Prof. Sonia I. Seneviratne
Research interests
- Land-climate interactions, soil moisture dynamics, and climate-relevant vegetation processes
- Climate change and extreme events, droughts, hot extremes
- Climate feedbacks and memory effects
- Interface between water, energy and biogeochemical cycles
- Climate and land surface modelling, new approaches to model validation
- Evaluation of land datasets, field measurements
- Land water and energy budgets
Awards and Distinctions
2014-2019: ERC Consolidator Grant (DROUGHT-HEAT project)
2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017: external pageHighly cited researcher (Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics)call_made
2013: external pageJames B. Macelwane Medal, American Geophysical Unioncall_made
2013: external pageFellow, American Geophysical Unioncall_made
2012: Editor's Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Geophysical Research Letters, American Geophysical Union
2003-2004: external pageNCCR Climatecall_made postdoctoral fellowship
Publications
Selected publications
Padron, R., L. Gudmundsson, B. Decharme, A. Ducharne, D.M. Lawrence, J. Mao, D. Peano, G. Krinner, H. Kim, and S.I. Seneviratne (2020): Observed changes in dry-season water availability attributed to human-induced climate change. Nature Geoscience, 13, 477-481.(external pagelinkcall_made; ETH news)
Beusch, L., L. Gudmundsson, S. I. Seneviratne, 2020: Emulating Earth system model temperatures with MESMER: from global mean temperature trajectories to grid-point-level realizations on land. Earth System Dynamics, 11, 139-159 (external pagelinkcall_made)
Thiery, W., A. J. Visser, E. M. Fischer, M. Hauser, A. L. Hirsch, D. M. Lawrence, Q. Lejeune, E. L. Davin, S I. Seneviratne, 2020: Warming of hot extremes alleviated by expanding irrigation. Nature Communications, 11, 290 (external pagelinkcall_made; ETH news)
Vogel, M. M., J. Zscheischler, R. Wartenburger, D. Dee, S. I. Seneviratne, 2019: Concurrent 2018 hot extremes across Northern Hemisphere due to human-induced climate change. Earth’s Future, 7, 692-703 (external pagelinkcall_made)
Humphrey V., Zscheischler J., Ciais P., Gudmundsson L., Sitch S., S. I. Seneviratne, 2018: Sensitivity of atmospheric CO2 growth rate to observed changes in terrestrial water storage. Nature, 560, 628-631 (external pagelinkcall_made, ETH news)
Seneviratne, S.I., S.J. Phipps, A.J. Pitman, A.L. Hirsch, E.L. Davin, M.G. Donat, M. Hirschi, A. Lenton, M. Wilhelm, B. Kravitz, 2018: Land radiative management as contributor to regional-scale climate adaptation and mitigation. Nature Geoscience, doi:10.1038/s41561-017-0057-5 (external pagelinkcall_made; ETH News)
Seneviratne, S.I., M. Donat, A.J. Pitman, R. Knutti, and R.L. Wilby, 2016: Allowable CO2 emissions based on regional and impact-related climate targets. Nature, 529, 477-483, doi:10.1038/nature16542. (external pagelinkcall_made; ETH News; external pageNZZcall_made; external pageTagesanzeigercall_made; external pageBlickcall_made; external pageDaily Mailcall_made; external pageJapan Timescall_made)
Thiery, W., E.L. Davin, S.I. Seneviratne, K. Bedka, S. Lhermitte, and N.P.M. van Lipzig, 2016: Hazardous thunderstorm intensification over Lake Victoria. Nature Communications, 7, 12786. (external pagelinkcall_made; ETH News)
Guillod, B.P., B. Orlowsky, D.G. Miralles, A.J. Teuling, and S.I. Seneviratne, 2015: Reconciling spatial and temporal soil moisture effects on afternoon rainfall. Nature Communications, 6, 6443. (external pagelinkcall_made; ETH Life)
Seneviratne, S.I., M. Donat, B. Mueller, and L.V. Alexander, 2014: No pause in the increase of hot temperature extremes. Nature Climate Change, 4, 161-163. (external pagelinkcall_made; external pageReuterscall_made; external pageThe Economistcall_made; external pageSRF2 Wissenschaftsmagazincall_made; external pageCBCcall_made; external pageClimate Centralcall_made)
Davin, E.L., S.I. Seneviratne, P. Ciais, A. Olioso, and T. Wang, 2014: Preferential cooling of hot extremes from cropland albedo management. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci., 111(27), 9757-9761, doi:10.1073/pnas.1317323111 (external pagelinkcall_made; ETH News; external pageSpiegelcall_made; external pageNature Newscall_made).
