Close

Service Interruption

No downtimes scheduled.

Scientists at NSIDC

Mark Serreze

NSIDC Director
Senior Research Scientist
Associate Research Professor
CIRES Fellow

PhD, University of Colorado at Boulder, 1989

Specialties [top]

Arctic climate; global implications; and climate warming in the Arctic

Recent Highlights and Upcoming Expeditions [top]

Current Research [top]

Current Projects [top]

Collaborative Research: A Heat Budget Analysis of the Arctic Climate System

Collaborative Research: A Land Surface Model Hind-cast of the Terrestrial Arctic Drainage System

Collaborative Research – IPY: Arctic System Reanalysis

Hydrologic Responses to a Shrinking Arctic Sea Ice Cover

Interactions Between Frozen Ground in the Russian Arctic and Atmospheric Circulation

Synthesis of Modes of Ocean-Ice-Atmosphere Covariability in the Arctic System from Multivariate Century-Scale Observations

Activities [top]

Member, American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Member, American Meteorological Society (AMS)

Member, NSF Arctic Climate System Study (ARCSS) Science Steering Committee

Member, Arctic and sub-Arctic Ocean Fluxes (ASOF) Science Steering Committee

Fellow, Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (PAOS) at the University of Colorado at Boulder

Media contact on issues relating to arctic and global climate change

Scientific manuscript reviewer for the Journal of Climate, Journal of Geophysical Research, Geophysical Research Letters, Tellus, Journal of Applied Meteorology, Reviews of Geophysics, and Arctic and Alpine Research

Featured scientist on "Discovery Channel" documentary "Global Warming: What you need to know," July 2006

Serreze has also provided testimony to the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation regarding changes in arctic sea ice cover (2004) and to a 2006 Congressional Briefing, "Recent Scientific Findings of Arctic Environmental Change."

Publications [top]

2012

Barry, R .G., and Serreze, M. C. 2012. The changing climate. In Canada's Changing Cold Environments, eds. H. French and O. Slaymaker, 89-104. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.

Porter, D. F., J. J. Cassano, and M. C. Serreze. 2012. Local and large-scale atmospheric responses to reduced Arctic sea ice and ocean warming in the WRF model. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres (117), D11115, doi:10.1029/2011JD016969.

Serreze, M. C., A. P. Barrett, and J. Stroeve. 2012. Recent changes in tropospheric water vapor over the Arctic as assessed from radiosondes and atmospheric reanalyses. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres (117), D10104, doi:10.1029/2011JD017421.

Stroeve, J. C., V. Kattsov, A. Barrett, M. Serreze, T. Pavlova, M. Holland, and W. N. Meier. 2012. Trends in Arctic sea ice extent from CMIP5, CMIP3 and observations. Geophysical Research Letters 39, L16502, doi:10.1029/2012GL052676.

Stroeve, J. C., M. C. Serreze, M. M. Holland, J. E. Kay, J. Maslanik, and A. P. Barrett. 2012. The Arctic's rapidly shrinking sea ice cover: a research synthesis. Climatic Change 110(3-4): 1,005-1,027, doi:10.1007/s10584-011-0101-1.

2011

Overland, J. E., and M. C. Serreze. 2011. Advances in Arctic Atmospheric Research. In Arctic Climate Change, eds. P. Lemke, and H. W. Jacobi, 11-27, doi:10.1007/978-94-007-2027-5. New York: Springer Verlag.

Porter, D. F., J. J. Cassano, and M. C. Serreze. 2011. Analysis of the Arctic atmospheric energy budget in WRF: A comparison with reanalyses and satellite observations. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres (116), D22108, doi:10.1029/2011JD016622.

Serreze, M. C., and A. P. Barrett. 2011. Characteristics of the Beaufort Sea High. Journal of Climate 24(1): 159-182, doi:10.1175/2010JCLI3636.1.

