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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 23/09/2026

Thanks Markus! Agreed--was a very nice conversation.

Reposted by Donovan Dennis

We Don't Have Time @wedonthavetime.wsocial.eu · 04/09/2026

When mud-coloured floodwaters came crashing through villages and infrastructure in Nepal and Tibet, glaciologist Donovan Dennis was in the Austrian Alps, at a workshop devoted to modelling the future of the world’s mountain glaciers. app.wedonthavetime.org/posts/a3ac44...

app.wedonthavetime.org

”The mountain systems are entering a new state”

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Reposted by Donovan Dennis

PIK_climate @pik-potsdam.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

"Beinahe alle Gebirge weltweit erwärmen sich tendenziell etwas schneller als der Rest der Erde", sagt PIK-Forscher Donovan Dennis. Anlässlich der Flut-Katastrophe in Nepal spricht er über die Bedingungen im Himalaja, über Gletscherforschung und die Folgen des Klimawandels. 👇️ taz.de/Gletscherfor...

taz.de

Gletscherforscher zur Flutkatastrophe in Nepal: „Gebirge erwärmen sich schneller als der Rest der Erde“

Die Erderwärmung führt zum Abschmelzen der Gletscher. Damit steigt das Risiko von Katastrophen wie jetzt in Nepal, sagt der Glaziologe Donovan Dennis.

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 23/09/2026

Ach Danke Stefan! Hab gerade die Notification bekommen.

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 23/09/2026

Peak millennial mountain west prom aesthetic. Am sure I have the equivalent (deep) in a box somewhere…

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Reposted by Donovan Dennis

PIK_climate @pik-potsdam.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Every year, PIK scientists head to Vienna for the @egu.eu General Assembly. But what actually happens at one of the largest geosciences conferences? Get a glimpse of PIK's Earth Resilience Science Unit @ #EGU, ft @rahmstorf.bsky.social, @donovanpdennis.com and others: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQCD...

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 03/02/2026

I want a copy of this decision framed on my wall -- these are the kinds of clap backs that give me hope, and make me miss what I thought these United States were. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

nytimes.com

Annotating the Judge’s Decision in the Case of Liam Conejo Ramos, a 5-Year-Old Detained by ICE

Our critic annotates the barbed wordplay of a decision challenging the Trump administration’s theory of executive power.

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 17/12/2025

Same -- have always loved AGU for the "everyone under one roof" feeling. But nearly all Europe-based colleagues I know skipped this year. From my side was hard to recommend to colleagues the risk, especially the grad. students. Seems like last year was the last one for me for some time.

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 17/12/2025

I am so tired of waking up, reading the news, and writing an email like this to an American colleague: "Dear [insert career civil servant's name], we read the news of [name of closing lab] with a heavy heart this morning. Please don't hesitate to reach out if we can help." The #NCAR news bites.

eu.usatoday.com

Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado

The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 14/11/2025

You read the study in the Global Tipping Points Report, now join @iceybethan.bsky.social @ricarda-winkelmann.bsky.social, Judy Daxootsu Ramos and Annika Ord and me to discuss glacier loss and tipping points southeast Alaska at the #COP30 Cryosphere Pavilion next Monday. @pik-potsdam.bsky.social

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Reposted by Donovan Dennis

PIK_climate @pik-potsdam.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Wie geht das mit den Kipppunkten? Eindrucksvoller Kurzfilm von @artede.bsky.social zur gefährlichen Dynamik durch #Klimawandel, mit Input der PIK-Fachleute Shivani Ehrenfeucht und @rahmstorf.bsky.social . „Jedes Grad, jeder Bruchteil eines Grades zählt.“ www.arte.tv/de/videos/12...

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Reposted by Donovan Dennis

Soapbox Science Berlin @berlin-soapbox.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

🧊Donovan Dennis (@donovanpdennis.com, @pik-potsdam.bsky.social ) is a glaciologist exploring the current state of glaciers and ice sheets, and what their loss means for our planet

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Reposted by Donovan Dennis

Soapbox Science Berlin @berlin-soapbox.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Here we go again! 🎤 Our event "Diverse minds, shared future", in collaboration with the LGBTQ+ STEM group during the Berlin Science Week, is approaching fast! We're excited to start introducing the amazing speakers joining us for this year's event

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 13/10/2025

A. Degree. Matters. Reducing emissions, holding the world to 1.5 (or 1.6, or 1.7) is infinitely better than throwing hands up. The only demonstrated way to prevent widespread ice loss for mountain glaciers (in Alaska, and globally) is to minimize global warming. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.org

Global glacier change in the 21st century: Every increase in temperature matters

Glaciers are melting more rapidly than expected due to global warming.

