Matthias Mengel serves as Deputy Head of Research Department 3 "Transformation Pathways" and leads the Research Group on "Data-centric Modeling of Cross-sectoral Climate Impacts". He is member of the Cross-sectoral Science Board of the Inter-sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP).
Before his transition to modeling climate impacts within the ISIMIP team, he worked on Antarctic ice sheet dynamics and sea level change. He touched these topics during his PhD earned at Potsdam University in 2015 and during his AXA Postdoctoral fellowship 2016-2018. His new research explores data-driven approaches to better constrain the impacts of climate change on our societies. This includes methodological advance for the attribution of observed impacts of climate change. Sea level rise and its impacts remain a focus of his research. In 2013, he joined the Polarstern expedition ANT-XXIX/3 to the Antarctic Weddel sea. He stayed a year abroad during his studies at the University of Nairobi in Kenya.
Contact
14412 Potsdam
ORCID
Currently
Deputy Head of Research Department 3, "Transformation Pathways"
Group leader: "Data-Centric Modeling of Cross-Sectoral Impacts"
2018-2019
Postdoctoral researcher, ISIMIP group, PIK Potsdam
2016-2018
AXA Postdoctoral research fellow with Anders Levermann (PIK, Potsdam) and David Holland (New York University, USA)
2011-2015
PhD in Climate Physics (Dr. rer. nat.) with Anders Levermann at PIK Potsdam and University of Potsdam
Topic: "Forcing Earth's sea level: instabilities and linear responses"
2010
Diplom (M.Sc.) Topic: "Stability of the Subpolar Gyre in a Coarse Resolution Model"
2007-2009
Studies of Physics, Free University Berlin
2006/2007
Year Abroad at the University of Nairobi, Kenya
2004-2006
Studies of Physics, Free University Berlin
Scholarships
Postdoctoral research fellowship from AXA research fund
PhD scholarship awarded by Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt
Scholarship awarded by Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
Scholarship from German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for Year Abroad
2019
Nauels, A., Gütschow, J., Mengel, M., Meinshausen, M., Clark, P. U., & Schleussner, C.-F. (2019). Attributing long-term sea-level rise to Paris Agreement emission pledges. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 116(47), 23487-23492. doi:10.1073/pnas.1907461116.
Feldmann, J., Levermann, A., & Mengel, M. (2019). Stabilizing the West Antarctic Ice Sheet by surface mass deposition. Science Advances, 5(7): eaaw4132. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaw4132.
Seroussi, H., Nowicki, S., Simon, E., Abe-Ouchi, A., Albrecht, T., Brondex, J., Cornford, S., Dumas, C., Gillet-Chaulet, F., Goelzer, H., Golledge, N. R., Gregory, J. M., Greve, R., Hoffman, M. J., Humbert, A., Huybrechts, P., Kleiner, T., Larour, E., Leguy, G., Lipscomb, W. H., Lowry, D., Mengel, M., Morlighem, M., Pattyn, F., Payne, A. J., Pollard, D., Price, S. F., Quiquet, A., Reerink, T. J., Reese, R., Rodehacke, C. B., Schlegel, N.-J., Shepherd, A., Sun, S., Sutter, J., Van Breedam, J., Wal, R. S. W. v. d., Winkelmann, R., & Zhang, T. (2019). initMIP-Antarctica: an ice sheet model initialization experiment of ISMIP6. The Cryosphere, 13(5), 1441-1471. doi:10.5194/tc-13-1441-2019.
2018
Reese, R., Albrecht, T., Mengel, M., Winkelmann, R., & & other PISM authors (2018). pism/pik/pico_dev: PISM+PICO version as used in Reese et al. The Cryosphere publication. Genf: CERN / Zenodo.
Gieseke, R., Lewis, J., Willner, S., Nicholls, Z., & Mengel, M. (2018). openclimatedata/pymagicc: v1.2.0. Genf: CERN / Zenodo.
Gieseke, R., Willner, S., Mengel, M., & Lewis, J. (2018). openclimatedata/pymagicc: v1.1.0. Genf: CERN / Zenodo.
Gieseke, R., Willner, S., & Mengel, M. (2018). openclimatedata/pymagicc: v1.0.2. Genf: CERN / Zenodo.
Reese, R., Albrecht, T., Mengel, M., Asay-Davis, X. S., & Winkelmann, R. (2018). Antarctic sub-shelf melt rates via PICO. The Cryosphere, 12(6), 1969-1985. doi:10.5194/tc-12-1969-2018.
Pfleiderer, P., Schleussner, C.-F., Mengel, M., & Rogelj, J. (2018). Global mean temperature indicators linked to warming levels avoiding climate risks. Environmental Research Letters, 13(6): 064015. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aac319.
Mengel, M., Nauels, A., Rogelj, J., & Schleussner, C.-F. (2018). Committed sea-level rise under the Paris Agreement and the legacy of delayed mitigation action. Nature Communications, 9: 601. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-02985-8.
Gieseke, R., Willner, S. N., & Mengel, M. (2018). Pymagicc: A Python wrapper for the simple climate model MAGICC. The Journal of Open Source Software, 3(22)(516). doi:10.21105/joss.00516.
2017
Nauels, A., Meinshausen, M., Mengel, M., Lorbacher, K., & Wigley, T. M. L. (2017). Synthesizing long-term sea level rise projections - the MAGICC sea level model v2.0. Geoscientific Model Development, 10(6), 2495-2524. doi:10.5194/gmd-10-2495-2017.
Frieler, K., Lange, S., Piontek, F., Reyer, C. P. O., Schewe, J., Warszawski, L., Zhao, F., Chini, L., Denvil, S., Emanuel, K., Geiger, T., Halladay, K., Hurtt, G., Mengel, M., Murakami, D., Ostberg, S., Popp, A., Riva, R., Stevanović, M., Suzuki, T., Volkholz, J., Burke, E., Ciais, P., Ebi, K., Eddy, T. D., Elliott, J., Galbraith, E., Gosling, S. N., Hattermann, F. F., Hickler, T., Hinkel, J., Hof, C., Huber, V., Jägermeyr, J., Krysanova, V., Marcé, R., Müller Schmied, H., Mouratiadou, I., Pierson, D., Tittensor, D. P., Vautard, R., Vliet, M. v., Biber, M. F., Betts, R. A., Bodirsky, B. L., Deryng, D., Frolking, S., Jones, C. D., Lotze, H. K., Lotze-Campen, H., Sahajpal, R., Thonicke, K., Tian, H., & Yamagata, Y. (2017). Assessing the impacts of 1.5 °C global warming - simulation protocol of the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP2b). Geoscientific Model Development, 10(12), 4321-4345. doi:10.5194/gmd-10-4321-2017.
Nauels, A., Rogelj, J., Schleussner, C.-F., Meinshausen, M., & Mengel, M. (2017). Linking sea level rise and socioeconomic indicators under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways. Environmental Research Letters, 12(114002). doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aa92b6.
Waha, K., Krummenauer, L., Adams, S., Aich, V., Baarsch, F., Coumou, D., Fader, M., Hoff, H., Jobbins, G., Marcus, R., Mengel, M., Otto, I. M., Perrette, M., Rocha, M., Robinson, A., & Schleussner, C.-F. (2017). Climate change impacts in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region and their implications for vulnerable population groups. Regional Environmental Change, 17(6), 1623-1638. doi:10.1007/s10113-017-1144-2.
Reyer, C. P. O., Otto, I. M., Adams, S., Albrecht, T., Baarsch, F., Cartsburg, M., Coumou, D., Eden, A., Ludi, E., Marcus, R., Mengel, M., Mosello, B., Robinson, A., Schleussner, C.-F., Serdeczny, O., & Stagl, J. C. (2017). Climate change impacts in Central Asia and their implications for development. Regional Environmental Change, 17(6), 1639-1650. doi:10.1007/s10113-015-0893-z.
Reyer, C. P. O., Adams, S., Albrecht, T., Baarsch, F., Boit, A., Trujillo, N. C., Cartsburg, M., Coumou, D., Eden, A., Fernandes, E., Langerwisch, F., Marcus, R., Mengel, M., Mira-Salama, D., Perette, M., Pereznieto, P., Rammig, A., Reinhardt, J., Robinson, A., Rocha, M., Sakschewski, B., Schaeffer, M., Schleussner, C.-F., Serdeczny, O., & Thonicke, K. (2017). Climate change impacts in Latin America and the Caribbean and their implications for development. Regional Environmental Change, 17(6), 1601-1621. doi:10.1007/s10113-015-0854-6.
2016
Mengel, M., Levermann, A., Frieler, K., Robinson, A., Marzeion, B., & Winkelmann, R. (2016). Future sea level rise constrained by observations and long-term commitment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 113(10), 2597-2602. doi:10.1073/pnas.1500515113.
Frieler, K., Mengel, M., & Levermann, A. (2016). Delaying future sea-level rise by storing water in Antarctica. Earth System Dynamics, 7(1), 203-210. doi:10.5194/esd-7-203-2016.
Mengel, M., Feldmann, J., & Levermann, A. (2016). Linear sea-level response to abrupt ocean warming of major West Antarctic ice basin. Nature Climate Change, 6(1), 71-74. doi:10.1038/nclimate2808.
Schleussner, C.-F., Lissner, T. K., Fischer, E. M., Wohland, J., Perrette, M., Golly, A., Rogelj, J., Childers, K., Schewe, J., Frieler, K., Mengel, M., Hare, W., & Schaeffer, M. (2016). Differential climate impacts for policy-relevant limits to global warming: the case of 1.5 °C and 2 °C. Earth System Dynamics, 7(2), 327-351. doi:10.5194/esd-7-327-2016.