Greve, P., B. Orlowsky, B. Mueller, J. Sheffield, M. Reichstein, and S.I. Seneviratne, 2014: Global assessment of trends in wetting and drying over land. Nature Geoscience, 7, 716-721, doi: 10.1038/NGEO2247. (external pagelinkcall_made; ETH News; external pagePhys.orgcall_made; external page20 Minutencall_made; external pageWashington Post (online)call_made; external pageNature Geoscience News and Viewscall_made)
Seneviratne, S.I., M. Wilhelm, T. Stanelle, B.J.J.M. van den Hurk, S. Hagemann, A. Berg, F. Cheruy, M.E. Higgins, A. Meier, V. Brovkin, M. Claussen, A. Ducharne, J.-L. Dufresne, K.L. Findell, J. Ghattas, D.M. Lawrence, S. Malyshev, M. Rummukainen, and B. Smith, 2013: Impact of soil moisture-climate feedbacks on CMIP5 projections: First results from the GLACE-CMIP5 experiment. Geophys. Res. Lett., 40 (19), 5212-5217 (external pagelinkcall_made).
Seneviratne, S.I., N. Nicholls, D. Easterling, C.M. Goodess, S. Kanae, J. Kossin, Y. Luo, J. Marengo, K. McInnes, M. Rahimi, M. Reichstein, A. Sorteberg, C. Vera, and X. Zhang, 2012: Changes in climate extremes and their impacts on the natural physical environment. In: Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation [Field, C.B., V. Barros, T.F. Stocker, D. Qin, D.J. Dokken, K.L. Ebi, M.D. Mastrandrea, K.J. Mach, G.-K. Plattner, S.K. Allen, M. Tignor, and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, pp. 109-230. [external pageFull IPCC SREX Reportcall_made, external pageChapter 3call_made] (ETH Klimablog: Das IPCC SREX in Kürze, Qualitätskontrolle im IPCC SREX; ETH Life Interview: Deutsch, English; external pageIPCC SREX Videocall_made; Media articles: external pageSciDevNetcall_made, external pageNZZcall_made, external pageDie Zeitcall_made, external pageEnvironmental Health Perspectivescall_made)
IPCC, 2012: Summary for Policymakers. In: Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation [Field, C.B., V. Barros, T.F. Stocker, D. Qin, D.J. Dokken, K.L. Ebi, M.D. Mastrandrea, K.J. Mach, G.-K. Plattner, S.K. Allen, M. Tignor, and P.M. Midgley (eds.)]. A Special Report of Working Groups I and II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, pp. 1-19. (in external pageEnglishcall_made, external pageArabiccall_made, external pageChinesecall_made, external pageFrenchcall_made, external pageRussiancall_made, and external pageSpanishcall_made)
Mueller, B., and S.I. Seneviratne, 2012: Hot days induced by precipitation deficits at the global scale. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci., 109 (31), 12398-12403, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1204330109. (external pagelinkcall_made; ETH Life article; external pageTagesAnzeigercall_made; external pageLos Angeles Timescall_made; external pageResearch Highlight in Nature Geosciencecall_made)
Seneviratne, S.I., 2012: Historical drought trends revisited. Nature, 491, 338-339. (external pagelinkcall_made)
Hirschi, M., S.I. Seneviratne, V. Alexandrov, F. Boberg, C. Boroneant, O.B. Christensen, H. Formayer, B. Orlowsky, and P. Stepanek, 2011: Observational evidence for soil-moisture impact on hot extremes in southeastern Europe. Nature Geoscience, 4, 17-21, doi:10.1038/ngeo1032. (external pagelinkcall_made; external pageNews and Viewscall_made; ETH Life article)