Serreze, M. C., A. P. Barrett, and J. J. Cassano. 2011. Circulation and surface controls on the lower tropospheric air temperature field of the Arctic. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres (116), D07104, doi:10.1029/2010JD015127.

Serreze, M. C., and R. G. Barry. 2011. Processes and impacts of Arctic amplification: A research synthesis. Global and Planetary Change 77: 85-96, doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2011.03.004.

Stroeve, J. C., J. Maslanik, M. C. Serreze, I. Rigor, W. Meier and C. Fowler. 2011. Sea ice response to an extreme negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation during winter 2009/2010. Geophysical Research Letters (38), L02502, doi:10.1029/2010GL045662.

Stroeve, J. C., M. C. Serreze, A. Barrett, and D. N. Kindig. 2011. Attribution of recent changes in autumn cyclone associated precipitation in the Arctic. Tellus 63(4): 653-663, doi:10.1111/j.1600-0870.2011.00515.x.

2010

Bromwich, D. H, Y.-H. Kuo, M. Serreze, J. Walsh, L.-H. Bai, M. Barlage, K. Hines, and A.G. Slater. 2010. Artic System Reanalysis: Call for community involvement. EOS 91 (2): 13-14, doi: 10.1029/2010EO020001.

Holland, M. M., M. C. Serreze, and J. Stroeve. 2010. The sea ice mass budget of the Arctic and its future change as simulated by coupled climate models. Climate Dynamics 34: 185-200, doi:10.1007/s00382-008-0493-4.

Miller, G. H., R. B. Alley, J. Brigham-Grette, J. J. Fitzpatrick, L. Polyak, M. C. Serreze, and J. W. C. White. 2010. Arctic amplification: can the past constrain the future? Quaternary Science Reviews 29 (15-16) 1,779-1,790, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.02.008.

Miller, G. H., J. Brigham-Grette, R. B. Alley, L. Anderson, H. A. Bauch, M. S. V. Douglas, M. E. Edwards, S. A. Elias, B. P. Finney, J. J. Fitzpatrick, S. V. Funder, T. D. Herbert, L. D. Hinzman, D. S. Kaufman, G. M. MacDonald, L. Polyak, A. Robock, M. C. Serreze, J. P. Smol, R. Spielhagen, J. W. C. White, A. P. Wolfe, and E. W. Wolff. 2010. Temperature and precipitation history of the Arctic. Quaternary Science Reviews 29(15-16): 1,679-1,715, doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.03.001.

Polyak, L., R. B. Alley, J. T. Andrews, J. Brigham-Grette, T. M. Cronin, D. A. Darby, A. S. Dyke, J. J. Fitzpatrick, S. Funder, M. Holland, A. E. Jennings, G. H. Miller, M. O'Regan, J. Savelle, M. Serreze, K. St John, J. W. C. White, and E. Wolff. 2010. History of sea ice in the Arctic. Quaternary Science Reviews 29(15-16): 1,757-1,778, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.02.010.

Porter, D. F., J. J. Cassano, M. C. Serreze, D. N. Kindig. 2010. New estimates of the large-scale Arctic atmospheric energy budget. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres 115, D08108, doi: 10.1029/2009JD012653.

Serreze, M. C. 2010. Understanding Recent Climate Change. Conservation Biology 24 (1): 10-17, doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01408.x.

2009

Durner, G. M., D. C. Douglas, R. M. Nielson, S. C. Amstrup, T. L. McDonald, I. Stirling, M. Mauritzen, E. W. Born, Ø. Wiig, E. DeWeaver, M. C. Serreze, S. E. Belikov, M. M. Holland, J. Maslanik, J. Aars, D. A. Bailey, and A. E. Derocher. 2009. Predicting 21st-century polar bear habitat distribution from global climate models. Ecological Monographs 79(1): 25–58, doi:10.1890/07-2089.1.

