Glacier researcher receives Prix de Quervain 2023

With its topic-based working groups and interand transdisciplinary focus, the platform addresses urgent social challenges, based on sustainable development. It sees itself as a hub for a solution-oriented dialogue between science and society. Image: Manu Friedrich More than ever before - Marin Kneib has employed the latest satellite technology and camera systems to measure over 37,000 ice cliffs. The researcher will be awarded the Prix de Quervain 2023 by the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences for an extremely comprehensive doctoral dissertation at the ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL. Image: Marin Kneib Many glaciers in the Himalayas are completely covered with debris, but their surface is regularly dotted by large ice cliffs that rise up in the air. The doctoral dissertation by Marin Kneib confirms the hypothesis that ice cliffs accelerate the mass loss of glaciers and, consequently, compensate for the insulation effect created by the debris. His work sets new standards for the understanding of ice cliffs and their development, thanks to the huge number he was able to track with an unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution.