Gisela Winckler

Gisela Winckler is a climate scientist and isotope geochemist. Her research focuses on the history and causes of climate variability in the past, present and future. She uses elemental and isotopic analyses to unravel processes of climate and environmental change in the oceans and on continents, on time scales ranging from decades to tens of millions of years. Her research on the interplay of climate change, the carbon cycle and aerosols uses climate archives such as deep-sea sediments, lake sediments and polar ice cores from Antarctica and Greenland. She is interested in fostering innovative ways of connecting science, art, journalism, design, climate activism and outreach. Gisela received her PhD in Physics from the University of Heidelberg, Germany. She was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) in 2024

Fields of Interest

Climate Change and Climate Science
The role of the ocean in the climate system and the carbon cycle, with a particular focus on the Southern Ocean and Pacific.
Paleoclimate and Paleoceanography
A better understanding of past climates is key to quantifying the climate system’s sensitivity and response to natural variability and anthropogenic perturbations. Winckler's current research focuses on the Pliocene, Quaternary ice age cycles, abrupt climate and environmental changes, as well as climatic extremes in the deep Earth history. She uses elemental and isotopic analyses to unravel processes of climate and environmental change in the oceans and on continents, on timescales ranging from decades to tens of millions of years. 
Her group (WINGS - Winckler Isotope and Noble Gas Laboratory) studies a variety of climate and environmental archives such as deep-sea sediments, lake sediments and polar ice cores from Antarctica and Greenland. 
Winckler applies a wide spectrum of analytical techniques, including sector-field mass spectrometry and ICP-MS to perform high-precision measurements of a variety of isotope tracers, including noble gases, stable isotopes, radiogenic and cosmogenic isotopes.

Education

  • 1998 PhD, University of Heidelberg 
  • 1993 M Sc (Diplom), University of Heidelberg

Honors & Awards

  • 2023 Climate Scientist in Residence, Journalism School, Columbia University 
  • 2020 Excellence Award, Petersen-Foundation (20,000 Euro) 2019
  • 2018 Elected Member of the Advisory Council, The Climate Museum, NYC 
  • 2017 Fellow, Center for Climate and Life 
  • 2016 PVE Award, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile 2015 LDEO Excellence in Mentoring Award 
  • 2010 Kavli Fellow, Invited participant at Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany