No photo of Kurt H. Kjær
  • Øster Voldgade 5-7

    1350 København K

  • Source: Scopus
1998 …2024

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Primary fields of research

  • Quaternary palaeoclimate
  • Outlet glacier dynamics
  • Greenland Ice Sheet history and stability
  • Climate, Glacier and landscapes
  • GeoGenetics - ancient DNA
  • Remote sensing techniques and digital photogrammetry

CV

Website: http://geogenetics.ku.dk/research/research_groups/palaeoclimate

 

UNIVERSITY DEGREES

November 26th 2004. Docent in Quaternary Science, Lund University. Title: Interpreting glacial landscapes in time and space: progress, problems and perspectives.

June 20th 2000. Ph.D. in Quaternary Geology, Geological Institute, University of Copenhagen. Title: Glacial diamicts in modern and ancient terrestrial environments: an integrated study of processes, sediment and landforms.

May 7th 1996. M.Sc. in Quaternary Geology, Geological Institute, University of Copenhagen. Title: Subglacial and glacioaquatic deposits – a glacial sedimentological analysis of diamict deposits at Klimtholm, Møn.

 

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

October 2012-present. Professor Mso, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen.

March 2008-September 2012. Associate professor, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen.

November 2004 – March 2008. Associate research professor, Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen.

January 2001– February 2005. Senior research assistant (Post-doc.), Department of Geology, Lund University.

June-December 2000. Assistant professor, Geological Museum, University of Copenhagen.

July-August 1993 and August 1995. Research assistant, Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen.

 

PUBLICATIONS (1998-present)

Publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and monographs: 70

Publications in conference proceedings: >150

Popular science: 15

H-index: 26

Sum of times cited: 2077

Guest editorships: 3 (Boreas, Quaternary Science Reviews, Quaternary Developments, Elsevier bookseries)

 

TRACK RECORD

KK hold a Ph.D. and professorship in Quaternary science with emphasis on reconstruction of past and modern glacial environments. He is also leading a research group within past dynamics and mass chances of the Greenland Ice Sheet as well as palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, which also span topics towards exploring new methods such as ancient genetics. Overall this provides a wide-range scientific network within the Quaternary sciences as documented from his publication activity. KK has extensive fieldwork experience outside mainland Scandinavia during twenty-six field seasons (each 4-8 weeks long) beginning in 1993: Northern Russia: 6 seasons; Svalbard: 2 seasons; Iceland: 12 seasons; Greenland: 7 seasons. In fifteen of these research expeditions, KK had the full leadership and responsibility. KK has managed to retrieve 4.5 million euros for research grants involving larger projects, infrastructure and instruments.

 

Selected services include:

  • Research director for the Natural History Museum of Denmark, 2012-present.
  • Curator of the Quaternary vertebrate collections, 2011-2014.
  • Board of directors for the Icelandic Society foundation, 2013-present
  • Elected member of the Royal Physiographic Society in Lund, 2012.
  • Head of section for GeoGenetics, 2010-2012.
  • Secretary for Danish National Committee for Geology, The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and IUGS, 2008-present.
  • Curator of the Geological archives, Natural History Museum, 2006-present.
  • Member of the board of directors for the Geological Society of Denmark, 2006-2012.
  • Chief-editor for Danish Journal of Geology, 2008-2012.
  • Steering committee member of the APEX (Arctic Palaeoclimate and its EXtremes) network initiative, 2005-2012 (website: http://www.apex.geo.su.se/news/index.php).
  • External referee of research proposals for the NSF (US), the British NERC, the research council of Norway and the Swedish Geological Survey and European ERC, 2006-present.
  • Advisory Board Member, Polar Research, 2007-present.
  • Acted regularly as referee for some 20 international journals during the last ten years.

 

RESEARCH SUPERVISION

KK has been and is supervisor for 12(5) PhD. students and 14 (1) Msc students. (x) = pending.

 

INVITED PRESENTATIONS

Recent major conference presentations:

  • Kjær, K.H. (2007): Arctic Palaeoclimate and its Extremes (APEX). European Geosciences Union, General Assembly, April 15-20, Vienna, Austria.
  • Kjær, K.H. (2007): Shelf ice glaciation in the Arctic Ocean? New results from northernmost Greenland. 28th Nordic Geological Winter Meeting, Aalborg, Denmark.
  • Kjær, K.H. (2008): Shelf ice glaciation in the Arctic Ocean? New results from northernmost Greenland. 33rd International Geological Congress, Oslo, Norway.
  • Kjær, K.H. (2008): Quantification of sediment transport during glacier surges and its impact on landform architecture. 33rd International Geological Congress, Oslo, Norway.
  • Kjær, K.H. (2010): The quest for the lost picture and surface detection change of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Eos Trans. AGU, Fall Meet. Session C17.
  • Kjær, K.H. (2010): Reconstruction of the Greenland Ice Sheet since LGM. Eos Trans. AGU, Fall Meet. Session PP05.
  • Kjær, K.H. (2012): Multi-decadal dynamic thinning on the northwest margin of the Greenland ice sheet. SLALOM2012 - Sea-Level and Adjustment of the Land Observations and Models.
  • Kjær, K.H. (2013): Mass loss of the Greenland Ice Sheet since the Little Ice Age. IAG symposium in Ilulissat (Greenland) from 31 May to 2 June 2013

Invited scientific contribution to the organization of international conferences:

  • 28th Nordic Geological Winter Meeting, Aalborg, Denmark: Palaeoclimatology and global change, convener.
  • XVIII. INQUA-Congress (the International Union for Quaternary Research), Bern, 2011: The long term behavior of the Greenland ice sheet. Convener
  • 33rd International Geological Congress, Oslo, Norway: HPQ-01 General contributions to Quaternary geology, convener.

 

PRIZES AND AWARDS

  • Award for the best article in GFF - Geologiska Forening Förhandlingar in 2003, Stockholm.
  • Schou tenure track award, Danish Research Council (FNU) in 2004.

Current research

  • X_Centuries (Greenland Ice Sheet over the Past Millennium). Funded by the Danish Natural Science Foundation (FNU)
  • GeoGenetik. Støttet af: Danmarks Grundforskningsfond

Teaching

  • Quaternary Geology
  • Glacial Geomorphology
  • Palaeoclimate
  • Digital Photogrammetry and mapping

Keywords

  • Faculty of Science
  • Palaeoclimate
  • Ice ages
  • Landcapes
  • Ice sheets stability
  • Greenland
  • Iceland
  • Ancient DNA

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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