Matti Seppälä

Matti Kullervo Seppälä (5 September 1941 in Vaasa – 24 November 2020 in Hämeenlinna ) was a Finnish geomorphologist specialized in cold climate aeolian processes.

Seppälä obtained a Ph.D. at the University of Turku in 1971 and moved to work at the University of Oulu. In 1978, he moved to the University of Helsinki and served as professor of physical geography from 1978 to 2009.

Matti Seppälä was also a research fellow at Uppsala University, Université de Montréal, University of Cambridge and Durham University.

He was also the first Scandinavian geomorphologist initiating permafrost research in the mountains of northern Finland in the year 1985, together with German colleagues. Many other scientists followed this research approach of mapping and modelling mountain permafrost in Scandinavia.