Sebastian Westermann

Sebastian Westermann is a Professor at the University of Oslo's Department of Physical Geography and Hydrology. His research focuses on permafrost dynamics, remote sensing applications in cryospheric sciences, and climate modeling. He leads the CryoGrid community model development for simulating terrestrial cryosphere processes and has conducted field campaigns in Svalbard, Canada, and Mongolia. He holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Heidelberg (2010) and a Diploma in Physics from the University of Freiburg (2006).

• Education:
• PhD (2010) in Physics, University of Heidelberg, Germany
• Diploma degree (2006) in Physics, University of Freiburg, Germany

His research interests include permafrost thermal state analysis, carbon balance in thawing permafrost regions, and remote-sensing products like ESA Permafrost_CCI. He investigates subgrid variability in permafrost models and the scaling strategies for permafrost variables. Recent work addresses climate-mass balance linkages in Arctic glaciers and biophysical processes in Earth system models.

Key publications from 2023-2025 focus on pan-Arctic permafrost evolution, carbon degradation in thawing peatlands, and cryosphere-climate interactions. His work is supported by projects like CryoWALL, EMERALD, and SNOWDEPTH, and he collaborates internationally on initiatives such as the ESA Permafrost_CCI product.