Peter Ditlevsen

Peter Ditlevsen is a Professor at the Ice, Climate and Geophysics section of the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, where he has been employed since 2021. He is a member of the Physics of Ice Climate and Earth (PICE) research group and serves as Principal Investigator for the CriticalEarth Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Initial Training Network (2021-2024) and the TiPES RIA H2020 project (2019-2023).

His research focuses on the physics of climate, dynamical systems, stochastic processes, and tipping points in the Earth system, particularly the risk of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) collapse. His work combines theoretical physics with climate modeling, timeseries analysis of paleoclimatic records, and detection of bifurcation points in climate systems. His highly cited 2023 Nature Communications paper on AMOC collapse received global attention with over 4,000 news outlets covering it and was ranked as the top Nature Communications paper.

His recent publications reveal a strong focus on abrupt climate change, particularly Dansgaard-Oeschger events and AMOC stability. His work integrates stochastic modeling with climate dynamics, using advanced mathematical techniques like α-stable processes to understand tipping points. His research shows increasing emphasis on climate risk assessment and the detection of early warning signals for potential climate system collapses.

• Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences
• Carlsberg fellow (1994-1997)
• Ole Rømer Prize (1998)
• San Cataldo refuge grant (2002)
• Niels Bohr Institute teaching prize (2004)

Ditlevsen provides comprehensive teaching across all levels, including a graduate course in Turbulence with an associated textbook. He has supervised numerous students and served as Didactic and Pedagogic Supervisor for Physics at the Faculty of Science (2007-2020). His outreach activities include a weekly podcast with journalist David Trads, over 40 popular science articles, and regular media appearances (4-6 times/year). He leads significant research initiatives including the CriticalEarth and TiPES projects, securing substantial research grants for climate tipping point research. His laboratory work focuses on the Physics of Ice Climate and Earth (PICE) group, which investigates paleoclimate dynamics and future climate risks.