Sonia I. Seneviratne

Sonia I. Seneviratne
Born	5 June 1974 Lausanne, Switzerland
Alma mater	University of Lausanne ETH Zurich
Scientific career
Fields	climate science
Institutions	ETH Zurich
Website	http://www.iac.ethz.ch/people/sonia

Sonia Isabelle Seneviratne (born on 5 June 1974 in Lausanne ^[1] ) is a Swiss climate scientist, professor at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science of the ETH Zurich. ^[2] She is a specialist of extreme climate events.

Biography

Sonia Seneviratne studied biology at the University of Lausanne and environmental sciences at the ETH Zurich. In 2002, she received a PhD in atmospheric and climate science from ETH Zurich.

She worked as postdoctoral researcher at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Since 2007, she is professor at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science of the ETH Zurich.

Sonia Seneviratne is a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). She was a lead author of the IPCC's Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (2018) ^{[3] [4]} and a coordinating lead author of the Sixth Assessment Report (2021). ^[5]

In 2025, her team published in Nature an analysis showing that the emissions of oil giants made 213 heatwaves (reported over 2000-2023) more intense and 200 times more likely. ^{[6] [7]}

Honours

Sonia Seneviratne was included in Thomson Reuters's 2015 list of the most cited modern scientists. ^[8] She was the lead author on a 2014 article in Nature Climate Change that showed no pause in the increase of hot temperature extremes from 1997 to 2012. ^{[2] [9]}

She is a Revelle Medal committee member. ^[10] In 2013, she received the James B. Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union. ^[11] In 2014, she received a consolidator grant from the European Research Council.

References

1. Curriculum Vitae
2. "Investments in Renewable Energy Being Questioned Following Hiatus of Global Warming". International Business Times . 28 February 2014. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
3. Summary for Policymakers (PDF), Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), n.d., retrieved 8 October 2018, "IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty
4. Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C (Report). Incheon, Republic of Korea: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 7 October 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
5. "IPCC Authors (beta)". apps.ipcc.ch. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
6. Quilcaille, Yann; Gudmundsson, Lukas; Schumacher, Dominik; Gasser, Thomas; Heede, Richard; Heri, Corina; Lejeune, Quentin; Nath, Shruti; Naveau, Philippe; Thiery, Wim; Schleussner, Carl-Friedrich; Seneviratne, Sonia (10 September 2025). "Systematic attribution of heatwaves to the emissions of carbon majors". Nature . 645: 392–398. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09450-9 . Retrieved 15 September 2025.
7. Damian Carrington (10 September 2025). "Carbon emissions from oil giants directly linked to dozens of deadly heatwaves for first time". theguardian.com. The Guardian . Retrieved 15 September 2025.
8. "Highly Cited Researchers 2015". Thomson Scientific.
9. "No global warming 'hiatus' for extreme heat days". CBC News. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
10. "Revelle Medal Committee – Leadership". agu.org.
11. "SONIA I. SENEVIRATNE 2013 James B. Macelwane Medal Winner". American Geophysical Union.