Erich J. Steig Background & Current Research: 

Professor Eric Steig completed his PhD in Geological Sciences at University of Washington in 1995, where he now teaches in the Earth and Space Sciences Faculty.  He directs the ISOLAB, a state-of-the art isotope geochemistry facility involving research ranging from climate and atmospheric chemistry to geobiology.

Steig teaches environmental earth science, isotope geochemistry and paleoclimatology at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. With his graduate students, postdocs, and lab staff, he uses various methods to develop time series of past environmental changes as a context for understanding contemporary and possible future change. Current focus areas include temperature and snow accumulation variability in Antarctica, through ice core measurements, satellite remote-sensing; development and application of methods to measure the nitrogen and oxygen isotope concentrations in atmospheric “odd-N” species (HNO₃, NO₂, NO); and acquisition of ice cores from alpine regions. Research support is from the National Science Foundation’s Polar and Atmospheric Sciences Programs, and from the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS).

He has been a contributor to science planning for glaciological and solid-earth geosciences in the polar regions, to international efforts to track pollution in the Arctic, and to archive and sample allocation at the National Ice Core Laboratory. He is a current member of the NSF-funded Ice Core Working Group and the steering committee for the International Partnerships in Ice Coring Sciences (IPICS) initiative. Steig served as Associate Editor (2001-2004) and Senior Editor (2005-2008) of the journal Quaternary Research, and continues as Special Editor for occasional solicted papers of interest. Steig is active in public education, and has given lectures to organizations such as the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve on the Washington State coast, and the Nature Conservancy. He is a founding member and contributor to the influential climate science web site, “RealClimate.org”

More information on Steig’s research is available at the lab web pages and the research group web pages listed above. Check the “Dissertations” page to find out about our former students, and what they are doing now at NCAR, NASA, and unversities around the world.

Stable isotopes, glaciology, climatology

Research Groups: 
Analytical Geochemistry, Glaciology , Climate and Paleoclimate

Other UW Academic Affiliations: 
Quaternary Research Center, Program on Climate Change