Jochen Schmitt

Dr. Jochen Schmitt serves as a Senior Scientist within the Climate and Environmental Physics (CEP) research group at the University of Bern, Switzerland. His expertise lies in paleoclimatology, specifically extracting and interpreting atmospheric greenhouse gas records from ice cores to unravel Earth's climate system across glacial-interglacial cycles spanning hundreds of thousands of years.

His research spans advanced analytical techniques for ice core gas analysis, reconstruction of past CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O concentrations, biogeochemical feedbacks in carbon-nitrogen cycles, and abrupt climate transitions. Key contributions include refining cosmogenic ¹⁴C production rates, quantifying ocean heat content over 700,000 years, and challenging established carbon storage models in northern peatlands through isotopic evidence.

Analysis of Dr. Schmitt's 2020-2022 publications reveals dominant methodological innovation in ice sublimation devices and laser spectrometry alongside critical findings on methane dynamics during deglaciations, terrestrial-marine N₂O partitioning, and millennial-scale CO₂ variability. His work consistently integrates high-resolution ice core data with biogeochemical modeling to constrain past carbon cycle behavior under varying climate states.

As a core member of the CEP group, Dr. Schmitt actively collaborates on major Antarctic projects (Taylor Glacier, Skytrain Ice Rise) and Greenland ice core initiatives, providing essential paleoclimate constraints for modern climate model validation and future projection scenarios.