Former Members

Pete AKERS, Post-Doctoral researcher

My research examines the isotope chemistry of nitrate in Antarctic snow, from its initial deposition on the snow surface through its archival in deep ice. As a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow, I am a lead on the SCADI project that is using the isotopic variability of nitrate to reconstruct past and present changes in the surface mass balance of the East Antarctic ice sheet. I was a team member on project EAIIST in 2019/2020, which traversed a total of 3400 km across East Antarctica to sample and study changes in snow, climate, and atmospheric chemistry from the coast into the deep interior.


Albane BARBERO, PhD student

My thesis work focuses on the development, use and implementation of new analytical and measurement techniques to quantify reactive chemical species at trace levels in the atmosphere in order to understand the mechanisms that govern the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere in polar regions. Thus, to validate and deploy accurate instruments dedicated to the direct measurement of nitrogen dioxide ; to better characterize nitrate photolysis through the study of different snows from the Antarctic Plateau (different ages and locations) ; and to measure the concentrations of nitrogen oxides in the Antarctic atmosphere with a better accuracy.


Camille BLOUZON, Project Research Engineer



Jérôme CHAPPELLAZ, CNRS Research Director

I am Research Director of exceptional class at the CNRS, former Director of the French Polar Institute IPEV and former polar affairs manager with the scientific direction of the CNRS. I have mostly worked on the combined evolution of climate and greenhouse gas concentrations based on ice core studies. Initiator of Ice Memory, I now chair the Ice Memory Foundation in support of this initiative aiming to create a repository of ice cores stored in Antarctica for use by future generations of scientists.


Sanjeev DASARI, Post-doctoral Researcher

I am a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow and lead the "REVA" project (2021-2023). I am investigating the "Reality of UV windows" in the Earth’s atmosphere during geomagnetic excursion events such as the Mono Lake-Laschamp event 40 Ka ago. I seek to detect isotopic signals of a peculiar kind (MIF-based) in ice cores from Antarctica and Greenland to fingerprint such anomalies. A combination of cutting-edge laser spectroscopy and stratospheric modeling will also complement my work.


Xavier FAÏN, CNRS Researcher

I investigate ice cores to reconstruct the past evolutions of the atmospheric composition. My research activity focuses in priority on the past variability of the carbon monoxide biogeochemical budget related to climate and anthropogenic forcings.


Etienne LEGRAIN, PhD student

During my thesis I am studying the link between the carbon cycle and the climate during a hot period in the past, MIS 7 (260 to 190 thousand years ago). For this, I analyze a portion of the Antarctic core EPICA Dome C in which I take CO2 and temperature measurements via analysis of air bubbles trapped in the ice. At the same time, I am carrying out a synthesis work on this hot period by building a common chronology for the data already published from ice cores, sedimentary cores, and speleothems.


Erwan NEGRE, Project Research Engineer

My work focuses on the development of optical spectroscopy instruments applied to environmental sciences, and I work within the IGE as a Research Engineer on the Labex OSUG IsoCarb project. In order to better understand the evolution of climate-carbon coupling, we are designing, in collaboration with the LIPhy, a direct absorption spectrometer dedicated to the analysis of atmospheric CO2 and its isotopic signature (d13CO2) in trapped air bubbles in ice. Our approach aims to provide accurate and fast analyzes while limiting the amount of ice needed for measurements, an essential criterion for better temporal resolution.


Susanne PREUNKERT, CNRS Researcher



Dominique RAYNAUD, Emeritus CNRS Research Director

I was at the origin of the "gas group" and director of the Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l’Environnement (LGGE, now IGE). I am passionate about the air bubbles in ice and their recordings of the atmosphere’s past. I am responsible for the climate section of the encyclopedia of the environment.


Anthony VELLA, Project Study Engineer


I am an engineer at the Université Grenoble-Alpes, contributing to the analytical platform PANDA. My work includes sample preparation, data processing, maintenance of the platform equipments and quality assurance of the results produced. These results will be used to profile the chemical composition of ICE Memory ice cores (including the Col du Dôme and Illimani cores), with the goal to create a database for these ice cores. My work also includes the finalization of the CFA tool (continuous analysis) but also the implementation of discrete analysis for external or internal services. As a chemical engineer, working in and for the environment is an opportunity to contribute to the evolution of our current knowledge, to develop our understanding of natural environments and to make the link with the populations. Working for a great cause is very rewarding and inspiring.