., Barceló-Llull, B., Barlier, F., Basu, S., Bauer-Gottwein, P., Becker, M., Beckley, B., Bellefond, N., Belonenko, T., Benkiran, M., Benkouider, T., Bennartz, R., Benveniste, J., Bercher, N., Berge-Nguyen, M., Bettencourt, J., Blarel, F., Blazquez, A., Blumstein, D., Bonnefond, P., Borde, F., Bouffard, J., Boy, F., Boy, J., Brachet, C., Brasseur, P., Braun, A., Brocca, L., Otosaka, I., Shepherd, A. 15 Jul 2021, In: Advances in Space Research
• Increased variability in Greenland Ice Sheet runoff from satellite observations, Slater, T., Shepherd, A., McMillan, M., Leeson, A., Gilbert, L., Muir, A., Munneke, P., Noël, B., Fettweis, X., van den Broeke, M., Briggs, K. 1 Nov 2021, In: Nature Communications
• Review article: Earth's ice imbalance, Slater, T., Lawrence, I., Otosaka, I., Shepherd, A., Gourmelen, N., Jakob, L., Tepes, P., Gilbert, L., Nienow, P. 25 Jan 2021, In: Cryosphere
• Mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2018, Shepherd, A., Ivins, E., Rignot, E., Smith, B., van den Broeke, M., Velicogna, I., Whitehouse, P., Briggs, K., Joughin, I., Krinner, G., Nowicki, S., Payne, T., Scambos, T., Schlegel, N., A, G., Agosta, C., Ahlstrøm, A., Babonis, G., Barletta, V., Bjørk, A., Blazquez, A., Bonin, J., Colgan, W., Csatho, B., Cullather, R., Engdahl, M., Felikson, D., Fettweis, X., Forsberg, R., Hogg, A., Gallee, H., Gardner, A., Gilbert, L., Gourmelen, N., Groh, A., Gunter, B., Hanna, E., Harig, C., Helm, V., Horvath, A., Horwath, M., Khan, S., Kjeldsen, K., Konrad, H., Langen, P., Lecavalier, B., Loomis, B., Luthcke, S., McMillan, M., Melini, D., Otosaka, I. 12 Mar 2020, In: Nature
• Surface Melting Drives Fluctuations in Airborne Radar Penetration in West Central Greenland, Otosaka, I., Shepherd, A., Casal, T., Coccia, A., Davidson, M., Di Bella, A., Fettweis, X., Forsberg, R., Helm, V., Hogg, A., Hvidegaard, S., Lemos, A., Macedo, K., Kuipers Munneke, P., Parrinello, T., Simonsen, S., Skourup, H., Sørensen, L. 16 Sep 2020, In: Geophysical Research Letters

• Amy Swiggs Exploring Arctic and Antarctic sea ice variability using satellite and meteorological records Start Date: 01/07/2023
• Natasha Lee The Effect of Climate Change on Icelandic Ice Caps and Glaciers. Start Date: 28/03/2023

My work is often reported in the media, and you can see me in a range of TV programmes including:

• Climate Change: The Facts
• Greta Thunberg: A year to change the World
• University Challenge Christmas Special  

Prizes and Awards

I have been awarded the following prizes:

• 2008: Philip Leverhulme Prize
• 2014: Royal Society Woldfson Research Merit Award
• 2021: International Glaciology Society Richardson Medal (share of)

Physics PhD January 01 1998