Steven Phipps

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Dr Steven Phipps is a research scientist based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Over the course of his academic career, he has worked and studied at the University of Oxford, the University of Tasmania, the University of New South Wales and CSIRO. However, determined to close the loop between basic research and policymaking, he left academia in November 2020. He is now the founding Director of Ikigai Research, an independent, non-profit research partnership.

The overarching focus of his research program is on using modelling and data science to tackle some of the grand challenges of the 21st century. Primarily, he studies past, present and future changes in the climate system, with a particular focus on Antarctica and global sea level rise. He endeavours to bridge the gap between science and policy, working with decision-makers to provide them with the information they need to deal with the challenge of climate change.

Steven is a strong believer in the power of diplomacy and international relations to make our world a better place. Through the Australia-Japan Society of Tasmania and the Australian Institute for International Affairs, he seeks to promote mutual cultural understanding and create a world where we can tackle the grand challenges of the 21st century together.

Above all, he has a fundamentally optimistic perspective on life. He believes in inspiring people, telling positive stories and striving for a better world.

Experience

  • 2020–present
    Director, Ikigai Research
  • 2015–2020
    Senior Research Fellow, University of Tasmania
  • 2008–2015
    Research Fellow in Climate System Science, University of New South Wales
  • 2007–2008
    Earth Systems Modeller, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
  • 2005–2007
    Earth Systems Scientist, University of Tasmania

Education

  • 2006 
    University of Tasmania, PhD
  • 1999 
    University of Oxford, MA
  • 1993 
    University of Oxford, BA (Hons)

