NESSC

27/01/2025

After ten years of pursuing ambitious climate research, the Netherlands Earth System Science Centre (NESSC) has now closed.

In ten years, over 700 peer-reviewed articles were published, the educational Tipping Point Ahead programme was developed and, most importantly, a network of more than 100 interdisciplinary trained scientists was established: over 80 PhDs and over 20 postdocs contributed to NESSC. To celebrate NESSC’s lasting legacy, abstracts of NESSC presentations last year have been collected and published online in the NESSC Research Legacy Booklet (open access).

The legacy of NESSC will continue today, providing the shoulders for the ten-year research programme EMBRACER which has just begun to further our understanding on climate feedbacks.

Thank you for following NESSC on Facebook! Updates on EMBRACER research will be provided on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/earth-system-feedback-research-centre/

After hundreds of scientific publications and dozens of PhD and postdocs having completed their research, the Netherlands Earth System Science Centre (NESSC) has now closed.

18/12/2024

There’s no better way to start the Christmas season: a decades long squabble between scientists can be put to rest with a terrific NESSC article, which was just published in Science Advances!

Massive volcanic eruptions on the Indian peninsula have long been proposed as an alternative cause for the demise of the dinosaurs. This phase of active volcanism took place in a period just before the Earth was struck by a meteorite, 66 million years ago.

The effect of these volcanic eruptions on the Earth’s climate has been topic of fierce scientific debates for decades.

Now, NESSC scientists Lauren O’Connor and Francien Peterse from Earth Sciences, Utrecht University together with researchers from the The University of Manchester show that, while the volcanism caused a temporary cold period, the effects had already worn off thousands of years before the meteorite impacted.

The scientists therefore conclude that the meteorite impact was the ultimate cause of the dinosaur extinction event.

Read more here:

Massive volcanic eruptions on the Indian peninsula have long been proposed as an alternative cause for the demise of the dinosaurs. This phase of active volcanism took place in a period just before the Earth was struck by a meteorite, 66 million years ago. The effect of these volcanic eruptions on t...

28/11/2024

A new NESSC article is out!

The first paper of Anne Kruijt's PhD research was recently published in Geophysical Research Letters – congratulations!

Together with Appy Sluijs and Jack Middelburg, Anne looked specifically at the limitations of coral growth in warmer climates, times when global temperatures were much higher compared to today.

What prevented corals from growing at the higher latitudes or even all the way at the poles of the earth?

Have a look here for the answer:
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL111757

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL111757

The uppermost latitudinal limit of tropical coral reefs was limited by winter daily available radiation during past warm climates Fossil coral reef distribution is not a robust proxy for water te...

11/11/2024

And the next PhD defense of NESSC research is already drawing near!

Next week Thomas Hessilt (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam ) will defend his PhD thesis on Monday November 18th! The defence starts at 11:45 and can also be followed via livesteam.

Thomas’ research focused on understanding the drivers of fires in the boreal forests and how forest fires start. Read here for a summary of his research:

PhD Candidate: Thomas Hessilt Defence date: 18-11-2024 Time: 11:45 Institute: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Location: Hoofdgebouw VU, De Boelelaan 1105, Amsterdam Online: Livestream PhD supervisors: dr. S.S.N. Veraverbeke prof.dr. G.R. van der Werf Title thesis: The Ignition Enigma: Dynamics of fores...

05/11/2024

NESSC is happy to announce the PhD defence of Laura Pacho Sampedro (NIOZ / Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University ) on Wednesday afternoon November 6th! And yes, that’s tomorrow! The defence starts at 14:15 and can also be followed via livesteam.

For her thesis, Laura studied the process of biomineralization of foraminifera, tiny marine organisms with calcium shells, which can store clues about the seawater of the distant past.

Read here for a summary of her research:

PhD Candidate: Laura Pacho Sampedro Defence date: 6-11-2024 Time: 14:15 Institute: Utrecht University Location: Academiegebouw, Domplein 29, Utrecht PhD supervisors: prof. dr. Gert-Jan Reichart dr. Lennart J. de Nooijer Title thesis: Foraminiferal diversity and novel trace elements for carbonate sys...

07/10/2024

A new NESSC paper has appeared!

Some nice work by NESSC researcher and her colleagues at NIOZ, presenting a reconstruction of ocean water temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean which suggests a period of cooling in the Miocene. Their work also helps to understand the development of the Antarctic ice sheet.

The paper can be found here:https://buff.ly/47YWz47

07/10/2024

A new NESSC paper has appeared!