Finnis, J., J. Cassano, M. Holland, M. Serreze, and P. Uotila, P. 2009. Synoptically forced hydroclimatology of major Arctic watersheds in general circulation models; Part 1: the Mackenzie River Basin. International Journal of Climatology 29(9): 1226-1243, doi:10.1002/joc.1753.

Finnis, J., J. J. Cassano, M. Holland, M. C. Serreze, and P. Uotila. 2009. Synoptically forced hydroclimatology of major Arctic watersheds in general circulation models; Part 2: Eurasian watersheds. International Journal of Climatology 29(9): 1244-1261, doi:10.1002/joc.1769.

Rawlins, M. A., M. Steele, M. C. Serreze, C. J. Vörösmarty, W. Ermold, R. B. Lammers, K. C. McDonald, T. M. Pavelsky, A. Shiklomanov, and J. Zhang. 2009. Tracing freshwater anomalies through the air-land-ocean system: A case study from the Mackenzie River Basin and the Beaufort Gyre. Atmosphere-Ocean 47(1): 79–97, doi:10.3137/OC301.2009.

Serreze, M. C., A. P. Barrett, J. C. Stroeve, D. N. Kindig, and M. M. Holland. 2009. The emergence of surface-based Arctic amplification. The Cryosphere 3: 11–19.

Serreze, M.C. and R. G. Barry. 2009. Climate Change. In Atmosphere, Weather and Climate, Ninth Edition, eds. R.G. Barry and R.J. Chorley. Oxford: Routledge Press.

2008

Serreze, M. C., and A. P. Barrett. 2008. The summer cyclone maximum over the central Arctic Ocean. Journal of Climate 21(5): 1048-1065, doi:10.1175/2007JCLI1810.1.

Serreze, M. C., A. P. Barrett, and A. G. Slater. 2008. Chapter 13: Variability and change in the atmospheric branch of the Arctic hydrologic cycle. In Arctic-subarctic ocean fluxes, eds. R. R. Dickson, J. Meincke, and P. Rhines. New York: Springer.

Serreze, M. C., A. P. Barrett, J. C. Stroeve, D. N. Kindig, and M. M. Holland. 2008. The emergence of surface-based Arctic amplification. The Cryosphere Discussions 2: 601-622.

Serreze, M. C., and J. C. Stroeve. 2008. Standing on the brink. Nature Reports Climate Change, doi:10.1038/climate.2008.108.

Stroeve, J., M. Serreze, S. Drobot, S. Gearheard, M. Holland, J. Maslanik, W. Meier, and T. Scambos. 2008. Arctic sea ice plummets in 2007. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union 89(2): 13-14, doi:10.1029/2008EO020001.

Tedesco, M., M. Serreze, and X. Fettweis. 2008. Diagnosing the extreme surface melt event over southwestern Greenland in 2007. The Cryosphere Discussions 2(3): 383-397.

Wyser, K., C. G. Jones, P. Du, E. Girard, U. Willén, J. Cassano, J. H. Christensen, J. A. Curry, K. Dethloff, J. E. Haugen, D. Jacob, M. Køltzow, R. Laprise, A. Lynch, S. Pfeifer, A. Rinke, M. Serreze, M. J. Shaw, M. Tjernström, and M. Zagar. 2008. An evaluation of Arctic cloud and radiation processes during the SHEBA year: simulation results from eight Arctic regional climate models. Climate Dynamics 30(2-3): 203-223, doi:10.1007/s00382-007-0286-1.

2007

Finnis, J., M. M. Holland, M. C. Serreze, and J. J. Cassano. 2007. Response of Northern Hemisphere extratropical cyclone activity and associated precipitation to climate change, as represented by the Community Climate System Model. Journal of Geophysical Research 112, G04S42, doi:10.1029/2006JG000286.

Holland, M. M., J. Finnis, A. P. Barrett, and M. C. Serreze. 2007. Projected changes in Arctic Ocean freshwater budgets. Journal of Geophysical Research 112, G04S55, doi:10.1029/2006JG000354.