2014
Schellnhuber, H. J., Reyer, C., Hare, W., Waha, K., Otto, I. M., Serdeczny, O., Schaeffer, M., Schleußner, C.-F., Reckien, D., Marcus, R., Kit, O., Eden, A., Adams, S., Aich, V., Albrecht, T., Baarsch, F., Boit, A., Trujillo, N. C., Cartsburg, M., Coumou, D., Fader, M., Hoff, H., Jobbins, G., Jones, L., Krummenauer, L., Langerwisch, F., Le Masson, V., Ludi, E., Mengel, M., Möhring, J., Mosello, B., Norton, A., Perette, M., Pereznieto, P., Rammig, A., Reinhardt, J., Robinson, A., Rocha, M., Sakschewski, B., Schaphoff, S., Schewe, J., Stagl, J., & Thonicke, K. (2014). Turn Down the Heat. Confronting the New Climate Normal. Washington DC: World Bank.
Levermann, A., Winkelmann, R., Nowicki, S., Fastook, J. L., Frieler, K., Greve, R., Hellmer, H. H., Martin, M. A., Meinshausen, M., Mengel, M., Payne, A. J., Pollard, D., Sato, T., Timmermann, R., Lang, W. L., & Bindschadler, R. A. (2014). Projecting Antarctic ice discharge using response functions from SeaRISE ice-sheet models. Earth System Dynamics, 5(2), 271-293. doi:10.5194/esdd-4-1117-2013.
Mengel, M. (2014). Kipppunkte in der Antarktis - wie stabil ist der antarktische Eisschild?. Heidelberg: Spektrum der Wissenschaft.
Mengel, M., & Levermann, A. (2014). Ice plug prevents irreversible discharge from East Antarctica. Nature Climate Change, 4(6), 451-455. doi:10.1038/nclimate2226.
Piontek, F., Müller, C., Pugh, T. A. M., Clark, D. B., Deryng, D., Elliott, J., Jesus Colón-González, F. d., Flörke, M., Folbert, C., Franssen, W., Frieler, K., Friend, A. D., Gosling, S. N., Hemming, D., Khabarov, N., Kim, H., Lomas, M. R., Masaki, Y., Mengel, M., Morse, A., Neumann, K., Nishina, K., Ostberg, S., Pavlick, R., Ruane, A. C., Schewe, J., Schmid, E., Stacke, T., Tang, Q., Tessler, Z. D., Tompkins, A. M., Warszawski, L., Wisser, D., & Schellnhuber, H. J. (2014). Multisectoral climate impact hotspots in a warming world. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 111(9), 3233-3238. doi:10.1073/pnas.1222471110.
2013
Frieler, K., Meinshausen, M., Golly, A., Mengel, M., Lebek, K., Donner, S. D., & Hoegh-Guldberg, O. (2013). Limiting global warming to 2°C is unlikely to save most coral reefs. Nature Climate Change, 3(2), 165-170. doi:10.1038/nclimate1674.
2012
Mengel, M., Levermann, A., Schleussner, C.-F., & Born, A. (2012). Enhanced Atlantic subpolar gyre variability through baroclinic threshold in a coarse resolution model. Earth System Dynamics, 3(2), 189-197. doi:10.5194/esd-3-189-2012.
Levermann, A., Winkelmann, R., Nowicki, S., Fastook, J. L., Frieler, K., Greve, R., Hellmer, H. H., Martin, M. A., Mengel, M., Payne, A. J., Pollard, D., Sato, T., Timmermann, R., Wang, W. L., & Bindschadler, R. A. (2012). Projecting Antarctic ice discharge using response functions from SeaRISE ice-sheet models. The Cryosphere Discussions, 6(4), 3447-3489.
Frieler, K., Meinshausen, M., Mengel, M., Braun, N., & Hare, W. (2012). A scaling approach to probabilistic assessment of regional climate change. Journal of Climate, 25(9), 3117-3144. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00199.1.
2019
Sea levels set to keep rising for centuries even if emissions targets met
The Guardian
Sea level will rise for centuries. We can control how much and how fast.
National Geographic
2018
The next five years will shape sea level rise for the next 300, study says
The Washington Post
Actions today will decide Antarctic ice sheet loss and sea level rise
The Guardian
Interview: "Der Meeresspiegel reagiert sensibel auf alle Emissionen"
Zeit Online
Interview: "Wir haben das Klima nie stärker beeinflusst"
heute.de
2016
Sea level rise is accelerating; how much it costs is up to us
The Guardian
Seas are now rising faster than they have in 2,800 years, scientists say
The Washington Post
Study Reveals Stunning Acceleration of Sea Level Rise
Climate Central
Study reveals greater climate impacts of 2C temperature rise
The Guardian
Ein halbes Grad mehr ist ein halbes Grad zu viel
Süddeutsche Zeitung
2014
East Antarctica significantly more at risk of melting than earlier thought
The Washington Post
Antarctic Ice Shelf On Brink Of Unstoppable Melt That Could Raise Sea Levels For 10,000 Years
The Huffington Post
Eiskollaps-Prognose: Forscher verwundern mit Korken-Orakel
Spiegel Online
Antarctic Ice May Be Held in Place By Small Plugs
National Geographic