Petra, please introduce yourself.
Hi! My name is Petra Langebroek and I am a Research Director at NORCE and the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Bergen (Norway). My background is in ice sheet and climate modelling, and my work focuses on figuring out the future (and past) changes of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, and the impacts these have on the global climate. The ice sheets themselves are of course influenced by climate changes, so this makes it a complex (and therefore interesting!) system.
I am also responsible for a group of climate and ice sheet modellers, hence the directors title.
Tell us about your professional and academic career before becoming part of the OCEAN ICE community.
Before OCEAN ICE, I led a Horizon 2020 project called TiPACCs (https://www.tipaccs.eu). In TiPACCs we studied the tipping points in the Antarctic Ice Sheet and surrounding Southern Ocean. One of our key results was to show that we have not yet crossed Antarctic Ice Sheet tipping points yet, but with ongoing climate change, we will cross these in the future. We also found that the ice sheet has crossed tipping points during the warmer periods in the past (see for example: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02366-2.
What do you do within OCEAN ICE?
Together with Dave Chandler, I am studying the impact of freshwater fluxes from the Antarctic Ice Sheet on the global ocean circulation. For this we are using a complex Earth System Model called NorESM. We collaborate with our WP5 colleagues Birte and Casimir, who are using the ocean model NEMO to solve similar research questions. I co-lead WP5.
I am also very much interested in the developments and results of coupled Earth System Models including ice sheet models, done in WP6, and in getting a better understanding of the various freshwater fluxes as working on in the other WPs and cross cutting themes.
What have you enjoyed about OCEAN ICE so far?
It is a great group of friendly and excellent colleagues, who are all passionate about the Antarctic region and its impact on climate!
Tell us about a skill or trait unique to you that you would like to share?
Most of my time I look at my computer screen, for meetings, model development, science results and discussions. But a couple of years ago I was lucky to join an ice core drilling expedition in Greenland. Because this was entirely new for me, and I wanted to share my experiences with my kids, family and friends. I created a story around a Lego figure, a climate ninja, to show my experiences on the ice through photos and short explanations. You can still find the story online, for example here in English: https://blogs.egu.eu/divisions/cr/2019/09/06/cryo-adventures-life-and-science-at-a-central-greenland-ice-core-drilling-camp/
Stay tuned on our social media channels (X, Mastodon, LinkedIn and Bluesky) for more of the series of OCEAN ICE 'Researcher in the Spotlight' articles.