Serreze, M. C., A. P. Barrett, and A. G. Slater. 2007. Chapter 13, Variability and change in the atmospheric branch of the Arctic hydrological cycle. In Arctic-subarctic Ocean Fluxes: Defining the Role of the Northern Seas in Climate, eds. R. R. Dickson, J. Meincke, and P. Rhines. The Netherlands: Springer.

Serreze, M. C., A. P. Barrett, A. G. Slater, M. Steele, J. Zhang, and K. E. Trenberth. 2007. The large-scale energy budget of the Arctic. Journal of Geophysical Research 112, D11122, doi:10.1029/2006JD008230.

Serreze, M. C., M. M. Holland, and J. Stroeve. 2007. Perspectives on the Arctic's shrinking sea-ice cover. Science 315(5818): 1533-1536, doi:10.1126/science.1139426.

Slater, A. G., T. J. Bohn, J. L. McCreight, M. C. Serreze, and D. P. Lettenmeier. 2007. A multimodel simulation of pan-Arctic hydrology. Journal of Geophysical Research 112, G04S45, doi:10.1029/2006JG000303.

Stroeve, J., M. M. Holland, W. Meier, T. Scambos, and M. Serreze. 2007. Arctic sea ice decline: Faster than forecast. Geophysical Research Letters 34, L09501, doi:10.1029/2007GL029703.

Tsukernik, M., D. N. Kindig, and M. C. Serreze. 2007. Characteristics of winter cyclone activity in the northern North Atlantic: Insights from observations and regional modeling. Journal of Geophysical Research 112(D3), doi:10.1029/2006JD007184.

2006

Rinke, A., K. Dethloff, J. J. Cassano, J. H. Christensen, J. A. Curry, P. Du, E. Girard, J.-E. Haugen, D. Jacob, C. G. Jones, M. Køltzow, R. Laprise, A. H. Lynch, S. Pfeifer, M. C. Serreze, M. J. Shaw, M. Tjernström, K. Wyser, and M. Žagar. 2006. Evaluation of an ensemble of Arctic regional climate models: spatiotemporal fields during the SHEBA year. Climate Dynamics 27(4), 433-435, doi:10.1007/s00382-005-0095-3.

Serreze, M. C., A. P. Barrett, A. G. Slater, R. A. Woodgate, K. Aagaard, R. B. Lammers, M. Steele, R. Moritz, M. Meredith, and Craig M. Lee. 2006. The large-scale freshwater cycle of the Arctic. Journal of Geophysical Research 111(C11), doi:10.1029/2005JC003424.

Serreze, M. C., and J. A. Francis. 2006. The arctic amplification debate. Climatic Change 76(3-4): 241-264, doi:1007/s10584-005-9017-y.

Serreze, M. C. and J. A. Francis. 2006. The Arctic on the fast track of change. Weather 61: 65-69.

2005

Chapin, F. S. III, M. Sturm, M. C. Serreze, J. P. McFadden, J. R. Key, A. H. Lloyd, A. D. McGuire, T. S. Rupp, A. H. Lynch, J. P. Schimel, J. Beringer, W. L. Chapman, H. E. Epstein, E. S. Euskirchen, L. D. Hinzman, G. Jia, C.-L. Ping, K. D. Tape, C. D. C. Thompson, D. A. Walker, and J. M. Welker. 2005. Role of land-surface changes in Arctic summer warming. Science 310: 657-660, doi:10.1126/science.1117368.

Frauenfeld, O. W., T. Zhang, and M. C. Serreze. 2005. Climate change and variability using European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts reanalysis (ERA-40) temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Geophysical Research 110, D02101, doi:10.1029/2004JD005230.

Overpeck, J. T., M. Sturm, J. A. Francis, D. K. Perovich, M. C. Serreze, et al. 2005. Arctic system on trajectory to new, seasonally ice-free state. Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union 86: 309, 312-313.

Serreze, M. C., A. Barrett, and F. Lo. 2005. Northern high latitude precipitation as depicted by atmospheric reanalyses and satellite retrievals. Monthly Weather Review 133(2): 3,407-3,430.

Serreze, M. C., and R. G. Barry. 2005. The Arctic Climate System. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Zhang, T., O. Frauenfeld, M. C. Serreze, A. Etringer, C. Oelke, J. McCreight, R. G. Barry, D. Gilichinsky, D. Yang, H. Ye, F. Ling, and S. Chudinova. 2005. Spatial and temporal variability in active layer thickness over the Russian Arctic drainage basin. Journal of Geophysical Research 110, D16101, doi:10.1029/2004JD005642.

2004

Oelke, C., T. Zhang, and M. C. Serreze. 2004. Modeling evidence for recent warming of the Arctic soil thermal regime. Geophysical Research Letters 31, L07208, doi:10.1029/2003GL019300.

Overland, J. E., and M. C Serreze. 2004. Advances in Arctic atmospheric research. In The ACSYS Decade and Beyond, Proceedings of the ACSYS Final Science Conference. WMO/TD No. 1232. Geneva, Switzerland: World Climate Research Program. Digital Media.

Tsukernik, M., T. N. Chase, M. C. Serreze, R. G. Barry, R. Pielke Sr., B. Herman, and X. Zeng. 2004. On the regulation of minimum mid-tropospheric temperatures in the Arctic. Geophysical Research Letters 31, L06112, doi:10.1029/2003GL018831.

2003

Oelke, C., T. Zhang, M. C. Serreze, and R. L. Armstrong. 2003. Regional-scale modeling of soil freeze/thaw over the Arctic drainage basin. Journal of Geophysical Research 108(D10), doi:10.1029/2002JD002722.

Serreze, M. C. 2003. Arctic Climate. In Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences, ed. J. R. Holton, J. A. Curry and J. A. Pyle. Academic Press.

Serreze, M. C., D. H. Bromwich, M. P. Clark, A. J. Etringer, T. Zhang, and R. Lammers. 2003. The large-scale hydro-climatology of the terrestrial Arctic drainage system. Journal of Geophysical Research 108(D2): 8160, doi:10.1029/2001JD000919.

Serreze, M. C., M. P. Clark, and D. H. Bromwich. 2003. Monitoring precipitation over the terrestrial Arctic drainage: data requirements, shortcomings and applications of atmospheric reanalysis. Journal of Hydrometeorology 4(2): 387-407.

Serreze, M. C., and A. J. Etringer. 2003. Precipitation characteristics of the Eurasian Arctic drainage system. International Journal of Climatology 23: 1,267-1,291.

Serreze, M. C., J. A. Maslanik, T. A. Scambos, F. Fetterer, J. Stroeve, K. Knowles, C. Fowler, S. Drobot, R. G. Barry, and T. M. Haran. 2003. A new record minimum Arctic sea ice and extent in 2002. Geophysical Research Letters 30: 1110, doi:10.1029/2002GL016406.

Sturm, M., D. K. Perovich, and M. C. Serreze. 2003. Meltdown in the north. Scientific American 289: 42-49.

2002

Fleming, M. D., F. S. Chapin III, W. Cramer, G. L. Hufford, and M. C. Serreze. 2002. Geographic patterns and dynamics of Alaskan climate interpolated from a sparse station record. Global Change Biology 6(S1): 49-58, doi:10.1046/j.1365-2486.2000.06008.x.

Frei, A., R. L. Armstrong, M. P. Clark, and M. C. Serreze. 2002. Catskill Mountain water resources: Vulnerability, hydroclimatology, and climate-change sensitivity. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 92(2): 203-224, doi:10.1111/1467-8306.00287.

