Kaitlin Naughten
Ocean Modeller Amundsen Sea
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Kaitlin Naughten
Ocean Modeller Amundsen Sea
Biography
Kaitlin Naughten is an ocean modeller specialising in interactions between the Antarctic Ice Sheet, the Southern Ocean, and the broader climate system. Her research primarily focuses on the future of Antarctic ice shelf cavities in a warming climate. Kaitlin has specialised in regional settings (Weddell Sea, Amundsen Sea) as well as circum-Antarctic and global. She co-developed ÚaMITgcm, one of the first successful coupled ice-sheet/ocean models. She is now a member of the core development team for the UK Earth System Model, the world’s only global climate model with a fully coupled Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Employment and education
2022-present: Ocean/Ice Climate Modeller (BAS)
2020-2022: Ocean/Ice Modeller Amundsen Sea (BAS)
2018-2020: Ocean/Ice Modeller MITgcm (BAS)
2014-2018: PhD (University of New South Wales, Australia)
2010-2014: BSc (University of Manitoba, Canada)
Management experience
Line manager of Nicolas Dettling, postdoc (2025-present)
Line manager of Birgit Rogalla, postdoc (2023-present)
Line manager of Tarkan Bilge, postdoc (2023-present)
Primary supervisor of Katherine Turner, PhD student with Southampton (2022-present)
Primary supervisor of Joren Janzing, MSc student with Utrecht (2021-2022)
Outreach
Expert witness to the UK Government’s Environmental Audit Sub-Committee on Polar Research (2023)
Kaitlin’s Nature Climate Change paper, “Unavoidable future increase in West Antarctic ice-shelf melting over the twenty-first century”, was the #7 most covered climate paper of 2023.
Research interests
Collaborations
Publications from NERC Open Research Archive
2025
Sallée, Jean-Baptiste, Morrison, Adele K., Naughten, Kaitlin ORCID record for Kaitlin Naughten, Thompson, Andrew F.. (2025) Chapter 4: Southern Ocean Circulation. In: Meredith, M. ORCID record for M. Meredith, Melbourne-Thomas, J., Naveira Garabato, A.C., Raphael, M. (eds.). Antarctica and the Earth System (1st Edition), London, Routledge, 22 pp. 10.4324/9781003406471-4
2024
Rosier, S.H.R., Gudmundsson, G.H., Jenkins, A., Naughten, K.A. ORCID record for K.A. Naughten. (2024) Calibrated sea level contribution from the Amundsen Sea sector, West Antarctica, under RCP8.5 and Paris 2C scenarios [preprint]. EGUsphere, (). pp. 10.5194/egusphere-2024-1838
De Rydt, Jan, Naughten, Kaitlin ORCID record for Kaitlin Naughten. (2024) Geometric amplification and suppression of ice-shelf basal melt in West Antarctica. The Cryosphere, 18 (). 26 pp. 10.5194/tc-18-1863-2024
2023
Huneke, W.G.C., Hobbs, W.R., Klocker, A., Naughten, K.A. ORCID record for K.A. Naughten. (2023) Dynamic Response to Ice Shelf Basal Meltwater Relevant to Explain Observed Sea Ice Trends Near the Antarctic Continental Shelf. Geophysical Research Letters, 50 (). 10 pp. 10.1029/2023GL105435
Naughten, Kaitlin A. ORCID record for Kaitlin A. Naughten, Holland, Paul R. ORCID record for Paul R. Holland, De Rydt, Jan. (2023) Unavoidable future increase in West Antarctic ice-shelf melting over the twenty-first century. Nature Climate Change, (). 20 pp. 10.1038/s41558-023-01818-x
Reese, Ronja, Garbe, Julius, Hill, Emily A., Urruty, Benoît, Naughten, Kaitlin A. ORCID record for Kaitlin A. Naughten, Gagliardini, Olivier, Durand, Gaël, Gillet-Chaulet, Fabien, Gudmundsson, G. Hilmar, Chandler, David, Langebroek, Petra M., Winkelmann, Ricarda. (2023) The stability of present-day Antarctic grounding lines – Part 2: Onset of irreversible retreat of Amundsen Sea glaciers under current climate on centennial timescales cannot be excluded. The Cryosphere, 17 (). 23 pp. 10.5194/tc-17-3761-2023
2022
Silvano, Alessandro, Holland, Paul R. ORCID record for Paul R. Holland, Naughten, Kaitlin A. ORCID record for Kaitlin A. Naughten, Dragomir, Oana, Dutrieux, Pierre ORCID record for Pierre Dutrieux, Jenkins, Adrian, Si, Yidongfang, Stewart, Andrew L., Peña Molino, Beatriz, Janzing, Gregor W., Dotto, Tiago S., Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.. (2022) Baroclinic Ocean Response to Climate Forcing Regulates Decadal Variability of Ice‐Shelf Melting in the Amundsen Sea. Geophysical Research Letters, 49 (). 10 pp. 10.1029/2022GL100646
Holland, Paul R. ORCID record for Paul R. Holland, O'Connor, Gemma K., Bracegirdle, Thomas J. ORCID record for Thomas J. Bracegirdle, Dutrieux, Pierre ORCID record for Pierre Dutrieux, Naughten, Kaitlin A. ORCID record for Kaitlin A. Naughten, Steig, Eric J., Schneider, David P., Jenkins, Adrian, Smith, James A. ORCID record for James A. Smith. (2022) Anthropogenic and internal drivers of wind changes over the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica, during the 20th and 21st centuries. The Cryosphere, 16 (). pp. 10.5194/tc-16-5085-2022
Naughten, Kaitlin A. ORCID record for Kaitlin A. Naughten, Holland, Paul R. ORCID record for Paul R. Holland, Dutrieux, Pierre ORCID record for Pierre Dutrieux, Kimura, Satoshi, Bett, David T. ORCID record for David T. Bett, Jenkins, Adrian. (2022) Simulated twentieth-century ocean warming in the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters, 49 (). 10 pp. 10.1029/2021GL094566
Richter, Ole, Gwyther, David E., Galton-Fenzi, Benjamin K., Naughten, Kaitlin A. ORCID record for Kaitlin A. Naughten. (2022) The Whole Antarctic Ocean Model (WAOM v1.0): Development and evaluation. Geoscientific Model Development, 15 (). pp. 10.5194/gmd-15-617-2022
2021
Naughten, Kaitlin A. ORCID record for Kaitlin A. Naughten, De Rydt, Jan, Rosier, Sebastian H.R., Jenkins, Adrian, Holland, Paul R. ORCID record for Paul R. Holland, Ridley, Jeff K.. (2021) Two-timescale response of a large Antarctic ice shelf to climate change. Nature Communications, 12 (). 10 pp. 10.1038/s41467-021-22259-0
2020
Daae, K., Hattermann, T., Darelius, E., Mueller, R., Naughten, K. ORCID record for K. Naughten, Timmerman, R., Hellmer, H.H.. (2020) Necessary conditions for warm inflow towards the Filchner Ice Shelf, Weddell Sea. Geophysical Research Letters, 47 (). 11 pp. 10.1029/2020GL089237
Bracegirdle, Thomas J. ORCID record for Thomas J. Bracegirdle, Krinner, Gerhard, Tonelli, Marcos, Haumann, F. Alexander, Naughten, Kaitlin A. ORCID record for Kaitlin A. Naughten, Rackow, Thomas, Roach, Lettie A., Wainer, Ilana. (2020) Twenty first century changes in Antarctic and Southern Ocean surface climate in CMIP6. Atmospheric Science Letters, 21 (). pp. 10.1002/asl.984
2019
Naughten, Kaitlin ORCID record for Kaitlin Naughten, Jenkins, Adrian ORCID record for Adrian Jenkins, Holland, Paul ORCID record for Paul Holland, Mugford, Ruth, Nicholls, Keith ORCID record for Keith Nicholls, Munday, Dave ORCID record for Dave Munday. (2019) Modeling the influence of the Weddell Polynya on the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf cavity. Journal of Climate, 32 (). pp. 10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0203.1
Golledge, Nicholas R, Keller, Elizabeth D, Gomez, Natalya, Naughten, Kaitlin ORCID record for Kaitlin Naughten, Bernales, Jorge, Trusel, Luke D, Edwards, Tamsin L. (2019) Global environmental consequences of 21st century ice sheet melt. Nature, 566 (). pp. 10.1038/s41586-019-0889-9
Publications before joining BAS
Please note Kaitlin’s former surname Alexander.
Naughten, K.A., Meissner, K.J., Galton-Fenzi, B.K., England, M.H., Timmermann, R., Hellmer, H.H. (2018) Future projections of Antarctic ice shelf melting based on CMIP5 scenarios. Journal of Climate, 31: 5243-5261, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0854.1.
Naughten, K.A., Meissner, K.J., Galton-Fenzi, B.K., England, M.H., Timmermann, R., Hellmer, H.H., Hattermann, T., Debernard, J.B. (2018) Intercomparison of Antarctic ice-shelf, ocean, and sea-ice interactions simulated by MetROMS-iceshelf and FESOM 1.4. Geoscientific Model Development, 11: 1257-1292, doi:10.5194/gmd-11-1257-2018.
Naughten, K.A., Galton-Fenzi, B.K., Meissner, K.J., England, M.H., Brassington, G.B., Colberg, F., Hattermann, T., Debernard, J.B. (2017) Spurious sea ice formation caused by oscillatory ocean tracer advection schemes. Ocean Modelling, 116: 108-117, doi:10.1016/j.ocemod.2017.06.010.
Alexander, K., Meissner, K.J., Bralower, T.J. (2015) Sudden spreading of corrosive bottom water during the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Nature Geoscience, 8: 458-461, doi:10.1038/ngeo2430.
Alexander, K., Easterbrook, S.M. (2015) The software architecture of climate models: a graphical comparison of CMIP5 and EMICAR5 configurations. Geoscientific Model Development, 8: 1221-1232, doi:10.5194/gmd-8-1221-2015.
Meissner, K.J., Bralower, T.J., Alexander, K., Dunkley Jones, T., Sijp, W., Ward, M. (2014) The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum: How much carbon is enough? Paleoceanography, 29: 946-963, doi:10.1002/2014PA002650.
Bralower, T.J., Meissner, K.J., Alexander, K., Thomas, D.J. (2014) The dynamics of global change at the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum: A data-model comparison. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 15: 3830-3848, doi:10.1002/2014GC005474.
Zickfeld, K., Eby, M., Weaver, A.J., Alexander, K., et al. (2013) Long-Term Climate Change Commitment and Reversibility: An EMIC Intercomparison. Journal of Climate, 26: 5782-5809, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00584.1.
Eby, M., Weaver, A.J., Alexander, K., et al. (2013) Historical and idealized climate model experiments: an intercomparison of Earth system models of intermediate complexity. Climate of the Past, 9: 1111-1140, doi:10.5194/cp-9-1111-2013.
Weaver, A.J., Sedlacek, J., Eby, M., Alexander, K., et al. (2012) Stability of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation: A model intercomparison. Geophysical Research Letters, 39: L20709, doi:10.1029/2012GL053763.
2020
Make sure stammered voices are heard
Blog 22 October, 2020
2023
Increased West Antarctic Ice Sheet melting ‘unavoidable’
News 23 October, 2023
2022
New link between greenhouse gases and sea-level rise
News 6 April, 2022
2021
The world’s largest iceberg
News 21 May, 2021
2019
Celebrating International Day of Women & Girls in Science
News 11 February, 2019
Study shows melting ice sheets will disrupt climate
News 7 February, 2019