Catherine Ritz

Catherine Ritz is a French Antarctic researcher, best known for her work on ice sheets and their impact on sea level rise.

Early life and education Catherine Ritz received her master's degree Maîtrise de Physique in physics in France in 1975. She conducted her PhD research leading toward the degree Thèse de 3ème cycle in 1980 from the University of Grenoble, and she received her Thèse de Doctorat d’Etat in 1992.

Career and impact Ritz is a climatologist and geographer Her research involves modeling polar ice cap evolution; using 3D models to examine changes in the ice sheets and ice shelves of Antarctica and Greenland; ice drilling; and investigation of sub-glacial isostasy.

Among Ritz's more high-profile contributions is an article published in the journal Nature in December 2015. The article, based on research led by Ritz and Tamsin Edwards from The Open University, created models based on satellite data to examine the potential impact of Antarctic sea ice collapse on global sea levels. Using more comprehensive methods than those used in previous studies, the team found that the collapse of Antarctic ice sheets would have serious consequences for sea level rise (up to a half-meter by 2100 in a high-emissions scenario), but that the effects likely would not be as dramatic as other high-profile studies had predicted. The team found that the most likely outcome is a sea level rise 10 cm by 2100, assuming that greenhouse gases rise at a medium to high rate, member of the SCAR Antarctic Climate Change in the 21st Century Scientific Research Programme; and member of the International Advisory Board of Ice Sheet Modellers to the BRITICE-CHRONO team, which is studying marine-influenced ice sheet decay of the British-Irish ice sheet

Rirz was awarded the Seligman Crystal by the International Glaciological Society in 2020 for her work on ice sheet modelling and paleoclimate research.

Selected writings Ritz, Catherine, Vincent Rommelaere, and Christophe Dumas. "Modeling the evolution of Antarctic ice sheet over the last 420,000 years: Implications for altitude changes in the Vostok region." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 106.D23 (2001): 31943-31964. Augustin, Laurent, Carlo Barbante, Piers RF Barnes, Jean Marc Barnola, Matthias Bigler, Emiliano Castellano, Olivier Cattani, Catherin Ritz. "Eight glacial cycles from an Antarctic ice core." Nature 429, no. 6992 (2004): 623-628. Lemieux-Dudon, Bénédicte, Eric Blayo, Jean-Robert Petit, Claire Waelbroeck, Anders Svensson, Catherine Ritz, Jean-Marc Barnola, Bianca Maria Narcisi, and Frédéric Parrenin. "Consistent dating for Antarctic and Greenland ice cores." Quaternary Science Reviews 29, no. 1 (2010): 8-20. Parrenin, F., Remy, F., Ritz, C., Siegert, M. J., & Jouzel, J. (2004). New modeling of the Vostok ice flow line and implication for the glaciological chronology of the Vostok ice core. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 109(D20).