McGuire, A. D., J. S. Clein, J. M. Melillo, D. W. Kicklighter, R. A. Meier, C. J. Vorosmarty, and M. C. Serreze. 2002. Modelling carbon responses of tundra ecosystems to historical and projected climate: sensitivity of pan-Arctic carbon storage to temporal and spatial variation in climate. Global Change Biology 6(S1): 141-159, doi:0.1046/j.1365-2486.2000.06017.x.

Uttal, T., J. A. Curry, M. G. Mcphee, D. K. Perovich, R. E. Moritz, J. A. Maslanik, P. S. Guest, H. L. Stern, J. A. Moore, R. Turenne, A. Heiberg, M. C. Serreze, et al. 2002. Surface heat budget of the Arctic Ocean. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 83(2): 255-275.

2001

Beringer, J., N. J. Tapper, I. McHugh, F. S. Chapin III, A. H. Lynch, M. C. Serreze, and A. Slater. 2001. Impact of Arctic treeline on synoptic climate. Geophysical Research Letters 28(22): 4247–4250.

Clark, M. P., M. C. Serreze, and G. J. McCabe. 2001. Historical effects of El Niño and La Niña events on the seasonal evolution of the montane snowpack in the Columbia and Colorado River Basins. Water Resources Research 37(3): 741–757.

Lynch, A. H., A. G. Slater, and M. Serreze. 2001. The Alaskan Arctic Frontal Zone: Forcing by orography, coastal contrast, and the boreal forest. Journal of Climate 14(23): 4,351-4,362.

McCabe, G. J., M. P. Clark, and M. C. Serreze. 2001. Trends in Northern Hemisphere surface cyclone frequency and intensity. Journal of Climate 14(12): 2,763-2,768.

Serreze, M. C., A. H. Lynch, and M. P. Clark. 2001. The Arctic Frontal Zone as seen in the NCEP-NCAR reanalysis. Journal of Climate 14(7): 1,550-1,567.

2000

Barry, R. G., and M. C. Serreze. 2000. Atmospheric components of the Arctic ocean freshwater balance and their interannual variability. In The Freshwater Budget of the Arctic Ocean, eds. E.L. Lewis et al., 45-56. Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Clark, M. P., and M. C. Serreze. 2000. Effects of variations in East Asian snow cover on modulating atmospheric circulation over the North Pacific Ocean. Journal of Climate 13(20): 3,700-3,710.

Cullather, R. I., D. H. Bromwich, and M. C. Serreze. 2000. The atmospheric hydrologic cycle over the Arctic Basin from reanalysis. Part I: Comparison with observations and previous studies. Journal of Climate 13(5): 923-937.

Maslanik, J. A., A. H. Lynch, M. C. Serreze, and W. Wu. 2000. A case study of regional climate anomalies in the Arctic: Performance requirements for a coupled model. Journal of Climate 13(2): 383-401.

Serreze, M. C., and R. G. Barry. 2000. Atmospheric components of the Arctic ocean hydrologic budget assessed from rawinsonde data. In The Freshwater Budget of the Arctic Ocean, eds. E.L. Lewis, et al., 151-161. Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Serreze, M. C., M. P. Clark, and A. Frei. 2001. Characteristics of large snowfall events in the montane western United States as examined using snowpack telemetry (SNOTEL) data. Water Resources Research 37(3): 675–688.

Serreze, M. C., and C. M. Hurst. 2000. Representation of mean Arctic precipitation from NCEP-NCAR and ERA reanalysis. Journal of Climate 13(1): 182-201.

Serreze, M. C., J. E. Walsh, F. S. Chapin III, T. Osterkamp, M. Dyurgerov, V. Romanovsky, W. C. Oechel, J. Morison, T. Zhang, and R. G. Barry. 2008. Observational evidence of recent change in the northern high-latitude environment. Climatic Change 46(1-2): 159-207, doi:10.1023/A:1005504031923.

Search for more articles by Mark Serreze in Google Scholar.

Related Resources[top]

Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)

CIRES Council of Fellows

Find Data

Stay Current

Learn About Snow and Ice