Peter K. Bijl

The 2014 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Young Scientists is awarded to Peter K. Bijl for fundamental contributions to understanding Palaeocene–Eocene climate change and palaeoceanography.

Peter K. Bijl has distinguished himself as an outstanding young scientist, with major contributions to understanding Palaeocene–Eocene climate change and palaeoceanography, evidenced by an exceptional number of high-impact papers for the early stage in his career. Bijl is particularly interested in the mechanisms and dynamics behind the way the Earth transited in the past from the super-warm, ice-free greenhouse climates of the Eocene into the icehouse climates we know today. For a better understanding of the Earth’s climate system, he has also investigated the climate and environmental dynamics and sensitivity during super-greenhouse and icehouse periods, including the role of carbon dioxide versus tectonic changes. For these important contributions he is a worthy recipient of an Arne Richter Award.