Jacky Austermann

Jacky Austermann is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University and works at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Her research focuses on understanding sea level and ice sheet changes over various timescales to better understand ice sheet stability and sea level rise in response to warming temperatures.

Dr. Austermann earned her B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Darmstadt and M.Sc. in Geophysics from LMU Munich. She received her Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from Harvard University in 2016 and conducted a postdoc at Cambridge University before joining Columbia in 2018.

• B.Sc. in Physics, University of Darmstadt
• M.Sc. in Geophysics, LMU Munich
• Ph.D. in Earth Sciences, Harvard University (2016)
• Postdoc, Cambridge University

Dr. Austermann's research centers on sea level changes ranging from glacial cycles to millions of years ago to infer ice mass changes and ice sheet stability as well as constrain the Earth's rheology. Her work also addresses modern and future sea level change. She studies how sea level records can be used to interpret changes in ice volume during glacial cycles, considering effects like glacial isostatic adjustment and dynamic topography. She conducts fieldwork in locations like the Bahamas and Barbados to understand past sea level changes during warm periods and is an investigator on the NSF-funded Greenland Rising project.

Her recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on sea level reconstruction, glacial isostatic adjustment, and dynamic topography across various timescales from the Holocene to the Pliocene. Her work integrates field observations with numerical modeling to understand Earth system processes. A significant portion of her research examines how gravitational effects and Earth's viscoelastic response influence local sea level records, and how these can be reconciled to estimate global ice volume changes.

Dr. Austermann is actively involved in mentoring students and postdocs. Her research group includes current graduate students Casey Brayton, Lauren Lewright, and Sam Chester, as well as postdoc Ben Stoker. Former group members include PhD students Roger Creel and Andrew Hollyday, and several postdocs who have moved on to positions at institutions like ANU, Durham University, WHOI, Stanford University, and others.

She is also involved in science communication and education initiatives, including the GeoContext project which creates teaching modules that incorporate social and political context into geoscience education. She has participated in public talks and created educational materials on sea level change.