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Murray Edwards College
University of Cambridge
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    Professor Michael Meredith

    01223 221400
    British Antarctic Survey
    High Cross
    Madingley Road
    Cambridge
    CB24 5UR

    Professorial Fellow in Oceanography

    Natural Sciences (Physical)

    Fellow

    The College is such a welcoming and supportive environment – it promotes innovative and transformational thinking in a beautiful setting.

    Degrees:     

    B.Sc. (Hons.), M.Sc., Ph.D.

    Awards & Prizes:    

    • Martha T. Muse Prize for contributions to Antarctic science and policy (2018), awarded by The Tinker Foundation and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research
    • The Challenger Medal, for exception contributions to marine science (2018)
    • The Polar Medal, awarded by HM the Queen for outstanding service in the polar regions (2020)

    Research Interests:    

    Ocean circulation and climate; ocean/ice interactions; science and policy

    Biography:    

    Professor Michael Meredith is an oceanographer and Science Leader at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in Cambridge, UK. He is head of the Polar Oceans team at BAS, which has research foci on determining the role of the polar oceans on global climate, the ice sheets, and the interdisciplinary ocean system. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Bristol, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and a NERC Individual Merit Promotion (Band 2) scientist. He has published more than 200 papers in international journals, and was the inaugural Chair of the Southern Ocean Observing System. He led the design and delivery of the multi-institute, £10M ORCHESTRA programme, which is unravelling the role of the Southern Ocean in controlling global climate. He was recently Coordinating Lead Author for the IPCC Special Report on Oceans and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate. In 2018, Michael was awarded the Tinker-Muse Prize for Science and Policy in Antarctica, in recognition of his contributions to the study of the Southern Ocean and its global impacts, and the Challenger Medal, for exceptional contributions to Marine Science. In 2020, he was awarded the Polar Medal. In 2022, Michael was elected President of the Challenger Society for Marine Science, the UK’s pre-eminent learned body for research of the ocean.

    Publications:    

    More than 200 papers in international journals.
    Full list at https://www.bas.ac.uk/profile/mmm/#publications

    Significant outputs include:-

    • Meredith, M.P. “Carbon storage shifts around Antarctica”. Nature Communications, 13:3400, 10.1038/s41467-022-31152-3, 2022.
    • Meredith, M.P., M. Sommerkorn, et al. “Chapter 3: Polar Regions”, In: IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, 2019.
    • Meijers, A.J.S., M.P. Meredith, E.J. Murphy, D.P. Chambers, M. Belchier and E.F. Young. “Ocean dynamics in king penguin range estimation”, Nature Climate Change, 9, 120-121, 10.1038/s41558-018-0388-2, 2019.
    • Abrahamsen, E.P., A.J.S. Meijers, K.L. Polzin, A.C. Naveira Garabato, B.A. King, Y.L. Firing, J.-B. Sallée, K.L. Sheen, A.L. Gordon, B.A. Huber and M.P. Meredith. “Stabilisation of the decline of dense Antarctic water supply to the Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation”. Nature Climate Change, 10.1038/s41558-019-0561-2, 2019.
    • MacGilchrist, G.A., A.C. Naveira Garabato, P.J. Brown, L. Jullion, D. Bakker, M. Hoppema, S. Torres-Valdes, M.P. Meredith and S. Bacon. “Reframing the subpolar Southern Ocean carbon cycle”. Science Advances, 5. 10.1126/sciadv.aav6410, 2019.
    • Cook, A.J., P.R. Holland, M.P. Meredith, T. Murray, A. Luckman and D.G. Vaughan. “Ocean forcing of glacier retreat in the western Antarctic Peninsula”. Science, 353, 6296, 10.1126/science.aae0017, 2016.
    • McCave, I.N., S.J. Crowhurst, G. Kuhn, C-D. Hillenbrand and M.P. Meredith. “Minimal change in Antarctic Circumpolar Current flow speed between the last glacial and Holocene”. Nature Geoscience, 7, 113-116, 10.1038/ngeo2037, 2014.
    • Sheen, K.L., A.C. Naveira Garabato, J.A. Brearley, M.P. Meredith, K.L. Polzin, D.A. Smeed, A. Forryan, B.A. King, J.B. Sallee, L. St. Laurent, J.R. Ledwell, A.M. Thurnherr, J.M. Toole, S.N. Waterman and A.J. Watson. “Eddy-induced changes in Southern Ocean abyssal mixing on climatic timescales”. Nature Geoscience, 10.1038/ngeo2200, 2014.
    • Rye, C.D., A.C. Naveira Garabato, P.R. Holland, M.P. Meredith, A.J.G. Nurser, C.W. Hughes, A.C. Coward, D.J. Webb and D. Chambers. “Evidence of increased glacial melt in Antarctic coastal sea level rise”. Nature Geoscience, 10.1038/ngeo2230, 2014.
    • Watson, A.J., J.R. Ledwell, M.-J. Messias, B.A. King, N. Mackay, M.P. Meredith, B, Mills and A.C. Naveira Garabato. “Rapid cross-density ocean mixing at mid depths in Drake Passage measured by tracer release”. Nature, 501, 408-413, 10.1038/nature12432, 2013.
    • Meredith, M.P. “Replenishing the abyss”. Nature Geoscience, 6, 166-167, 10.1038/ngeo1743, 2013.
    • Schofield, O., H.W. Ducklow, D.G. Martinson, M.P. Meredith, M.A. Moline and W.R. Fraser. “How Do Polar Marine Ecosystems Respond to Rapid Climate Change?”. Science, 328, 1520, 10.1126/science.1185779, 2010