Dr. Ramesh Glückler

From May to July of this year, I will be Visiting Researcher at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Beijing, China. Prof. Xianyong Cao will kindly host me after I obtained a short-term fellowship for a joint research project. Looking forward to this cooperation!

With the goal of obtaining sediment cores from a frozen proglacial lake near the Hallstätter Glacier, I joined a small expedition to the Dachstein Mountains, Austria. After training avalanche rescue emergencies, we set out on snowshoes to make our way to the lake (see photo below). Unfortunately, unsuitable weather and snow conditions susceptible to avalanches forced us to turn around before being able to core the lake. Still, it was a valuable experience - thanks to Ulrike Herzschuh (AWI) and Ingolf Kühn (UFZ) for the opportunity! 

By contributing eight new records of sedimentary charcoal in eastern Siberia, combined with previously available data, and applying individual-based fire-vegetation modeling, we uncover Holocene wildfire activity and its drivers across Central Yakutia. Notably, our findings provide evidence for the involvement of humans in shaping fire regimes as early as 5000 years ago, a lot earlier than previously assumed. The reasons may also have implications for fire management in a warming world. Read the full preprint here: