Horst Machguth

Horst Machguth is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and a Senior Scientist at the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS), Zurich. His research focuses on glacier surface mass balance, firn processes, and climate impacts on ice sheets, with a particular emphasis on the Greenland ice sheet and Central Asian glaciers. He holds a PhD in glaciology from the University of Zurich (2008) and has held postdoctoral positions at institutions including the Technical University of Denmark and the Danish Geological Survey.

Key research areas include firn evolution, ice slab dynamics, meltwater retention, and the relationship between climate variables and glacier mass balance. His work combines field observations, remote sensing, and numerical modeling to address pressing questions about ice sheet stability and hydrological responses to global warming. Machguth contributes to collaborative initiatives such as the SUMup database for ice sheet measurements and has published extensively on topics like Greenland’s runoff limits, firn degradation, and glacier monitoring in data-scarce regions.

Recent publications highlight advancements in understanding ice sheet hydrology, firn densification, and the implications of climate drivers for percolation zones. His research has policy relevance through contributions to global glacier mass balance assessments and projections of future glacial lake hazards.