A famous Swiss-American scientist of climate change has died after falling into a crevasse while conducting ice research in Greenland, authorities and reports said Wednesday.
Konrad Steffen, director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), was working at Ilulissat on Saturday when he was reported missing, police said.
A rescue operation was launched but eventually left without the body of the 68-year-old investigator being found.
“We found signs that the person fell through a crack in the glacier,” police spokesman Brian Thomsen told local newspaper Sermitsiaq.
“An accident has probably happened and it is very likely that the person in question has died,” Thomsen added.
His death was confirmed by WSL in a statement on Monday, which said staff at the institute were “shocked and stunned” by the loss of Steffen.
“We are not only the director of our institute, but also a dedicated scientist and above all a unique and generous person and friend,” the statement said. “We will all miss him.”
Fellow scientist Kathy Riklin said it looked like a snow bridge under Steffen had collapsed, causing him to fall into the crevasse, Agence France-Presse reported.
The tragic accident occurred less than a mile from the Steffen research station erected in 1990 – known as “Swiss Camp” – where he made an annual expedition.
Assisted by NASA and the American National Science Foundation, Steffen had built a network of automatic weather stations there. At the time of the accident, he was maintaining these stations, according to Hegg.
Steffen’s 30-year study observing the changing nature of Greenland’s ice sheet confirmed rising temperatures and sea levels, the most distinctive features of climate change, The Washington Post reported.
In 2017, he testified before Congress about the amount of ice melting in Greenland each year, saying it was equivalent to a mile-high column of water covering Washington DC, according to the Post.
“That got some attention,” Steffen said at the time.
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