Seneviratne, S.I., T. Corti, E.L. Davin, M. Hirschi, E.B. Jaeger, I. Lehner, B. Orlowsky, and A.J. Teuling, 2010: Investigating soil moisture-climate interactions in a changing climate: A review. Earth-Science Reviews, 99, 3-4, 125-161, doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.02.004. (external pagelinkcall_made)
Teuling, A.J., S.I. Seneviratne, R. Stöckli, M. Reichstein, E. Moors, P. Ciais, S. Luyssaert, B. van den Hurk, C. Ammann, C. Bernhofer, E. Dellwik, D. Gianelle, B. Gielen, T. Grünwald, K. Klumpp, L. Montagnani, C. Moureaux, M. Sottocornola, and G. Wohlfahrt, 2010: Contrasting response of European forest and grassland energy exchange to heatwaves. Nature Geoscience, 3, 722-727, doi:10.1038/ngeo950. (external pagelinkcall_made; ETH life article)
Seneviratne, S.I., D. Lüthi, M. Litschi, and C. Schär, 2006: Land-atmosphere coupling and climate change in Europe. Nature, 443, 205-209. (external pagelinkcall_made; external pagesuppl.info.call_made; external pageeditor's summarycall_made)
Invited Presentations
List of invited and solicited presentations (selected)
Research Projects
(see also our research pages)
external pageEU-H2020 4C projectcall_made, 2019-2023
external pageCopernicus C3S_511-Quality Assessment of ECV Productscall_made, 2017-2021
external pageEU-H2020 CRESCENDOcall_made, 2015-2020
ERC Consolidator Grant "DROUGHT-HEAT", 2014-2019
external pageEU-FP7 EUCLEIAcall_made, 2014-2016
external pageESA Soil moisture CCIcall_made, 2012-2014 (Phase 1), 2015-2017 (Phase 2)
external pageEU-FP7 EMBRACEcall_made, 2011-2015
external pageEU-FP7 DROUGHT-R&SPIcall_made, 2011-2015
ETH CHIRP2, 2012-2015
SNF Sinergia Carbo-Count CH, 2012-2015
external pageNRP61 DROUGHT-CHcall_made, 2010-2013
external pageEU-FP7 CARBO-Extremecall_made, 2009-2013
external pageNCCR-Climate Phase IIIcall_made, 2009-2012
SwissSMEX (SNF), 2008-2011
MAIOLICA (CCES), 2008-2012
external pageNCCR-Climate Phase II (SwissRe-funded project)call_made, 2007-2009
external pageEU-FP6 CECILIAcall_made, 2006-2009
Scientific Service
Selected service contributions
external pageCoordinating Lead Author, IPCC 6th Assessment Reportcall_made (2018-2021)
external pageCo-chair of World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Extremes Grand Challengecall_made (2015-present)
external pageLead Author, IPCC 1.5°C Special Reportcall_made (2017-2018)
external pageCo-chair of WCRP GEWEX Scientific Steering Groupcall_made (2014-present)
external pageECMWF Scientific Advisory Committeecall_made (2012-present)
external pageCoordinating Lead Author, IPCC SREX reportcall_made (2009-2012)
external pageILEAPS Scientific Steering Committee (SSC)call_made (2008-2013)
external pageWCRP GEWEX Data and Assessment Panel (GDAP)call_made (2008-2013)
external pageWCRP GEWEX GLASS Panelcall_made (2008-2013)
Curriculum Vitae
2016- Full Professor, ETH Zurich
2013-2016 Associate Professor, ETH Zurich
2007-2012 Assistant Professor, ETH Zurich
2005-2007 Senior research scientist, ETH Zurich
2003-2004 Visiting research associate, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt (MD), USA
1999-2002 PhD thesis, ETH Zurich (Award: 04/2003)
1998-1999 Visiting scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge (MA), USA
1995-1999 MSc in Environmental Sciences (Major: Atmospheric Physics), ETH Zurich, Switzerland
1992-1995 BSc in Biology ("Attestation de Pré-licence"), University of Lausanne, Switzerland