US-Swiss climate scientist and glaciologist Konrad “Koni” Steffen died on Saturday while doing research in Greenland. He was 68.
© ANDREAS RIGLING, AFP via Getty Images
Konrad Steffen died on 8 August 2020, in an accident during a campaign of measures in Greenland. Steffen can be seen here on July 6, 2020. Photo provided by Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL.
Steffen fell into a deep speaker full of water, Swiss media reports say, after snow and ice fought beneath him while working at a weather station. Rescue efforts were unsuccessful, and his body was not found.
Jason Box, an ice climatologist at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland who was with Steffen before he died, said he believed his friend “stays 8 feet under the water,” according to CBS News.
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“Personally, Koni was like a father,” Box told CBS. “Incredible man. Enormous loss. Tears fall all over the world.”
Me, Koni, the pilot Jørgen after installing a continuity station for climate record 5 aug #KonradSteffen pic.twitter.com/llufLlqadU
– Prof. Jason Box (@climate_ice) 11 August 2020
Steffen was the scientific director at the Swiss Polar Institute and director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL).
“In Konrad Steffen, we have lost not only the director of our institute, but also a dedicated scientist and above all a unique and generous person and friend,” WSL said in a statement announcing Steffen’s death. “We will all miss him.”
With nearly 15,000 academic citations to his name, Steffen had been researching climate change for more than 40 years – particularly in the Arctic and Antarctic, according to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Board.
He also taught for many years as a professor at the University of Boulder, Colorado and the Federal Institutes of Technology in Zurich and Lausanne.
People mourning the loss share their memories of Steffen social media.
“Koni’s famous work as a glaciologist has been a tool for a deeper understanding of the world of the climate crisis,” wrote former U.S. Vice President and environmentalist Al Gore.
“He has had a positive impact on our campus and countless students. I’m thankful we had him here!” wrote SarahDawn Haynes, an Opportunity photographer working at the University of Colorado’s Environmental Center. “#konradSteffen rest in honor. “
It is for us the living to be dedicated here to the unfinished work that those who fought here are so far ahead so noble – Abraham Lincoln … #KonradSteffen HT J. Balog pic.twitter.com/qE0As1WvXM
– Prof. Jason Box (@climate_ice) August 12, 2020
I am deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of Koni Steffen in a crevasse at Swiss Camp, on top of Greenland. I send my love to his family. Koni’s famous work as a glaciologist has been instrumental in deepening the world of the global climate crisis. 1/2
– Al Gore (@algore) 11 August 2020
This is so sad. Us #climate scientific community will miss him. He has had a positive impact on our campus and countless students, I am thankful we had him here! #konradSteffen rest in honor 💛 https://t.co/pWkjnwPaUN
– SarahDawn Haynes (@SarahdawnH) 11 August 2020
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Renowned climate scientist Konrad Steffen dies after falling by ice in Greenland
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