Publications

  • 2020
    Robust estimates of the true (population) infection rate for COVID-19: a backcasting approach, Royal Society Open Science
  • 2020
    Integral correlation for uneven and differently sampled data, and its application to the Law Dome Antarctic climate record, Scientific Reports
  • 2020
    The Antarctic Crust and Upper Mantle: A Flexible 3D Model and Software Framework for Interdisciplinary Research, Frontiers in Earth Science
  • 2020
    The Sensitivity of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to a Changing Climate: Past, Present, and Future, Reviews of Geophysics
  • 2020
    Natural drivers of multidecadal Arctic sea ice variability over the last millennium, Scientific Reports
  • 2020
    Weakening of the Extratropical Storm Tracks in Solar Geoengineering Scenarios, Geophysical Research Letters
  • 2019
    Ocean carbon and nitrogen isotopes in CSIRO Mk3L-COAL version 1.0: A tool for palaeoceanographic research, Geoscientific Model Development
  • 2019
    PaCTS 1.0: A Crowdsourced Reporting Standard for Paleoclimate Data, Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology
  • 2019
    Marine nitrogen fixers mediate a low latitude pathway for atmospheric CO2 drawdown, Nature Communications
  • 2019
    Using Long-Term Observational and Paleo-Proxy Reconstructions to Improve Model Projections of Antarctic Climate, Geosciences
  • 2019
    Holocene El Niño-Southern Oscillation variability reflected in subtropical Australian precipitation, Scientific Reports
  • 2018
    Land radiative management as contributor to regional-scale climate adaptation and mitigation, Nature Geoscience
  • 2018
    Response to marine cloud brightening in a multi-model ensemble, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
  • 2018
    The climate effects of increasing ocean albedo: an idealized representation of solar geoengineering, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
  • 2018
    Dynamic Biological Functioning Important for Simulating and Stabilizing Ocean Biogeochemistry, Global Biogeochemical Cycles
  • 2018
    The PMIP4 contribution to CMIP6 – Part 1: Overview and over-arching analysis plan, Geoscientific Model Development
  • 2017
    Rapid global ocean-atmosphere response to Southern Ocean freshening during the last glacial, Nature Communications
  • 2017
    A global multiproxy database for temperature reconstructions of the Common Era, Scientific Data
  • 2017
    Comparing proxy and model estimates of hydroclimate variability and change over the Common Era, Climate of the Past
  • 2017
    Impact of the GeoMIP G1 sunshade geoengineering experiment on the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, Environmental Research Letters
  • 2017
    Evaluation of PMIP2 and PMIP3 simulations of mid-Holocene climate in the Indo-Pacific, Australasian and Southern Ocean regions, Climate of the Past
  • 2017
    The PMIP4 contribution to CMIP6 – Part 2: Two interglacials, scientific objective and experimental design for Holocene and Last Interglacial simulations, Geoscientific Model Development
  • 2017
    The PMIP4 contribution to CMIP6 – Part 3: The last millennium, scientific objective, and experimental design for the PMIP4 past1000 simulations, Geoscientific Model Development
  • 2016
    The simulated climate of the Last Glacial Maximum and insights into the global marine carbon cycle, Climate of the Past
  • 2016
    Impacts of marine instability across the East Antarctic Ice Sheet on Southern Ocean dynamics, The Cryosphere
  • 2016
    Early onset of industrial-era warming across the oceans and continents, Nature
  • 2015
    Optimized coral reconstructions of the Indian Ocean Dipole: An assessment of location and length considerations, Paleoceanography
  • 2015
    A continental narrative: Human settlement patterns and Australian climate change over the last 35,000 Years, Quaternary Science Reviews
  • 2015
    Robust global ocean cooling trend for the pre-industrial Common Era, Nature Geoscience
  • 2015
    Weighting climate model ensembles for mean and variance estimates, Climate Dynamics
  • 2015
    Sensitivity of the Southern Ocean to enhanced regional Antarctic ice sheet meltwater input, Earth's Future
  • 2015
    The Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (GeoMIP6): simulation design and preliminary results, Geoscientific Model Development
  • 2014
    On the generation of climate model ensembles, Climate Dynamics
  • 2014
    10Be in late deglacial climate simulated by ECHAM5-HAM - Part 2: Isolating the solar signal from 10Be deposition, Climate of the Past
  • 2014
    The Little Ice Age climate of New Zealand reconstructed from Southern Alps cirque glaciers: a synoptic type approach, Climate Dynamics
  • 2014
    Evolution of the Southern Annular Mode during the past millennium, Nature Climate Change
  • 2014
    Temperature trends during the Present and Last Interglacial periods - a multi-model-data comparison, Quaternary Science Reviews
  • 2014
    A reconstruction of extratropical Indo-Pacific sea-level pressure patterns during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, Climate Dynamics
  • 2013
    Hydrological modelling of stalagmite δ18O response to glacial-interglacial transitions, Geophysical Research Letters
  • 2013
    Quantifying errors in coral-based ENSO estimates: Toward improved forward modeling of δ18O, Paleoceanography
  • 2013
    10Be in late deglacial climate simulated by ECHAM5-HAM - Part 1: Climatological influences on 10Be deposition, Climate of the Past
  • 2013
    A weak El Niño-Southern Oscillation with delayed seasonal growth around 4,300 years ago, Nature Geoscience
  • 2013
    Non-stationary Australasian Teleconnections and Implications for Paleoclimate Research, Journal of Climate
  • 2013
    Continental-scale temperature variability during the past two millennia, Nature Geoscience
  • 2013
    Reducing uncertainty in the climatic interpretations of speleothem δ18O, Geophysical Research Letters
  • 2013
    High-resolution modelling of the New Zealand climate during the Mid-Holocene, The Holocene
  • 2013
    Separating forced from chaotic climate variability over the past millennium, Journal of Climate
  • 2013
    Paleoclimate data-model comparison and the role of climate forcings over the past 1500 years, Journal of Climate
  • 2013
    Climate variability over the last 35,000 years recorded in marine and terrestrial archives in the Australian region: an OZ-INTIMATE compilation, Quaternary Science Reviews
  • 2013
    A multi-model assessment of last interglacial temperatures, Climate of the Past
  • 2013
    Large-scale temperature response to external forcing in simulations and reconstructions of the last millennium, Climate of the Past
  • 2012
    Downscaling the climate change for oceans around Australia, Geoscientific Model Development
  • 2012
    Millennial-length forward models and pseudoproxies of stalagmite δ18O: an example from NW Scotland, Climate of the Past
  • 2012
    Climate drift in the CMIP3 models, Journal of Climate
  • 2012
    The CSIRO Mk3L climate system model version 1.0 - Part 2: Response to external forcings, Geoscientific Model Development
  • 2011
    The CSIRO Mk3L climate system model v1.0 coupled to the CABLE land surface scheme v1.4b: evaluation of the control climatology, Geoscientific Model Development
  • 2011
    Importance of background climate in determining impact of land-cover change on regional climate, Nature Climate Change
  • 2011
    Using synoptic type analysis to understand New Zealand climate during the Mid-Holocene, Climate of the Past
  • 2011
    Global and regional coupled climate sensitivity to canopy interception parameterization, Climate Dynamics
  • 2011
    The CSIRO Mk3L climate system model version 1.0 - Part 1: Description and evaluation, Geoscientific Model Development
  • 2011
    The Role of the Indonesian Throughflow on ENSO Dynamics in a Coupled Climate Model, Journal of Climate
  • 2010
    Understanding ENSO dynamics through the exploration of past climates, IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
  • 2008
    Global Integrated Assessment Model: A New Analytical Tool for Assessing Climate Change Risks and Policies, Australian Commodities
  • 2007
    AusCOM: The Australian Community Ocean Model, Journal of Research and Practice in Information Technology
  • 2003
    Digital Libraries for Oceans and Climate, Bulletin of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society
  • 2001
    A data study of the influence of the equatorial upper stratosphere on northern-hemisphere stratospheric sudden warmings, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society

Grants and Contracts

  • 2020
    Drought or Deluge? How did Rainfall in the Tropical South Pacific Respond to Sudden Climate Change During the Glacial Period?
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    New Zealand Marsden Fund
  • 2019
    East Antarctic Synthesis of Ice cores (EASI) - Ice core records of continental, hemispheric and global variability and change
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Antarctic Science Program
  • 2014
    New Zealand's Stormy Past: Resolving changes in South Island precipitation under varying influence of tropical and polar forcing over the past 17,000 years
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    New Zealand Marsden Fund
  • 2012
    Aurora Basin North ice coring
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Antarctic Science Program
  • 2010
    Untangling the links between El Niño and the changing global climate
    Role:
    Chief Investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council

Research Areas

  • Palaeoclimatology (040605)
  • Climate Change Processes (040104)
  • Climatology (Excl. Climate Change Processes) (040105)
  • Glaciology (040602)
  • Epidemiology (111706)

Honours

CSIRO Medal for Research Achievement, 2008.

Contact Steven for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision