Research Interests

I am interested in all facets of snow, from its formation in the atmosphere to its deposition on the ground or ice. In particular I am fascinated by the material snow, that is its microstructure and physical properties. For quite a long time I was involved in the development, verification, and comparison of the snow-cover model SNOWPACK.  Model output as well as manually recorded snow profiles (CAAML) can be visualized with niViz, a tool I initiated a few years back.

Snow - atmosphere interactions, including energy and mass balance, avalanche formation, wet snow, and instrumentation for snow research are other fields of interest. Currently I am evaluating new measurement methods for all kinds of snow and snow-cover properties, for example the water equivalent of snow cover, and putting together a unique data set collected on the study plot Weissfluhjoch over the last 30 years.

Professional Activities

I enjoy collaborative work in the framework of international projects and organisations. Since 2007 I am serving the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences IACS in various positions. Also, since 2011, I participate in the development of Global Cryosphere Watch GCW, the crosscutting activity area of WMO addressing the needs of its Members and their scientific partners on the state of the cryosphere as a key component of Earth system. As an external expert I deal with best practices for cryospheric measurements, terminology, data management, and editing.

 

Short CV

 

Work Experience

2019 -

Team Leader, WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Research Unit Snow and Permafrost, Team Winter sports and climate, Davos, Switzerland

2012 - 2018

Team Leader, WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Research Unit Snow and Permafrost, Team Snow cover and micro-meteorology, Davos, Switzerland

2010

Visiting Research Scientist with the Applied Snow and Avalanche Research group ASARC at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada (short visit, two months)

1992 - 2011

Research Scientist, WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF, Research Unit Snow and Permafrost, Team Snow cover and micrometeorology, Davos, Switzerland

1990 - 1992

Research Scientist, Kistler Instrumente AG, Winterthur, Switzerland

1988 - 1990

Visiting Research Associate, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

1987

Visiting Research Associate, Centre de Recherche sur les Très Basses Températures, CNRS-CRTBT, Grenoble, France (two months)

1983 - 1988

Research and Teaching Assistant, Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Geneva, Switzerland

Education

1988

PhD in Condensed Matter Physics, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

1983

Diploma in Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland

Weitere Publikationen

Fierz, C., S.-F. Lee, J. Bass, W.P. Pratt Jr., and P.A. Schroeder. 1990. Superconductor/­ferromagnet boundary resistances. J. Phys.: Condens. Matter, 2(48), 9701-9706. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/2/48/024

Fierz, C., S.-F. Lee, J. Bass, W.P. Pratt Jr., and P.A. Schroeder. 1990. Perpendicular resistance of thin Co films in contact with superconducting Nb. Physica B, 165&166, 453-454. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0921-4526(90)90618-5

Fierz, C., D. Jaccard, J. Sierro, and J. Flouquet. 1988. Transport properties of CeAl3 under pressure. J. Appl. Phys., 63(8), 3899-3901. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.340597

Fierz, C., P. Donzé, and J. Sierro. 1987. Thermoelectric power of a- and b-cerium. J. Magn. Magn. Mater., 63&64, 560-562. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0304-8853(87)90666-4

Fierz, C., M. Decroux, and J. Sierro. 1985. Thermopower of cerium. J. Magn. Magn. Mater., 47&48, 517-519. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0304-8853(85)90481-0

Fierz, C. 1988. Phénomènes de transport sous pression hydrostatique de Ce et CeAl3. Ph.D. thesis, Geneva, 88 pp.

Projekte

Publikationen