Profile

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Sebastian Sippel

Jun.-Prof. Dr. Sebastian Sippel

Junior Professor

Climate Attribution (JP)
Institutsgebäude
Talstraße 35, Room 1-07
04103 Leipzig

Phone: +49 341 97 - 32882

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Abstract

I'm a Junior Professor for Climate Attribution at the Leipzig Institute for Meteorology with a key research interest in improving our understanding of climate variability, extremes and their changes at global and regional scales. My research interests also include the implications of global climate changes for impact-relevant variables such as the hydrological cycle at regional scale, ecosystem water-carbon cycling, and society at large. The bulk of my research is closely linked to climate change detection and attribution. I use modern empirical-quantitative statistical and machine learning methods to address these broad research questions, integrating various climate and Earth science data streams such as gridded climate observations and climate model simulations.




Professional career

  • since 04/2023
    Junior Professor for Climate Attribution at Leipzig University, Institute for Meteorology.
  • 03/2018 - 03/2023
    PostDoc and Senior Scientist (2021 onwards) at ETH Zurich, Climate Physics Group.
  • 09/2017 - 03/2018
    Research Scientist (Forsker) at the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, Ås.
  • 05/2017 - 08/2017
    PostDoc at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena
  • 04/2014 - 05/2017
    PhD thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry and ETH Zurich, Thesis title: ‘Climate extremes and their impact on ecosystem–atmosphereinteractions’.

Education

  • 09/2012 - 09/2013
    Master of Sciences in Environmental Change and Management, University of Oxford.
  • 10/2011 - 03/2014
    M.Sc. in Geoecology-Environmental Sciences, Major in Environmental Physics, Bayreuth University.

  • Detection, attribution, and understanding of forced climate change and climate variability at global and regional scale
  • Water & carbon cycling under climate variability and extremes, and their interactions
  • Data Science and statistical learning for meteorology, climate and Earth system science
  • Data diagnostics and model evaluation


  • ECO-N: Economics of Connected Natural Commons - Atmosphere and Biodiversity
    Quaas, Martin Friedrich
    Duration: 08/2024 – 08/2029
    Funded by: DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
    Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Nachhaltige Immobilien- und Stadtentwicklung; VWL/Makroökonomik; VWL/Ökonometrie; Energiemanagement und Nachhaltigkeit; Bioenergiesysteme; BWL, insb. Sustainable Banking; Spezielle Botanik und funktionelle Biodiversität; Theoretische Meteorologie; Modellierung atmosphärischer Prozesse (Gemeinsame Berufung mit IfT); Experimentelle Interaktionsökologie; Biodiversitätsökonomik; Klima-Attribution (JP)
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  • Process-based ATTribution of Extreme Temperatures to Anthropogenic drivers (PATTETA)
    Sippel, Sebastian
    Duration: 10/2023 – 09/2026
    Funded by: BMBF Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
    Involved organisational units of Leipzig University: Klima-Attribution (JP)
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more projects

  • Sippel, S.; Meinshausen, N.; Fischer, E.; Szekely, E.; Knutti, R.
    Climate change now detectable from any single day of weather at global scale
    Nature Climate Change. 2020. 10 (1). pp. 35–41.
    DOI: 10.1038/s41558-019-0666-7
    show details
  • Sippel, S.; Meinshausen, N.; Merrifield, A.; Lehner, F.; Pendergrass, A. g.; Fischer, E.; Knutti, R.
    Uncovering the Forced Climate Response from a Single Ensemble Member Using Statistical Learning
    Journal of Climate. 2019. 32 (17). pp. 5677–5699.
    DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0882.1
    show details
  • Fischer, E. M.; Sippel, S.; Knutti, R.
    Increasing probability of record-shattering climate extremes
    Nature Climate Change. 2021. 11 (8). pp. 689–695.
    DOI: 10.1038/s41558-021-01092-9
    show details
  • Bastos, A.; Sippel, S.; Frank , D.; Mahecha, M.; Zaehle, S.; Zscheischler, J.; Reichstein, M.
    A joint framework for studying compound ecoclimatic events
    Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. 2023. pp. 333–350.
    DOI: 10.1038/s43017-023-00410-3
    show details
  • Mahecha, M.; Bastos, A.; Bohn, F. J. et al.
    Biodiversity and climate extremes: known interactions and research gaps
    Earth's Future. 2024. 12 (6).
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2023EF003963
    show details

more publications

  • Climate variability and extreme events
  • Biogeochemical cycles
  • Methods for attribution of trends and extreme events in meteorology and climate science
  • Statistical and machine learning methods in meteorology, climate and earth system sciences


For possible thesis topics (B.Sc., M.Sc.) around the above mentioned topics please contact me.

  • Introduction to Advanced Data Analytics (5 ECTS)

    • Lecture Statistical and Machine Learning for Earth System Sciences. Mon, 11.15-12.45 Hörsaal 1 0.21, Talstr. 35
    • Practicals Data Analysis with Statistical and Machine Learning. Mon, 11.15-12.45 Hörsaal 1 0.21, Talstr. 35


Research fields

Climate, Environment, environmental protection, ecology

Specializations

  • Extreme weather events

  • Attribution

  • Climate variability and climate change

  • Impacts of climate variability and extreme events on water and carbon fluxes

Contact for media inquiries

Phone: +49 341 97 - 32882