Marina Dütsch's paper in Journal of Climate: Response of water isotopes ... in high-resolution simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting Model.
Brad Markle's paper in Climate of the Past: Improving temperature reconstructions from ice-core water-isotope records.
Nature article about our ice-coring project at Hercules Dome, Antarctica.
Physics Today article about our work on the (possible) anthropogenic impact on West Antarctica's glaciers.
Eric Steig is Professor and Chair of the Department of Earth & Space Sciences. He obtained his PhD in Geological Sciences at UW in 1996, was research faculty at the University of Colorado and Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania before returning to UW in 2001.
Eric also holds appointments as Rabinowitz Endowed Professor in the College of the Environment, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. He is also a member of the Quaternary Research Center, which he directed from 2008-2013.
He was a National Academy of Sciences "Kavli Fellow" in 2005, and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2019, and a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2023.
Glaciology, climate, isotope geochemistry
My research focus is the development of ice core records and their use in understanding the history and fate of polar ice sheets. In the lab, I work with mass spectrometers to measure isotopes of oxygen, nitrogen, and more. In the field, most of my work has been in Antarctica, but I have ongoing projects in Greenland, Alaska, and British Columbia. On the computer, I am increasingly involved in climate and ice-sheet modeling through collaboration with colleagues with real expertise in those areas.
Much of this work would be impossible possible without my wonderful students, postdocs, and colleagues. For more about our research, see my Research Group web page
Classes
I teach about climate, glaciology, isotope geochemistry, and paleoclimatology at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. I also teach a history of earth sciences class. I am proud of having won the Bassett Distinguished Teaching award in 2016. To see what I'm teaching this year, go to the current Course Schedule. I am not teaching much while I am department Chair.
Opportunities
I am not currently recruiting new students, though I am always willing to discuss potential opportunities.
Publications
Some of my papers are listed (with links) on my publications page, with a complete list on my Curriculum Vitae or you go can go to my Google Scholar Page.
Public Outreach
I am a founding member of RealClimate.org, one of the first and most prominent climate science blogs, to which I still contribute occassionally. I give talks at local libraries, community groups etc. I've enjoyed collaborating with local Seattle artist Anna McKee, who accompanied us to Antarctica and to our favorite Canadian mountains.
Other
I served on the Board of Reviewing Editors of the journal Science from 2013-2018, and was editor of Quaternary Research from 2002-2008.
Kayaking with grizzlies in Glacier Bay, AK, with glaciologist/photographer Dave Bahr.
Combatant Col, the only flat spot in the Waddington Range, British Columbia. We drilled an ice core here in 2010 and again in 2023. If you zoom into the full-size image you can see our camp.
A lovely shot of the impressive granodiorite mountains above Combatant Col.
Collaborator Nick Holshuh doing radar measurements at Hercules Dome, Antarctica. 