Prof. Dr. Konrad Steffen, one of the world's leading names in polar sciences, died in an accident during his fieldwork in Greenland. The Swiss scientist was known for his studies on the effects of climate change on ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
Born in 1952, Steffen completed his PhD at the Zurich Federal Institute of Technology in 1984. In 1990, he became a professor of climatology at the University of Colorado. Steffen, who was 68 when he died, had been director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) since 2012.
We pay tribute to an important scientist who made great contributions to polar research. Our condolences to the polar science community, his close friends and family.
