University of Reading
UK

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About

Maria Shahgedanova is a climate scientist with a strong interest in glaciers. Maria has a combined BSc/MSc degree in Meteorology from Moscow State University in Russia, and DPhil in Climatology from the University of Oxford, UK. She joined University of Reading in 1998, where she is currently Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Science. 

Maria specializes in high-elevation climate change and in assessments and modelling of impacts of climate change on mountain glaciers and water resources. She led many international projects set in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Siberia funded by EU FP7, EU Horizon 2020, Newton Fund, UK Global Challenges Research Fund, and other national and international funding bodies. Most of her current work is conducted in the Tien Shan Mountains, Central Asia. Among her experimental field sites is Tuyuksu Mountain Observatory located at 3440 m a.s.l. in the northern Tien Shan. She works in close collaboration with many regional research institutions, universities, and stakeholders, including regional disaster risk reduction agencies.

In her role as an MRI Science Leadership Council member, Maria is coordinating our Mountain Observatories project. She is also a contributing author for the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) chapter on High Mountain Areas.

Research Interests

Keywords: Climate Change and Variability, Glacier Change, Climate-Glacier Interactions, Glacier-Related Hazards, Glacier Lakes, Regional Climate Models, Water Resources, Mineral Dust in the Atmosphere and At-Surface Radiative Forcing of Light-Absorbing Impurities.

Maria Shahgedanova’s research interests focus on climate change and variability and their impacts on glaciated environments and water resources. These interests fall into the following themes: Climate change and variability, predominantly in the mountains of Eurasia; glacier change and climate-glacier interactions; impacts of climate change on water resources in glaciated catchments and arable agriculture downstream; glacial hazards (evolution of glacier lakes, glacier lake outbursts floods, debris flow); impacts of light-absorbing impurities on snow and glacier melt with emphasis on desert dust; environmental modelling including regional climate models, hydrological and glacier modelling.

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MRI Expert Database

Web Link ImageDepartment of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading  

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