Frank Jean-Marie Léon Pattyn is a Belgian glaciologist and professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles.[1] He is best known for developing ice-sheet models and leading model intercomparisons.[2]

Early life and education

Frank Pattyn was born in Etterbeek on 4 March 1966.[3] He completed his Bachelor and Master degrees in geography at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 1986 and 1988, respectively.[4] After a short period of military service in the Belgian Armed Forces,[4] he then obtained his PhD from the same institution in 1998.[5]

Career and impact

After completing his PhD, Pattyn then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan (1999-2000) before coming back to Belgium as a research associate at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.[3]

In 2000, he started to teach geomorphology and climatology at the Université libre de Bruxelles where he became a professor in 2011. Since 2006, he has also become co-director of the Laboratoire de Glaciologie[6] of the Université libre de Bruxelles.

He is currently Chairman of the Belgian National Committee on Antarctic Research,[7] the Belgian branch of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research and the vice-president of the International Glaciological Society[8] and Associate Chief Editor of Journal of Glaciology.[9]

Pattyn has authored over 70 peer-review papers[10] (including 6 from high-profile journals) covering various aspect of glaciology, which are cited over 1700 times.[10]

His research includes ice-sheet modelling with in situ and remote sensing observations, to evaluate the present-day and future mass changes of the Antarctic ice sheet. He has developed several ice-sheet models, such as a three-dimensional thermomechanical ice-sheet model including higher-order stress gradients (Blatter-Pattyn model),[11] and more recently the fast Elementary Thermomechanical Ice Sheet model (f.ETISh).[12] Such models are capable of simulating the behaviour of fast-flowing ice streams and ice flow across subglacial lakes, and over long time scales.

He is also actively involved in a series of Ice-Sheet Model Intercomparison Projects (ISMIP),[13] such as ISMIP-HOM, ISMIP-HEINO, MISMIP, MISMIP3D, and MISMIP+.

He took part in 19 expeditions to Antarctica and Arctic glaciers in order to study the interaction of glaciers and ice sheets with subglacial water and the ocean, using ground-penetrating radar and differential GPS.

Since taking office as a professor, he has also paid attention to the outreach of glaciology. In particular, he developed the Grantism model,[14] which allows to simulate the evolution of the Greenland and the Antarctic according to parameters understandable to all (temperature, sea level). He recently set up the Tweeting ice shelf, a project which consists of two GPS placed on the Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf, East Antarctica that communicate their position and movement via Twitter.[15]

Awards and honours

Pattyn has received the 2018 Louis Agassiz Medal,[16] an award[17] from the European Geosciences Union that recognises his outstanding scientific contribution to the study of the cryosphere.

Selected work

References

  1. ^ "Laboratoire de Glaciologie - ULB". dev.ulb.ac.be. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  2. ^ "The research groups - Research - Belgian Polar Platform - Research and applications - Belgian Science Policy". www.belspo.be. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  3. ^ a b "Frank Pattyn" (PDF). www.academieroyale.be. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  4. ^ a b Pattyn, Frank. "Curriculum Vitae". Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  5. ^ Pattyn, Frank (1998). Ice-sheet dynamics in eastern Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica (Ph.D. thesis). Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Laboratoire de Glaciologie - ULB". dev.ulb.ac.be. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  7. ^ "SCAR-BNCAR – Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research – Belgian National Committee on Antarctic Research". www.bncar.be. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  8. ^ "Council". International Glaciological Society (IGS). Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  9. ^ "Editorial Board, Journal of Glaciology". International Glaciological Society (IGS). Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  10. ^ a b "Scopus preview - Scopus - Author details (Pattyn, Frank)". www.scopus.com. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  11. ^ Pattyn, Frank (2003-08-01). "A new three-dimensional higher-order thermomechanical ice sheet model: Basic sensitivity, ice stream development, and ice flow across subglacial lakes". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 108 (B8): 2382. Bibcode:2003JGRB..108.2382P. doi:10.1029/2002JB002329. ISSN 2156-2202.
  12. ^ Pattyn, F. (2017-01-30). "Sea-level response to melting of Antarctic ice shelves on multi-centennial time scales with the fast Elementary Thermomechanical Ice Sheet model (f.ETISh v1.0)". The Cryosphere Discussions. 2017: 1–52. doi:10.5194/tc-2017-8. ISSN 1994-0440.
  13. ^ "ISMIP page". homepages.vub.ac.be. Archived from the original on 2007-02-08. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  14. ^ Pattyn, Frank (2006-04-01). "GRANTISM: An Excel model for Greenland and Antarctic ice-sheet response to climate changes". Computers & Geosciences. 32 (3): 316–325. Bibcode:2006CG.....32..316P. doi:10.1016/j.cageo.2005.06.020.
  15. ^ "Who is Who?". tweetiniceshelf.blogspot.be. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  16. ^ "EGU announces 2018 awards and medals". European Geosciences Union (EGU). Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  17. ^ "EGU". European Geosciences Union (EGU). Retrieved 2017-10-10.