HDR from Université Paris-Saclay defended by Mathieu Casado on May 14, 2025
Studying high-frequency (interannual) climate variability requires numerous water-isotope time series obtained from ice cores. Achieving this has involved: (i) analytical advancements enabling precise and rapid measurements of ice-core samples; (ii) advanced statistical and spectral techniques to link the maximum possible isotopic signal archived in ice cores to climatic variability; and (iii) a mechanistic approach based on field measurements of isotopes in water vapor, precipitation, and surface snow to understand how local exchanges modify the isotopic signal relative to distant moisture sources.
This work is complemented by fundamental laboratory studies on isotope physics. A precise evaluation of thermodynamic properties of water isotopes is essential for improving their parameterization in both large-scale (General Circulation Models, GCMs) and conceptual climate models.