Some nice work by NESSC researcher Katrin Hättig and her colleagues at NIOZ is presented in this paper, with a new reconstruction of ocean water temperatures in the Atlantic ocean during a phase in the Miocene (14 – 13 million years ago).

Their findings suggest that the studied time period was mainly a time of cooling, and also help to understand the development of the Antarctic ice sheet.

The paper can be found here:

No change in stable hydrogen isotopes of surface waters during the Middle Miocene Climate Transition period based on long chain alkenones Bottom seawater isotopes based on corrected oxygen isotop...

03/10/2024

NESSC is happy to announce the PhD defence of Malavika Sivan (Utrecht University) on Tuesday October 29th! The defence starts at 14:00 and can also be followed via livesteam!

For her PhD research, Malavika studied the clumped isotopes of methane gas, which can form an important new technique to trace and discover the different methane sources.

Read here for a summary of her research:

PhD Candidate: Malavika Sivan Defence date: 29-10-2024 Time: 14:00 Institute: Utrecht University Location: Academiegebouw, Domplein 29, Utrecht Online: Livestream PhD supervisors: prof. dr. Thomas Röckmann prof. dr. Caroline P. Slomp dr. Maria Elena Popa Title thesis: Clumped isotopologues of metha...

20/09/2024

Grab your diaries!

Coming Monday afternoon, September 23rd , NESSC researcher Ronny Rotbarth will defend his PhD thesis at Wageningen University & Research. Ron’s defence will start at 15:30 in the Omnia building. A livestream will be available via https://wur.yuja.com/

Prior to his defence, Ronny organises a lunch workshop ‘Resilience of Polar Regions’ with talks and discussion starting at 12:10 in Lumen 1 (building 100).

Programme:
12:10 - Milena Holmgren: Introduction
12:20 - Ronny Rotbarth: The future face of the last frontier – boreal forest resilience to global change
12:30 - Juul Limpens and Runa Magnusson: Role of extreme precipitation events as triggers of permafrost melt in contrasting climates
12:40 - Hans Cornelissen: Traits and ecosystem functions of Antarctic moss and lichen species
12:50 - James Speed: Large herbivores and ecological dynamics in the changing north

All are kindly invited to attend!

https://www.nessc.nl/phd-defence-the-future-face-of-the-last-frontier-boreal-forest-resilience-to-global-change/

PhD Candidate: Ronny Rotbarth Defence date: 23-09-2024 Time: 15:30 Institute: Wageningen University & Research Location: Omnia, Hoge Steeg 2, Building number 105, Wageningen Online: Livestream PhD supervisors: dr. Milena Holmgren prof.dr. Marten Scheffer Title thesis: The future face of the last fro...

29/08/2024

Another NESSC project is nearly finished!

On Thursday September 19 NESSC researcher Louise Fuchs will defend her PhD thesis at Utrecht University Halll! The defence starts at 14:15, a livestream will also be available.

For her PhD research, Louise studied the cyclicity of the East Asian Summer Monsoon, one of the strongest monsoon systems on Earth. Read more about Louise’s research here: https://www.nessc.nl/the-missing-link-of-the-asian-monsoon-riddle/

PhD Candidate: Louise Fuchs Defence date: 19-09-2024 Time: 14:15 Institute: Utrecht University Location: Academiegebouw, Domplein 29, Utrecht Online: Livestream PhD supervisors: dr. ir. F. Peterse prof. dr. Y. Sun Title thesis: Late Quaternary East Asian Monsoon precipitation dynamics and vegetation...

09/08/2024

A new NESSC article has appeared!

An insightful new study by NESSC researchers Junjie Wang and colleagues at Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, shows that the natural processes in rivers and lakes that break down nitrogen have accelerated during the twentieth century, sometimes up to six times faster.

The acceleration is in response to the sharp increase of nitrogen in river systems caused by human activities, the influence of global warming and dam building in river systems. Also the process of burial of nitrogen in sediments was shown to be three times faster compared to the start of the twentieth century.

The article is published in Nature Water, read more here:

A new study by NESSC researchers Junjie Wang and colleagues at Utrecht University shows that natural processes in rivers breaking down nitrogen have accelerated during the twentieth century, sometimes up to six times faster.

05/08/2024

A new NESSC paper is out! Katrin Haettig and her colleagues at NIOZ have unravelled a new puzzle piece on alkenone isotopes, which are frequently used to reconstruct the compositions of surface seawater.

The new research indicates a sensitivity of these alkenone to variable light conditions and respond accordingly, which potentially can impact the results of surface seawater reconstructions.

Well done!

You can find the paper here: