Fabien Maussion bio photo

Research

My research interests are broad and varied, and I particularly like to mix and merge methods and models across disciplines. Here are some of the topics I am interested into:

Glaciological modeling at regional and global scales

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Figure: Example of the OGGM pre-processing workflow applied to the Tasman glacier, New Zealand: (a) definition of a local map and computation of the center lines; (b) computation of the glacier geometrical widths; (c) inversion of the glacier thickness using a mass-conservation and ice-flow modelling approach; (d) spatial interpolation of the ice thickness.

Relevant publications: Maussion et al., 2019; Marzeion et al., 2018; Marzeion et al., 2020; Goosse et al., 2018; Farinotti et al., 2017; Farinotti et al., 2019; Recinos et al., 2019; Recinos et al., 2021; Eis et al., 2019; Eis et al., 2021; Pelto et al., 2020; Rounce et al., 2021; Furian et al., 2022; Hock et al., 2023; Malles et al., 2023; Rounce et al., 2023;

Climate controls on glacier mass-balance

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Figure: monthly mass-balance of the Shallap Glacier (Peru) at 4750 m a.s.l as computed by a statistical model linking the large scale atmospheric circulation to the local glacier surface energy and mass balance (Maussion et al., 2015)

Relevant publications: Maussion et al., 2015; Mölg et al., 2012; Mölg et al., 2014; Zolles et al., 2019; Galos et al., 2017;

Water availability and water demand in the Peruvian Andes

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Figure: Seasonal domain mean time series and linear regressions for NDVI (Hänchen et al., 2022)

Relevant publications: Hänchen et al., 2022; Klein et al., 2023a; Klein et al., 2023b;

Climate of the Tibetan Plateau

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Left: map of the Tibetan Plateau with glacier outlines and location of the few weather stations available (Maussion et al., 2014). Middle: atmospheric water transport towards the Tibetan Plateau in July plotted along cross-sections of the Himalayas (Curio et al., 2015). Right: Wind vectors and geopotential height in July as computed by the HAR (Maussion et al., 2014).

Relevant publications: Mölg et al., 2017; Maussion et al., 2014; Curio et al., 2015;

Dynamical downscaling with the WRF model

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Left: typical downscaling set-up with three nested domains (Collier et al., 2015). Middle: skill score of three 7-day-long simulations with various forcing strategies (Maussion et al., 2011). Right: simulated precipitation at different spatial resolutions (Maussion et al., 2011).

Relevant publications: Maussion et al., 2011; Maussion et al., 2014; Collier et al., 2013; Collier et al., 2015;

Interdisciplinary approaches

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Left: atmospheric moisture contribution to precipitation in northeast Greenland (Schuster et al., 2021). Middle: monthly lake Level changes as observed and as simulated by a modelling tool combining atmospheric and hydrological models (Biskop et al., 2016). Right: mean shear velocities (colour scale) and wind direction and speed over the Tibetan Plateau in summer illustrate the complex patterns of sediment transport into selected tibetan lakes (Dietze et al., 2014).

Relevant publications: Kropáček et al., 2013; Biskop et al., 2016; Dietze et al., 2014; Huintjes et al., 2015; Spieß et al., 2015; Schuster et al., 2021; Azam et al., 2021; Hanus et al., 2024;

Open science

I am fascinated by the opportunities offered by sharing our data and methods more efficiently and more transparently. I am an enthusiast open-source programmer, and most of the research data and the publications I contributed to are open access. I am also a scientific editor for the open-access journal Geoscientific Model Development.

Research projects & grants

See CV.