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 13/10/2025

🅰️ There is no silver bullet. Geoengineering interventions implemented in other regions would be exceedingly expensive (we're talking in the $100,000,000 to $1,000,000,000 range given costs elsewhere) to implement for Áakʼw Tʼáak Sítʼ. 🅱️ The destiny is by no means set in stone!!! Every. Tenth. Of..

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 13/10/2025

continues to retreat, and as other glaciers which feed Áakʼw Tʼáak Sítʼ disconnect (see feedback No. 2!), the threat of additional floods may increase. There are many additional consequences, from aquatic ecosystems to tourism to national security. But two additional points we wanted to highlight:

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 13/10/2025

Floods from Suicide Basin in '23, '24, and '25 each set records for the largest on record. Following the 2024 flood, which damaged 300+ homes, new temporary barriers were installed to protect the community, at a cost to homeowners of $6000+ dollars. As Áakʼw Tʼáak Sítʼ... www.juneauflood.com#/home

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 13/10/2025

These Tlingit communities have expressed a deep sense of grief and loss, describing their culture and identity as being inseparable from the land, which is changing rapidly. Additional consequences of glacier loss in Juneau relate to Glacial Lake Outburst Floods... edition.cnn.com/2024/08/07/c...

edition.cnn.com

Watch the glacier outburst that sent a surge of water into Juneau, causing ‘unprecedented’ flooding | CNN

A rush of water unleashed by an ailing glacier swelled an Alaska river to record levels Tuesday causing unprecedented flooding in Juneau nearly a year to the date of a similar destructive event.

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 13/10/2025

But a MAJOR focus of the case study is not just on "how/why" Áakʼw Tʼáak Sítʼ may tip, but the consequences of it doing so. Indigenous Tlingit communities have lived in and stewarded the coastal rainforests and waters of southeast Alaska and southwest Canada for at least the last 10,000 years...

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 13/10/2025

Think about how mountain tops 🏔️ are colder than the valleys below them. This is very important when the temperature gradients are large (like Greenland and Antarctica--see Section 2 of the GTPR!) but might be less important than the others in Juneau.

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 13/10/2025

3️⃣: The "Ice-Elevation" Feedback. This feedback is not specific to the icefield, and might be less important here than elsewhere, like Antarctica. But when the surface elevation of the ice lowers due to melting, it lowers into elevations where temperatures are warmer...

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 13/10/2025

...may follow, i.e., a "tipping point". 2️⃣: Glacier Disconnection. Where icefalls occur, the ice is much less cohesive and a larger surface area is exposed to ambient air temperature changes. This causes enhanced melting at the icefall. The consequence is that the source-area ice disconnects...

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 13/10/2025

snowline. We call this line, in glaciology, the 'ELA'. If the ELA rises above the elevation of the glaciers' source area (the plateau), then little snow remains in the winter to nourish the glacier. Thus, when the ELA rises above the elevation of the plateau for the JI, rapid loss...

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 13/10/2025

flow off this high plateau, they cross over a steep lip, where icefalls like this form. This is key for several of the feedbacks that may lead to tipping: 1️⃣: 'ELA' rise. When average temperatures warm 📈, it decreases the amount of snow which remains through the winter, raising a glacier's...

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 13/10/2025

In it, we've gone into quite a bit of detail on how smaller glacial systems tip, building off the major body of work by @iceybethan.bsky.social, @jeremyely.bsky.social and colleagues. These studies showed that the Icefield's source areas predominantly sit on a flat, high plateau. As the glaciers..

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 13/10/2025

The #JuneauIcefield is a deeply meaningful place for me and many others, part of the reason we put so much care into our case study on tipping of Áakʼw Tʼáak Sítʼ (Mendenhall Glacier), one of the icefield's major outlet glaciers. The study is out today as part of the Global Tipping Points Report.

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 08/10/2025

Ready for @berlinscienceweek.bsky.social?! Come by the Diverse Minds, Shared Future event on 1 Nov from @berlin-soapbox.bsky.social and LGBTQIA+ STEM Berlin. You’ll hear six great talks, including one about glacier tipping points 😉. No PowerPoints, just props! berlinscienceweek.com/programme/di...

berlinscienceweek.com

Diverse Minds, Shared Future

Our event brings the fascinating world of science to the streets, merging scientific inquiry with artistic expression. The invited speakers, women and queer scientists, present their research in a jar...

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 14/05/2025

Thanks so much to @nature.com for providing the space to share this and @annenotintokyo.bsky.social for her careful editorial guidance. I only hope it’s useful for folks.

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 14/05/2025

others are the “network” I talk about here. In January, I finally defended a PhD here in Berlin. And the other happy ending is that Shivani, the other PhD who had to leave our group in Boston, joined us here at PIK last year as a post-doc. Finally we have the chance to work together on Antarctica.

Me and Shivani smiling at my defense in Berlin, 7 years after leaving Boston.

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 14/05/2025

resilient in case things go wrong. Lindsey Nicholson, @allenpope.bsky.social, Brad Markle, Margi Rusmore, Scott Bogue, Ann Blythe—these were the folks who kept me on my feet during that horrible time, putting me in touch with everyone and anyone to find a new supervisor. 🙏 They and many (6/7)

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 14/05/2025

protect themselves, but because I am a realist, and I know that there are others out there who will be called to task--that other students will go through similar situations. This is my advice for them, as well as advisors, and administrators on how to make their programs and experiences more (5/7)

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 14/05/2025

precarity of dreams (and grad school). Unfortunately, because of the "little fiefdom" structures of academia, it's often students and those with less autonomy who also endure the consequences of those abusers' actions. I wrote this commentary not because I believe students should *have* to (4/7)

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 14/05/2025

saved in an album at home in Montana. Joining the BU Antarctic group was my absolute dream. Like Jane, I was from a small town in a big, empty state, with dreams of seeing every corner of this world, with science as my ticket. Leaving that group 18 months later was a reality check in the (3/7)

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 14/05/2025

power and were held to account for their actions. I remember exactly where I was when I received his call… when he told me I would be joining his lab group and going to Antarctica. I still have the letter of admission from B.U., signed by the administrators who would later scrap my funding, (2/7)

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 14/05/2025

It's hard to believe that nearly a decade has passed since @geojane.bsky.social went to B.U.'s administration and detailed her shocking experiences as a grad student under my then-adviser, Dave Marchant. In the years since, we have learned of so, so, so many others who likewise abused their (1/7)

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 07/05/2025

supporting #PinkSummits who've invited me to join. (Follow them both, as well as fellow speaker, Fabian on Insta, they're not yet Bluesky). You can still sign up to participate but spaces are already very limited, so do so soon! (www.eventbrite.ca/e/pride-hike...)

eventbrite.ca

Pride Hike & Climb 2025 Austria for LGBTIQ+ Visibility Outdoors

We will hike, rock-climb and climb some via ferratas in the Kaiser Mountains (Kaisergebirge) and celebrate pride

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 07/05/2025

Super stoked to be one of the speakers at this year's #PrideHike in the beautiful Kaisergebirge! I'll be chatting all weekend about the changing alpine environment and how that impacts us ~all~, especially those of us whose happy place is up in the thin air. Thanks to Osprey (packs) Europe for (1/2)

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 05/03/2025

From Bertolt Brecht’s poem “An die Nachgeborenen” (1939).

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 05/03/2025

This quote at my SBahn stop hitting differently this week. “What a time it is when talking about trees is almost a crime. Because it involves silence about so many misdeeds!” How I feel coming and going talking about clim. change/Michelangelo, trying to ignore the rising tide in my former home.

Quote in German from Bertolt Brecht translated as: What a time it is when talking about trees is almost a crime. Because it involves silence about so many misdeeds!

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 28/02/2025

4️⃣Improve scientific understanding of the fundamentals of ES tipping systems, processes, and dynamics. and 5️⃣ Strengthen cooperation across member states to tackle climate risks collectively. Read the brief linked above for the background and the full list of recommendations!

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 28/02/2025

In short, Europe needs to: 1️⃣Assess the vulnerability, resilience and adaptation planning for macro-sectors such as food and energy. 2️⃣Improve understanding of early warning indicators through modeling, observations. 3️⃣ Enhance the capacity to manage financial stability risks. [...]

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 28/02/2025

Following a workshop on Earth system #tippingpoints at the @ec.europa.eu's Joint Research Centre, @pik-potsdam.bsky.social colleagues and I have contributed to a policy brief with recommendations for how the EU can/should move forward--check it out!: publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/h...

publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu

Earth System Tipping Points are a threat to Europe

With global warming rapidly approaching 1.5 °C, widespread and systemic risks of crossing several Earth System Tipping Points (ESTP) are becoming an emerging security threat for Europe. Stepping up in...

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 28/01/2025

Getting a bit teary on the train listening to two elderly gays signing up for new life insurance policies and making each other the beneficiaries. Something really beautiful in the mundanity of that. Speaking a mix of English, Swedish, German, and French. Stunning.

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 21/01/2025

Now off to France with the ‘rents 😍😎.

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Donovan Dennis @donovanpdennis.com · 21/01/2025

at EGU, then AGU, the panic as friends saw at it then looked back at me. Losing the fire somewhere along the route, finding it again recently. What a decade. 🥹. So many friends. Thanks to all—it took a village.

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